The Spring Line: Dock Without a Bang

The how-to

A bow line and a stern line fight each other, because each one is trying to drag a different end of the boat against a pontoon that is not going anywhere.

A midships spring fights nothing at all: it stops the boat surging fore and aft, and it gives your engine something solid to push against.

That is the whole trick, and once the spring is on you can take your time with everything else, including the lines you used to throw in a panic.

Phase one: prep before you turn in

Fenders go at the point of contact, which on most trailer-sailers and small keelboats means one at the shoulder, one at the widest point and one on the quarter.

Rig two springs from the midships cleat, one led forward and one led aft, both coiled outside the lifelines so nothing snags a stanchion at the worst moment.

Brief the crew in ten seconds, giving one person one line, and agree that you will use single words such as 'spring', 'on', 'hold' and 'stop'.

Put the engine in tickover early and shift once ahead and once astern well before the turn, so you know the gearbox bites before you need it.

Read the wind and the stream on the way in, because a cross breeze that sets you off the pontoon changes which spring you want on first.

Phase two: initiation, the crawl and the angle

Come in at 10 to 20 degrees to the pontoon, aiming your midships cleat at the dock cleat you have already picked out and pointed to.

Hold walking pace or less, under 1 knot (1.9 km/h), which is slow enough that a crew member can step off without a run up.

Work the gearlever, not the throttle, bumping ahead and back to neutral so the boat keeps steerage without ever building speed you have to kill.

Phase three: commitment, the forward spring

The forward spring goes on first, dropped or lassoed onto a cleat ahead of the boat while the bow is still off the timber.

Nobody steps ashore with the bow line, because the moment that line is made fast the stern swings out and you have lost control of the boat.

Once the spring is on you own the boat, and the rest of the manoeuvre becomes a slow squeeze rather than a scramble along the side deck.

More throttle is not more crash: with a forward spring on, ahead power stops being forward motion and turns into a sideways squeeze.

Phase four: execution, thrust into squeeze

Take up the slack, then engine ahead slow with the helm turned hard away from the pontoon, and hold it there while you watch the stern.

The spring stops her going forward, so all that thrust has nowhere to go except into a steady pivot that walks the stern in against the fenders.

For the opposite problem, use the after spring, leading aft from midships, and go astern against it to pull a stubborn bow in toward the pontoon.

Leave her in gear at tickover while the crew works, because the boat will sit pinned and quiet for as long as you keep the pressure on.

Phase five: recovery, lines in order

Bow line first, then stern line, both passed and made fast while the boat is still held alongside by the spring and the engine.

Never do it the other way around, because a stern line onto a boat with no bow line simply hands the bow back to the breeze.

Then take the engine out of gear, adjust the spring so it takes the surge from passing wash, and only then shut down and step ashore.

What right and wrong feel like

Right feels like nothing much happening: the boat stops ranging fore and aft, the hull settles, and the fender just kisses the timber with a squeak.

Wrong is a bang at the bow followed by a scramble aft with a line in one hand, which almost always traces back to a line made fast in the wrong order.

Five mistakes that make the bang

Too much speed is the big one, because every extra half knot has to be absorbed by a fender, a topside or somebody's shoulder.

A spring that is too short becomes a breast line, snubbing the boat and bouncing her off instead of letting the load come on gradually.

No fender at the point of contact means three fenders hanging uselessly while the boat leans on bare gelcoat or a rubbing strake.

Bow line first feels natural and is wrong, since it pivots the boat around the bow and swings the stern out into the fairway.

Shouting loses you more berths than any wind shift, so keep to short single words that carry over an idling engine.

Practice and safety

Australian Sailing keelboat courses include docking under power, and an hour of springing on and off in a training boat is cheaper than one repair to a neighbour's topsides.

Lifejackets go on the crew working the pontoon when it is blowing, because stepping onto wet timber with a line in your hand is where people go in.

Hands and feet stay out of the gap, never between hull and pile, and never trying to fend off a loaded boat with an arm or a leg.

Pick a light day and a quiet corner for your first few attempts, and check the Hobart wind forecast or your local equivalent before you go.

Practise both springs, so that when the wind pins you on or blows you off you already know which line goes ashore first.

Got a berth that always bites you, or a favourite variation for a short-keeled trailer-sailer? Share it in the Seabreeze forums and compare notes with sailors who berth in the same conditions.

Which spring goes ashore first?

The forward spring, led from your midships cleat to a cleat ahead of the boat, unless a strong offshore breeze makes an after spring the better hold.

How long should the spring be?

Long enough to lead well forward at a shallow angle, roughly a third of your hull length, so the load comes on smoothly instead of snubbing.

Do I still need a bow line?

Yes, but it goes on after the spring has stopped the boat ranging, along with the stern line, in that order every time.

Can you spring in single-handed?

Yes, with a pre-measured spring in a fixed loop that you drop over a cleat or pile as you step off amidships at a crawl.