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Braking A Boat

Photo 1 – Turn on a dock cleat

Photo 2 – S turn on the deck cleat

I’m just waiting for the moment around the Yacht Club piers when someone gets pulled into the water by trying to control a big boat in wind simply by pulling on the boat’s docking line. It’s just a question of when -- not if. There are more efficient ways of “braking” a boat to get it to stop, or controlling it in wind or locking procedures. The very first rule is that you must get the line around something for leverage and friction. On the pier you can use pilings or cleats. If you need just a little force then a half turn around a piling can suffice, but if it’s very windy or the boat is moving quickly then a full round turn is best, crossing the line over itself for the friction. On a cleat a simple turn around the cleat as shown in photo 1 will do the trick, allowing you to completely control even a 100,000 pound boat. Take it around the second horn if you need more control. When we lock through, or when control is needed against great forces, the S turn around the cleat on our deck is very effective as in photo 2. My 5’4” wife Lisa once completely controlled our boat when it went out of control during the flooding of a lock. We had a 100,000 pound boat rafted to us, and we ourselves weigh 44,000 pounds. The lockmaster flooded the lock too fast (I think it was his shift change & he was anxious. In the violent whirlpools & surges the aft locking line snapped and Lisa was left controlling our 144,000 pound whip lashing raft with a single line using this S turn. I used full throttles inside the lock with engines in forward and reverse while she worked the line! We made it but it did get quite exciting. Just a little leverage is all you need to easily control boats while docking.

P/C Gregory T. Absten