Most of us make up coils for stowing by using some variant of the gasket coil hitch. This makes a neat job by wrapping one end around the whole coil a few times. Sadly, some dock lines and kedge warps …
Pump her in
When a moored boat must be hove in closer to the dock, it’s a lot easier to grab the bight (the middle) of a rope that’s made fast ashore, then heave up on it while a mate on board holds it with a …
Don’t snub her up!
Nothing makes a skipper look so stupid as when a well-meaning person takes a bow line ashore from a moving boat and promptly catches a turn to ‘stop her’. This is guaranteed to spring her bow hard …
Heaving it over
Before you heave a line, re-coil it, however good the original coil looks. Next, if you’re right-handed, hold the whole coil carefully in this hand, divide it into approximately two halves, and take …
Just how far from shore are you anchored?
Any old hand knows that an anchored boat looks tighter in to the rocks from her deck than she ever does from the shore. A useful reassurance if you have radar is to set the electronic range ring to …
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Datum shift – no such thing in real life? Blood on the decks
It’s always tempting on a hot day to sail barefoot, but there’s many a yacht with blood on her decks from nature’s children stubbing their toes. A useful compromise is offer the tootsies to the sun in …
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