Over a period of years, you notice people (and myself from time to time) do some really silly things. It is not the silly thing you do, its the lesson you learn. Maybe I can save you some trouble.
Coming up to a mooring
I often say to students, dont follow everyone else when picking up a mooring. So many people come up to a mooring, with the buoy in front of the boat, invisible to the helmsperson, and hard for the guy with the boat hook to reach, as they are clambering around the forestay, in the pulpit, caught up around the foil and otherwise inconvenienced. Why not bring the buoy up about the first stanchion from the bow? And choose the same side as your gears. The helmsman can see the buoy, the crew member is not standing in the bow, and the whole performance in the bow is simplified. Think about it!
Picking up a Mooring - borrowing a mooring on a slip
Picking up moorings is always seen by students as difficult. Firstly it requires a manoeuvre to a certain position, with a stop at the end of it and a crew member being armed and trained to pick it up and then have the skills and knowledge to know what to do with it when it comes on board.
I have always struggled with that concept. Then I met a lovely lady who had lost two fingers putting a mooring line on the bow of the boat. (big boat). She explained that the wind had taken the bow away from the stationary positions and almost kamikaze style she sacrificed her fingers (literally) to make sure the mooring line was in place.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the whole exercise was futile and her fingers were lost through lack of training, not through some altruistic need to put her life on the line.
You shouldn’t have to put a mooring line on a cleat and you should never have to take on such a load. Why wouldn’t you simply, lift the line sufficient and put a loop in the line and have one end secured to one clear and one end to another cleat.
No strain, no dirty mooring line on the boat, no fingers crushed. And better, when you want to depart, you don’t go through the strain again of getting the mooring line off the cleat, you simply let one side go and it departs easily and slips into the water. You can even do that single handed.
Coming alongside - only send a loop
Don’t you love it? You are coming alongside and people offer to tie your lines for you. You throw the line and they secure you, whether you are still moving, or not. Then the inevitable happens, you put it around the cleat, tie it off, and they tie off their end, if they haven’t already done so and the boat hits the wharf.
How could they know? And you are handing them control of your boat. Is that really what you intended? Best to always control your own boat when coming alongside.
Most volunteers on marinas have been sitting on their boats, perhaps having a drink or two. Why don’t you simply send a loop over, either in a fixed loop, with a bowline, or a loop where they put it around the cleat and pass it back to you.
That way you control your boat and you control your destiny.
I have learnt after hitting the wharf many times, a well meaning person on the wharf is no substitute for a properly thought out wharf approach providing only the loop for the attendant, and keeping control of all lines and tensions on board.
Hose
How many people have you seen, get their hose, put it in the tank, then walk down the wharf, attach it, usually after must consternation about fittings, and turn it on? Well done genius! All the stale water that has been in the hose for weeks and months goes straight into your tank. Or worse, you have used the hose for a deck wash and may have had salt water going through it.
Silly, please, just let the water run for a while before you put it in your tank. The Scotch will taste much better. Just another suggestion, before heading out to sea, or even a race, make yourself a cup of coffee. It has the advantage of checking the water to make sure it is still drinkable, checks the stove fuel and ensures that your water system is functioning. Better to find it out at the wharf than at the heads.
Sail Care
I remain amused watching the end of a yacht race, where people hang out spinnakers to dry, leaving them to flog off the mast, ageing them years in an hour or so. Or they fold their sails on the marina, treading the expensive material into the cement. Or they fold synthetic sails in the same place every time. My students don't do that!