Nervous over my larger boat purchase. Is this normal?

Actually think spring lines are both the first and third things.

I don't sweat the dock help. I appreciate it, and I know that the plan here is merely to get lines on and the vessel (and surrounding vessels) out of harm's way. I always know that when we're in, that I'm spending the next 20 minutes reconfiguring everything. One of my pet peeves is dock hands that feel it imperative to cross spring lines at a companionway. But I don't bother trying to train them while coming in. We hand a line, give an instruction, then watch what actually happens and react to it.

The worst problem we have is with dockhands who not only do not know what they are doing but refuse to listen to instructions. And it is tough to figure out how much a dock attendant knows when you come into a new marina. I can deal with the guests on the boat, it is those on the dock which worry me. We even had a fellow boat owner years ago release the lines and push us off the dock before we started the engines. Of course, this was on a much smaller boat.

Our number one rule when approaching a dock is...never throw a line to anyone, no matter how many times they ask.
Instead hand them the line and say please put this on that cleat.
Years ago we were approaching the guest wall at our yacht club. My wife made the mistake of tossing the forward line to the dock person while I was still moving parallel to the dock. He immediately cleated my bow line and brought the boat to a hard stop almost throwing my wife off the bow.
My wife learned a valuable lesson that day.

It's very normal, don't worry. Bigger vessels are easier to handle than smaller vessels once you get used to the dimensions and throttle/thruster responses. The concept is the same. Good luck.

Yeah, bigger is slower to stop, so move more slowly in tight situations until you get a feel for her. In fact, get her out into the open and move her around a bit. You'll get the feel pretty quickly.

I agree. Honestly, I don't even care about the bow line unless working into a slip using dolphin pilings. I want a spring line in place and a stern line to keep me off my neighbors if the wind is blowing.

Rick DOT calm your self! It will be easier as the others have said due to more weight and size. Hopefully you can find some empty slips/docks with no boats around to paly with till you get it down, which won't be long. Enjoy!! Just keep it slow incase you bump something other than another boat.

What about when you only have cleats on the dock and no pilings? Do you do the same thing? I would be afraid of the line coming off the cleat when tension is released.

I will have to try that. That is a good idea. I'm just a little nervous about the line going limp and getting off the cleat, until you wrap it. BUT I will give it a few tries.

I'm going through the same but I already know the answer. Go big, you will not be disappointed. I hired the captain who worked on the boat I purchased on a month to month basis. So, he is familiar with all the systems and can teach me. I lined it up (about 10 feet out from a dock yesterday) .. feel ready to pull it out of the slip later this week with the Captain close by my side ready to take over. It's big fun!

Many different ways of skinny a cat:
This is the easiest.


Then you change it to avoid chafe and avoid jumping line