Docking Practice

Docking practice with Alexis

Docked up into the wind, on the Antigua Yacht Club Marina pier. Usually this is crowded with super-yachts packed in like sardines, but we had an entire pier to ourselves for practice, into the wind.

Just a single super-yacht on the other side of the dock, whose captain was admiring our boat as much as we were gawping at his 200ft schooner

Communication is key, and tricky across a 60ft deck. But once we'd figured out the critical signals, we got it down pat.

The yacht does catch the wind a bit, so as soon as the bow line has been thrown, we needed to get the engine in reverse to try to pull the stern in. Quick bowlines help :)

After some practice, motored around the point to English harbour, to visit their fuel dock, and practice some manoeuvring in their tight anchorage. Bought 25gallons of diesel, filling it through the Baja filter, but it's a slow process. Fuelling an empty 650l tank would take hours...

Sailed back on the genoa, which gave us 5+kts, for a lot less hassle than the main. Experimented with pointing on only the genoa, and could get to about 40° of apparent wind, not bad. Not needing to pull down a massive main, we could sail all the way into the anchorage.

Navionics Track