🔍 Key Concepts

• Effect of current on low-speed maneuvering near a dock • How working into the current or with the current changes your control and stopping ability • Safe approach angle when docking and use of mooring lines

💭 Think About

• Think about when you have the greatest control of the vessel at very slow speeds: when the water is moving past your rudder/hull or when it is not • If something goes wrong on approach, in which current situation can you most easily stop or back away from the dock? • Consider whether a 90° approach or having the dock crew pull you in with a line gives you good control over the vessel’s position and momentum

✅ Before You Answer

• Which option gives the best control at slow speed and the easiest ability to stop or back out? • Eliminate any choices that would make you depend on people ashore to control the vessel instead of your own engine and rudder • Eliminate any approach that would bring you straight in at a right angle with limited ability to slide along the dock and stop gently