Do Your Homework Before You Arrive

Few things unsettle a crew more than arriving at an unfamiliar marina with no idea where they are going. Ten minutes on the radio before you enter the harbour removes most of that anxiety. Call the marina office on their working channel — VHF channel 80 is common around the UK, but the almanac or harbourmaster will confirm — and ask four specific questions: which berth, what type, which side to, and what the approach looks like.

Berth type matters more than most newcomers expect. A finger pontoon gives you a short walk-ashore line and a fixed side to aim at; a hammerhead or a quay demands a different technique entirely. Ask whether you will be lying alongside another vessel, and whether there is a sill to cross. A sill that dries to a metre means your arrival window might be two hours either side of high water, and there is no shame in waiting at a buoy for it.

Write the details down: berth number, side, channel, sill height, and the name of the person you spoke to. Memory fails at the moment you need it most.

Fenders: Plan for the Full Tide, Not the Moment

The most common first-visit mistake is setting fenders for the water you can see, rather than the water you will have in six hours. On a stretch of coast with a four- or five-metre range, a fender set neatly at deck level on arrival can be hanging uselessly in the air by the evening, or grinding its way up onto the pontoon.

• Rig at least four fenders on the side you expect to lie to — bow, two amidships, and stern. Six is not excessive on a blowy day.
• Lead the amidships fenders from a cleat or jackstay low down, so they can slide and still sit against the hull at low water.
• Check the height of the pontoon relative to your rubbing strake. If the pontoon will end up above it, the fenders need to go higher, not lower.
• Keep one ready on the other side, in case the wind or the berth allocation changes your mind.

Warps, Springs and a Line That Reaches the Pontoon

Prepare your lines before you enter the fairway, not while you are drifting sideways in it. As a minimum you want a bow line, a stern line and two springs — a bow spring and a stern spring — each long enough to reach a bollard some distance along the pontoon.

The trick that makes a berthing look competent is the slip line: one long warp led from the bow cleat, outside the guardrails and stanchions, back to the stern, with the end coiled and ready in the cockpit. Handed ashore, it gives whoever is on the pontoon a single line they can walk forward with, and you can then make it off as a spring or adjust it into whatever line you actually need.

Cleat everything properly — a full turn and a figure of eight, or a round turn and two half hitches. Never make a line fast to a pulpit, a stanchion, a windlass or a guardrail; they are not built for the load. Brief the crew before the approach: one on the bow, one amidships with a boat hook, one on the stern line, and nobody jumping.

Calling Up and Reading the Fairway

Call the marina again on approach, briefly and clearly: your boat name, your position, and that you are inbound for your allocated berth. Listen before you transmit, keep it to two sentences, and do not chat.

Inside the fairway, slow down. A marina is a five-knot place at best, and one knot of boat speed through the water is plenty for most manoeuvring. Look for the wind on other boats' burgees and rigging, and work out where the tide is running — in a river mouth, wind against tide will make the boat behave as though it has a mind of its own.

The Final Approach and Coming Alongside

Approach at the shallowest angle you can manage, bow first, letting wind and tide do as much of the work as possible. Aim to bring the bow alongside first, then let the stern swing in. Remember that a right-handed propeller pulls the stern to port when you go astern, so a short burst of reverse is both a useful brake and a nudge that pushes your stern away from a starboard-side pontoon. Use that rather than fighting it.

Have the boat hook ready, keep hands and feet inside the boat, and let the pontoon take the boat's weight through the fenders. Give your crew clear, calm instructions — "bow line ashore now" rather than a stream of half-finished sentences.

If It Goes Wrong, and Once You're Made Fast

Almost every berthing that goes badly is recoverable. If the approach is not working, go astern, get clear of the fairway, and go round again. Nobody on the pontoon will remember a second attempt; they will remember a crash.

Once alongside, make off bow, stern and springs, then check the fenders again against the tide. Adjust the springs so the boat cannot creep fore and aft, and slacken or tighten as the water rises or falls. Then find the office, pay, ask about the gate code, water and shore power, and put the kettle on. The next berth will feel entirely different.