Dockline Shock Absorber

I have seen many forms of softening the blow of a snapping dockline.

Springs or large rubber rods with the line wrapped around it are common favorites sold in chandleries around the world. These devices provided needed elasticity to the dockline and prevent that awful SNAP when the line goes tight, jerking the boat in the slip!
My personal favorite is to use the correct type of rope for a dockline. All too often, I see boats with double braid docklines utilizing line snubbers on each line. Double braid doesn’t have the needed elasticity for this purpose; while it looks pretty, it’s not the right material for the job. Double braid stretches only 8% under load while Three-Lay stretches 20% under load. That will give you the needed elasticity, and at a lower price point when compared to double braid!

Sometimes, 20% elasticity is still not enough and you just need more cushion from surge that comes into the marina. Well, this is where those line snubbers (springs or rubber rods) can come in handy; but they are very expensive, especially when you need to buy a lot of them!
In Gibraltar, our neighbor has come up with a very creative and cheap solution to the problem: a discarded motorcycle tire.
Gibraltar might be famous for the rock, but when you spend time here, you will come to find that they should also be famous for their scooters! At some point, the tires will wear out and be thrown away, an opportunity when a cruiser can pick up a tire for free!
My neighbor tied the tire into the dockline to use it as a snubber, giving him wonderful elasticity with very low cost. He also has a safety line that runs uninterrupted from boat to pier just in case the tire fails and falls apart. The last thing you want to to break your mooring lines in a storm! Having spare mooring lines in place means that he won’t drift into his neighbors while Mediterranean Moored if his stern lines break!

While I am not a fan of the little contraptions that people add to their docklines (because they are expensive, bulky, and added points of failure), I do think this tire idea is creative and robust for someone who lives permanently in this marina.

Med Mooring

The thought of squeezing in between two boats with nothing but your fenders to protect the topsides of all boats involved is rather painful. What makes it worse is the thought that you are backing up to a stone wall that will destroy your boat if you get too close!

No finger piers, no leeway, and no help from anyone until you are securely in your slip.

Sounds wonderful! No wonder they haven’t changed how they tie up in marinas in the Mediterranean for thousands of years!

Thankfully, this is the only place I have encountered this method of docking and just outside the Mediterranean, they don’t do it this way.

My first encounter with the procedure was in a marina in Spain, just inside the Mediterranean. I was given a slip that was 8cm (3.1 inches) wider than my boat (literally 8cm of leeway). Maddie, my wife, wanted us to tie up stern too so it would be easier to get on and off the boat, but this meant I had to reverse in a straight line with a full keel boat that has impressive prop walk; oh, and no bow thruster!

Our electric motor had the power to safely maneuver us into the slip but it was tricky! This is how I did it.

First: I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to do this. There is no way I can back up in a straight line, so I made preparations for docking in a different way.

Second: I waited for the wind to be completely calm (thankfully this marina is in a place with no tide and no current).

As we approached, I jumped off our boat and climbed onto our neighbor with the spring line. Maddie stood on the stern and as soon as we were close enough she tossed the stern line to someone on shore. They pulled us in while I fended off and pulled us in at the same time to the boat next to us. Once in position, we then attached the bow mooring line which runs into the water ahead of the slip to tie us up and keep us from sliding back into the wall.

When we go to leave, we will simply untie and motor out of there with our little electric motor, but until then we are safely tucked away Med Moor Style!

When you encounter this type of docking, just remember to wait for calm conditions and take it slow. Know which way you walk and plan ahead for that so that you don’t end up walking your boat into someone else’s topsides!

Dinghy Dock Tie Up

When tying up to a dinghy dock, it is important to know that the line you use to tie up your dinghy will both hold your dinghy in place as well as be tied over and under other peoples bow lines.

When you tie up, you will be tying up to a cleat that is used by many many people; all holding a variety of dinghies up to the pier. Should your tying fail, your dinghy will drift away! This means that not only do you need to tie up well to secure your dinghy, but you risk the holding of your dinghy to the tying skills of others.

If you tie up to a popular cleat, anyone who was there before you will need to untie your line to be able to untie their line. Then, you hope that they tie your line back up in a proper manner. This is where you risk losing your dinghy!

Instead of tying a standard cleat hitch over the cleat and over all the lines of other boaters, why not tie a bowline through the cleat below everyone else? This will allow everyone to tie and untie their dinghies without ever affecting your knot.

Floating Pier vs Fixed Pier

When selecting a marina to stay in, sometimes you are presented with the options of Floating Piers and Fixed Piers. Does it make a significant difference for you? 

Fixed Piers are attached to pilings that are set into the sea floor. The pier is bolted to them and they provide a fixed and rigid surface to attach your boat. In areas with greater tidal variance, this can provide some complications. First of all, your docklines need to allow for the rise and fall of your vessel. Secondly, you will need to jump from your boat to the pier.

Setting your docklines to allow for tidal variations is crucial when tying up to a fixed pier. I have seen boats arrive at high tide and tie up with short lines. The tide went out and the sea level lowered by 4 feet, putting incredible strain on the docklines until the cleats ripped out of the boat. The owners had left for the day so we had to tie their boat to railing and seats to keep it from drifting off. Setting the docklines up in long crossing patters will allow for greater rise and fall of the vessel without putting stress on the lines and cleats.

This is at mid-tide. 

The second issue with fixed piers comes when you try to board or leave your yacht. I am 6 feet tall, and I have had trouble getting off the deck of boats at low tide. The pier is set so high up to allow for spring tides that you can't reach the planks to get off your boat at low tide. On the contrary, I have also seen marinas that go underwater during very high tides. This poses many risks. If the power is not turned off, you can be electrocuted from the submerged shore power cables. The other risk comes from drowning; if you step off of the pier by accident (it's underwater so you can't always see it if the water is murky) you could fall in and drown. It is entertaining to see people "walking on water" when the pier is awash! 

As you can see, the pitfalls of a fixed pier all deal with areas where there is a great tidal variance. If you live somewhere where there is minimal tides, then a fixed pier will work wonderfully. If you are somewhere with great tidal variations, consider tying up to a floating pier.

Floating piers rise and fall with the tides and your boat. The pier will always be at the same height relative to your boat, so you don't have to worry about your docklines getting tight. The pier will never be towering overhead or submerged like a fixed pier either. It will always be a comfortable step away from your boat. While floating piers may sound like a magic bullet for docking tidal management, they do have one major pitfall. The floating piers work by rising and falling against fixed pilings. These pilings are very secure and allow the pier to effortlessly slide up and down as the tides rise and fall. The problem lies with the absolute height of the piling. If a storm surge causes the water level to rise higher than the tops of the pilings, the whole marina will be set adrift! For this reason, the pilings extend very far above the normal high tide. Even so, look for chafe marks on pilings in a floating marina; these are marks made during a storm when the water levels were very high. Our home marina in Fells Point has wear marks about 3 feet below the top of the piling. I'm sure that must have been stressful for the liveaboards at that time!

Having tied up to both, I personally love the convenience of a floating pier. When presented with the option, I almost always am willing to pay a little more per foot of docking to not worry about the tides!

To Cross or Not To Cross

When you tie up in a slip, you have the choice to cross the bow and stern lines or to run them straight. There are advantages to crossing in certain situations, but as with everything, there are drawbacks.

The reasons to cross the lines in the slip are to provide a longer line leading from the boat to the dock cleat. This longer line will provide more stretch as well as make tidal variations less sensitive. 

This sounds all well and good, but the problem that follows with crossed dock lines all pertain to chafe. The lines will lay in contact with each other as the boat moves around in the slip, causing the lines to rub against one another. If left unchecked, the lines could eventually chafe through causing the boat to drift into the pier and sustain damage.

The only time when crossed docklines are deemed mandatory are when you are tied up to a fixed pier in an area with a great tidal variation. Crossed docklines will provide the boat with the flexibility to rise and fall with the tide without threatening to rip the cleats out of your hull. Any other situation, crossing the docklines offers no advantage and only invites the issues associated with chafe.

While chafe can be prevented by supplying the lines with chafe covers located at the point of contact, it is best to avoid the problem all together if possible.

When tied to a floating pier, the pier and its cleats will rise and fall with the tide, along with your yacht. Crossed docklines will serve no advantage here.

If you need the additional length of line to help absorb shocks as your vessel moves about in the slip, the correct solution should not be to cross the docklines, but instead to select a dockline that offers more elasticity. I see people with all sorts of contraptions to offer elasticity in their double braid docklines, when the truth is they should use stretchier Three Strand Nylon which will offer all the stretch they would need. 

Next time you tie up to a pier, look at the situation before you cross your docklines. If you need to, then do it. If you don't actually need to, avoid crossing your lines and avoid all the problems of chafe that are associated with it.