Docking in St. Augustine

Getting to the dock at St. Augustine is often very challenging. It's one of those places with BIG pier poles and rollers so that the dock can REALLY rise and fall. Just look at the picture.

Anyway, the story starts when we arrived in St. Augustine. It's time to mention that the current is also very strong. And, here is the marina map.

You can see our little boat crabbing into the marina- with both wind and current trying to mess with us. Mike was at the helm. Terry was giving masterful instructions on how to do the crabbing and backing into the slip just right. Believe me, we were a sight to behold one guy in a dinghy was so impressed that he could not stop watching us- at least until he realized that he was directly in our path! LUX got a standing ovation when we tied up.

I can't say it enough- we were impressive. So much so that another boat owner came looking for Terry. He had his Lagoon 44 out on a mooring ball because it was new to him. And, he was not quite sure he knew how to get it in and docked next to us. In fact, he had the marina looking for a captain for him. He needed to have the boat in the marina the next day for repair work. Being a good A.S.P.S. member, Terry offered to help him in the same way he worked with Mike- in other words, Terry was willing to instruct him! The gentleman thought that was a great plan. But, he didn't want to come in right away- he wanted to go fishing first. So, Terry gave him available times the next day. And, we went off exploring.

At nine that night, Terry and the guy on the other boat that this would be a good time to bring the boat in. It was slack tide with no wind, so they agreed that they would do it then- even if it was dark. After rousing Peggy and Rich from their bunks, he went off. Terry got them in, but they would not listen to our favorite bit of Al advice- SLOW, SLOW, SLOW! As they got ready to back into the slip, I could hear Peggy yelling at them to SLOW DOWN! They also need to learn Al's other favorite saying- Neutral is your friend! But they did get it into the slip with no harm done. Mike had shown up by the end, so there were three crew on the docks to deal with the lines. Everything was done by 10:30 PM. Terry had orchestrated not one but two masterful docking maneuvers in one day! And, we had new neighbors.