Departure
With a little patience, solo sailing is rarely more difficult than sailing two- or three-up for the experienced skipper. Manoeuvres take longer to complete and you are likely to spend more time in the cockpit than you otherwise might, but your approach to most situations will be broadly the same. Where things can get tricky is in slipping the lines and mooring – the latter being all the worse for coming at the end of your passage and so your decision making is likely to be impaired through weariness.
Slipping the lines is clearly much easier if the wind is blowing you off the pontoon. Here your midships cleat will come in handy as you can get yourself tight to the pontoon with this and then drop the bow line, before heading back to remove the stern line and finally slipping the midships line. Do remember to have plenty of fenders fore and aft as the boat may pivot around the midships cleat, depending on wind and tide direction.
As ever, the process for leaving a windward berth can be trickier. It is easier to spring off the bow first as you have cockpit access to your sternline. So this is your best option if there is little to no tide, or the tide is coming from ahead. If there is no tide running and the wind is blowing to onto your pontoon, then you will probably need to motor astern with the stern line firm to help bring the bow out. Once it moves clear of the pontoon you can motor ahead as you slip the sternline.
With the tide from astern, use a slipped bow spring. With sufficient tide the engine does not have to be engaged; simply slip all the lines bar the bow spring, go to the foredeck, watch the stern come away from the pontoon, slip the spring and return to the cockpit.
Once you are in open water, set the engine slow ahead and engage the autopilot while you recover lines and fenders. Lines can be coiled and fenders tidied away in the cockpit.