Mooring the ‘wrong side’
I quite often see people mooring on the windward side of a lock. The obvious problem here is that if you are not able to attach your lines, you will drift to the leeward side of the lock and crash into it. In the Netherlands we have many locks and I have passed through hundreds of them in the past 30 years — many singlehanded in both a Pioneer 10 and a long keel 36ft Koopmans. Unless there isn’t the space to do so, I always intend to moor to the leeward side of the lock.
It is true that if your speed is too high, there is a chance you will damage your hull, but you can control your speed. The biggest advantage, however, is that if for some reason you fail to attach your mooring line to the lock wall, you will at least be ‘steady’ against it (and yes, you will need two or more fenders to protect the hull). In all the lock transits I have made it has never gone wrong.
Another suggestion I have is to moor primarily on a stern line running from your headsail sheet winch. You can do this with all wind directions but a brief word of warning: you should fully stop the yacht with your engine, as winches are not built to deal with the shock-loading likely to be experienced. The winch will easily hold the yacht once stopped. Doing this ensures the mooring line is ‘pointing’ towards the turning point of the yacht, which offers better static control. If you use the stern mooring cleat you might not be able to do so unless the yacht has a very wide stern.