A Beginner's Guide to Harbour Etiquette

Why Harbour Etiquette Matters

A harbour is a shared front room. Tides move through it, the wind funnels down it and, at the height of summer, a great many people are trying to do quite different things in the same modest patch of water. Some are setting off, some are arriving, some are hauling a tender up a slipway and some are simply enjoying a quiet cup of tea on deck. A little courtesy goes a very long way, and most of what we call harbour etiquette comes down to a single idea: make it easy for the next person.

None of this is mysterious. It is not about having the smartest fenders or the longest training history. It is about a handful of habits that keep everyone safe, keep lines of communication open and keep the atmosphere friendly. Learn these early and you will be welcome back at the same berth year after year.

Keep Gangways, Pontoons and Ramps Clear

Gangways and ramps are the narrow arteries of a harbour, and they are never the place to leave things. A coiled hose, a folded trolley, a cool box or a spare fender sitting on a pontoon might seem harmless for a moment, but a ramp on a falling tide can turn slippery in an instant, and someone carrying a heavy bag has nowhere to step around you.

• Park trolleys and wheelbarrows back at the top of the slipway, not beside the pontoon gate.
• Run power leads and hosepipes along the edge of the walkway, never across the middle, and never across a neighbouring berth's access point.
• Do not block a gate, a fire point, a lifebuoy station or the top of a step. These get used in a hurry, usually by someone else.
• Keep a foldable trolley folded. If you need it out, stay with it.
• When you stop for a chat, step to one side first. Harbour conversations can run long, and the walkway is not wide enough for two of them.

Treat Mooring Lines With Respect

A mooring line is not a handrail, a laundry line or a footpath. It is holding a boat, sometimes a heavy one, and it is under tension you cannot see. Standing on a line can roll it under your boot, damage the fibres and – worse – flick it loose or injure you if it suddenly comes taut.

The same applies to the lines of other people's boats. If a neighbour's spring is lying across your path, step over it rather than moving it. If you genuinely must lift it, lift it back exactly where you found it, keeping the same lead and the same tension. Ropes are usually set for a reason: the tide, a forecast, a boat's particular quirks.

• Step over lines, never on them, and warn others behind you.
• Never adjust, retie or slacken a line on a boat that is not yours.
• Learn a cleat properly – a round turn and a figure of eight, finished with a locking turn. A lazy pile of half-hitches will work loose overnight.
• Check your own lines before you leave the boat and again when you return. Tides rise, lines tighten and boats move.
• Keep a sharp knife within reach, but know that cutting a line is a last resort, not a shortcut.

Read the Notices and Follow Local Rules

Every harbour has its own small print, and it is nearly always posted where you arrive: on the noticeboard by the gate, on the harbour office window or on a sign at the head of the pontoon. Five minutes spent reading it saves an afternoon of confusion.

Look out for speed limits, which are often as low as four or five knots inside the harbour walls; no-wash zones; areas reserved for swimmers, dinghies or commercial craft; and berths marked for visitors only. Harbour dues exist to keep the lights on, the pontoons maintained and the dredging done, so pay them promptly rather than hoping nobody notices.

• Slow down early. Wash from a hurried motorboat is the single most common cause of complaint in a sheltered harbour.
• Note where tenders may be left and where they may not. A dinghy tied to a fuel pontoon is a genuine obstruction.
• Respect mooring buoys and private trot moorings. They belong to someone, and they are not free parking.
• If the sign is unclear, ring the harbour office or ask a neighbour. Nobody minds being asked; everybody minds being surprised.

Noise, Wash and the Small Courtesies

Sound carries over water in a way that surprises people. Engines idling at dawn, halyards slapping in a breeze, a radio left on in an empty cockpit and a late-night chat on deck all travel further than you think. This is not about tiptoeing about, just about noticing.

Keep the noise down before seven in the morning and after ten at night. Secure loose halyards before you turn in, even if it means a short trip up the pontoon. Run engines and generators only when you need them. And when you pass another boat, slow down, pass wide and leave the wash behind you rather than alongside.

When in Doubt, Ask and Help

The strongest tradition in any harbour is that people help each other. Take a stranger's line when they come alongside, warn them about a weak cleat, offer a spare fender, pass along the news that the water point is out of order. If you are unsure whether a berth is free, whether it is deep enough at low water or whether your lines look right, ask the person nearest to you. They will almost certainly remember being new themselves.

Get these habits right and harbour life becomes effortless: you arrive, you are welcomed, you settle in, and everyone around you has a slightly easier day because of it.