SAIL YOURSELF HOME

For those aboard a cruising yacht sailing without an engine due to breakdown rather than choice, the learning curve is going to be steep. In open water, it’s normal sailing, you’ll just be trying to make progress in conditions when you might have opted to motor, such as light winds or beating up a channel. It’s a good incentive to get your sail trim right, your telltales flying, and tacks as smooth as possible.

Close-quarters handling under sail, however, is a skill worth practising. Find a mooring buoy in open water and sail up to and away from it, stopping the boat, then getting underway again – it’s a surprisingly fun way to spend an hour on the water.

MOORING BY SAIL

It’s entirely possible to sail onto a hammerhead or river pontoon, and certainly onto a mooring or anchor. You’ll need to consider what the wind and tide are doing, and which one is going to slow you down most effectively. If it’s wind and tide together, make your approach upwind with both sails set. Have a bail-out plan if you’re coming in with too much speed or you don’t feel in control. Feather the sails on a close reach to slow down, but avoid going head to wind as you won’t be able to accelerate again if needed.

If wind and tide are opposed, it’s best to sail upwind of your target, then drop the mainsail and approach downwind under headsail. That way you can furl and unfurl the genoa to control your speed as you stem the tide.

Whichever way you’re going, remember that you can’t slam the brakes on, so control your speed early, but keep some steerage way on to keep control. You’ll also discover you need to ferry glide as you slow down if there’s any stream – another skill to conquer.

NAVIGATING FINGER BERTHS

Sailing into a finger berth is another matter, however, and you may need assistance from the marina – they will usually be happy to help you into your berth rather than risk damage to other boats. It’s also worth remembering that using warps to manoeuvre the boat is surprisingly effective; throw a long line across to where you want to end up, and gradually ease the boat across. You just need to have thought about how the wind and tide will affect the boat, and have a line in place to act against them and keep the boat under control.