Mooring workshop: back off and come in again

ISSA accreditation.

Last updated: February 13, 2026

Croatia
Seven days
no more than four people
1,000 to 2,000 euros

Mooring workshop: stern to the dock, bow to a rock, or a buoy. Seven days, no more than four people. Six nights, Saturday evening to Saturday morning. The range for the week is 1,000 to 2,000 euros a person.

Mooring workshop: back off and come in again

Looking for a different week?

If you were looking for the first week on a yacht, open the page Yacht Crew.

If you need to set and adjust the sails, open the page Workshop for setting and adjusting the sails. This week does not set the sails.

If you are already ready to lead the yacht near shore yourself, open the page Inshore Skipper.

Which step to take is on the page How to become a skipper.

How you moor the yacht to the dock

The dock is the place the boat comes in to. On the drawings the bow is the pointed end of the boat, and the stern is the straight end. Stern to the dock, and three other ways, are below.

Sailboats in Zadar marina, already moored. This is not the minute of the approach and not a FairHelm training. Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0

Stern to the dock and bow to a rock

Stern to the dock on the Mediterranean is not held the same way as bow to a rock in Sweden. The drawings show what holds the bow, and where the anchor goes.

The Mediterranean and a rock

Drawing: the line from the bottom to a block
A line from the bottom
On the Mediterranean, where the anchors of the boats next to you would catch each other, the bow is held by a line that is already lying in the water. It leads to a heavy chain or a concrete block on the seabed. You pick it up at the dock and lead it to the bow, so the stern is not pressed against the dock.
Drawing: an anchor from the bow, stern at the dock
Your own anchor from the bow
When that line is not there, you let the anchor go from your own bow while the stern goes toward the dock. You then take up the chain, and the stern stays at its distance from the dock.
Drawing: the bow at the rock, the anchor from the stern
Bow to the rock
In Sweden the bow comes up to the rock, and you let the anchor go from the stern. The bow lines go to a ring or a bolt already set in the rock, or to a tree. The rudder stays farther from the rock. Before you stay, you look whether the wind will be onto the rock by morning. A wet rock is slippery, and you leave the lines so you can let them go from the boat.
Drawing: the side along the rock
Alongside the rock
You lie this way only when the depth, the wind, and the rock itself allow it. A rock is not a flat dock, and the fenders here are not all the same. When the place does not suit, bow to the rock with an anchor from the stern is the steadier way.

A finger, two posts, and the side of another boat are already not a flat dock and not a rock.

Wind, current, and drift before the approach

While the boat is still sitting, the hand already wants to head for the dock. First you look at the wind, the current, and the drift. Once the boat has started, those three things cannot be read again.

Back off and come in again

The boat is going into the wrong gap, and the end of the line is still in the water. You take the boat off the dock and come in once more. That move is called back off and come in again. You take the line in at once, so it is not wound onto the propeller. The propeller turns under the water and moves the boat.

Knots for mooring

On the week you work through the various knots mooring needs. The order in which the line is led is not written out on this page: it is shown on the boat.

Who stands where at the dock is written on the page Crew roles on a bareboat. A fender is the soft cushion between the side and the dock, or between two boats, so the side does not hit.

Your own sports insurance

For the teaching days it makes sense to have your own sports insurance. The school does not sell it here.

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