Lunch With George!

Who is that Wilhelm guy?

"Spring lines are lines used to tie a boat to a dock. The typical recommendation is to use a bow and stern line, running more or less perpendicular to the dock, to hold the boat against the dock, and then a pair of spring lines running from the bow aft at a shallow angle to the dock, and from the stern forward. They always say these are to keep the boat from surging fore and aft.

I was only using the bow and stern lines, figuring they work just as well to keep the boat in place - it's not going anywhere as long as it's tied to the dock - but as I was resting on the boat one day, feeling it shifting around, it occurred to me that while the bow and stern lines worked fine for keeping it from going too far forward or aft, they did so at a much greater tension than would be needed by spring lines. Since spring lines lie more in line with the force they're opposing, they don't need to go nearly as taut to resist it. And I was thinking about that weak forward chock on my boat that the bow line runs through, and thinking that maybe a spring line might be less likely to pop it loose. So now my boat sports spring lines as well as bow and stern lines."

Docking Under Sail
George also reported his first attempt at docking under sail (rather than using his small outboard), and it was also his first successful attempt. Good work, George!