Lesson Number 4231

Probably not really lesson number 4231--could be 5789 or 1098, but a really good lesson.  Never, never risk your body when docking a boat.  As we were pulling in from a morning sail yesterday, the wind was pushing us away from the slip.  With the great rigging in the slip, the boat was not in any danger of causing itself, the dock or other boats any harm.  But Gay, being of the long legs and long arms, stretched out mightily to reach the dock and was trapped with her feet on the dock and her hands on the rail (and her weight still on her arms). Faced with the prospect of a drop into the water, she managed to give one mighty heave and barely made it onto the dock.  The rest of the docking went off like clockwork.  Which led to the inevitable discussion-what would we have done if she had gone into the drink?  How could she keep from getting pushed between the boat and the dock and also stay out of the way of the prop?  Well, the answer seems to be--don't risk going in the water--that means never jump to the dock, stretch too far or.....  Bottom line, use a boat hook, wait until the helmsman can bring the boat closer to the slip.   Or in difficult conditions, if help is available, ask for it.  Heaven forbid, if it happens, make sure the engine is in neutral so the prop is not spinning.  If you are in the water, get out of the slip somehow--even go under the dock.  Then figure out how to get out of the water.  But get out of harms way first.  There are no ladders into the water at our slip--perhaps something that needs changed.