Marina Services in a Nutshell

For anyone new to the world of yachting or even the occasional seasoned yachtsman, the array of services offered by marinas may seem overwhelming but every single one plays a crucial role in the upkeep of your boat or your boating holiday experience.

Take a moment to familiarise yourself with the facilities and services you could come across at a top class marina.

Berths

Berths are used to secure yachts to land while they are static. They form the basis of any marina, and determine its size or how many boats it can accommodate at any one time. Berths are usually formed as a series of piers covered in decking to make it easy for people to walk along them.

As yacht sizes vary, so do berth sizes. It's vital to check before your departure whether the marina you have planned to moor your boat at is able to welcome a vessel as large or small as yours.

Security

The best marinas provide 24-hour security to make sure no unauthorised persons have access to the boats. This lets you enjoy your travels without worrying as to whether something might have gone wrong with your boat. It's also simply reassuring to know someone is on the spot to alert you if anything goes wrong with your vessel.

Fuel Service

One of the most important services offered by marinas worldwide is refuelling. Just like most forms of modern vehicle, yachts rely on fuel to be powered. Marinas will have specialists on hand to help you or take care of the refuelling for you.

Laundry Facilities

You'll likely have spent a considerable period of time onboard your yacht before berthing at a marina. It's therefore only natural you'll have collected a pile of laundry.

Most modern marinas are equipped with laundry facilities for you to be able to wash your linen, clothing and towels.

Waste Removal

Just as you'll have acquired dirty laundry, so too you'll have collected rubbish en route. The most is usually produced in the kitchen for cooking.

Whatever you do, don't discard of rubbish in the sea. The world's waters are dangerously polluted as is. Wait until you've berthed your yacht at a marina where waste disposal is readily available. The most contemporary marinas even offer recycling facilities for glass, paper, plastic and cans.

Pump-out Facilities

Yachts are fully equipped to be lived in so inbuilt bathrooms and toilets are essential. Obviously, the waste water produced cannot be pumped into the sea, it has to be safely gotten rid of. Marinas provide pump-out facilities for this particular purpose. It's the safest, most logical and environmentally-friendly way for you to dispose of the waste water.

Personal Care Facilities

As washroom facilities onboard tend to be a bit cramped, many marinas provide personal care facilities with a bit more room for your hygiene and beauty routines.

Deck Wash

It's common around the world from marinas in Middle East to marinas in the Caribbean to provide deck wash services. This is an affordable luxury for yacht owners that sees your deck given a good clean so it's ready not only for you but also guests. It also saves you from having to do the hard graft yourself!

Learn to Sail Like a Pro - How to Anchor Under Sail!

If you are anything like me, you're always looking to make short-handed sailing easier and more efficient. How many times have you found anchoring a handful for you and your sailing crew? Once you try cockpit anchoring, you'll be hooked for sure!

Cruising sailboats with small, easy-to-handle marine anchors can take advantage of this quick and easy sailing technique. Follow these five simple steps to set up your cockpit for short-handed anchoring.

1. Prepare the Stern Pulpit Mount

Cruising sailboats with small marine anchors should try cockpit anchoring. This makes launching easier and less stressful for short-handed sailing crews.

Measure across the flukes of your anchor. Cut a piece of PVC a bit wider than your measurement. Split the tube and clamp it to the stern rail.

2. Mount the Anchor

Drape your anchor over the PVC tube so that the flukes face inboard. Keep the shank outboard. Lash the anchor down with easy-to-remove bungee cord.

3. Attach the Anchor Chain

Remove the chafing chain from the lower part of your anchor rode. Take it back to the cockpit and bend it (attach it) to the anchor. Lead the chain outside of the stern pulpit and back into the cockpit.

4. Fairlead the Anchor Rode

Pull a length of rope anchor rode from your anchor locker equal to your boat length and cleat the line. Coil the remaining line toward the bitter end.

Lead the coil through the bow chock and feed it out as you walk back to the cockpit. Stay outside of all stanchions, rails, and shrouds. Attach the rope bitter end to the chain bitter end.

5. Launch Your Cockpit Anchor

Remove the bungee from your anchor. Use just the mainsail alone for good control when anchoring under sail. Approach on a close reach. This point of sail gives you the most control over your boat speed. Turn up into the wind when you are within two to three boat lengths of the anchoring spot. Ease the mainsheet all the way, luff the mainsail, and wait for the boat to stop. Drop the anchor.

Once the anchor makes contact with the bottom, backwind the mainsail. Push the boom out against the wind. This will force the boat to move astern and dig the anchor into the seabed. Alternate sides when you backwind; move the boom to the opposite side and backwind for a few seconds; then to the other side. Site an object ashore in line with the side of the boat. If the object stays steady, that means your anchor has dug in.

There are many ways to rig a cockpit anchor, but this method will give you a 2:1 or 3:1 scope in shallow water anchorages. Once the anchor sets, increase the scope to 7:1 or more for safe overnight anchoring.

Use these five simple sailing tips to get your marine anchor ready to launch from your cockpit. This will make anchoring under sail easier and less stressful for you and your short-handed sailing crew.

Olympic Sailing - Inspiring New Sailors

Sailing Made its Olympic debut in Paris, at the 1900 games. It began with both men's and women's competitions and has been scheduled at every Olympic Games since, with the exception of the 1904 St. Louis games. It's only been called 'sailing' since 1996 - prior to this, the event was called yachting.

This year, the summer games were hosted here in the UK for an unprecedented third time. Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour in the south of England hosted 10 sailing events over two weeks of competition. Each event consists of a series of races, where points are awarded according to finishing position. The winner gets one point, the person in second place gets two, the person in third 3 and so on and so forth. In the final, medal race, the points are doubled. After this final event, the individual or crew with the lowest number of points in total is declared the winner.

Sailing at the summer games saw some moderate success for the home nation, but British Olympian Ben Ainslie became the most decorated Olympic sailor of all time, winning Team GB's only gold on home water. The hosts did pick up 4 silver medals too, bagging the most medals in total.

The Olympics were held with the intent to 'inspire a generation' and since they began in July, youth programs and sports clubs have seen a huge influx of new recruits, all eager to start what may one day be their own Olympic journey. Sailing is one of the UK's most prized sports, something the nation is typically very good at - but it can seem a little inaccessible.

Yachting can be an extremely rewarding pastime - and don't let the word yacht fool you, we're not talking about huge machines costing millions upon millions - you can buy a boat for far less than you might think. In fact, it's pretty easy to find boats for sale on the internet, and a broker can help you source one. But before spending money on a new sailboat, it might be worth going out on the water as a volunteer crew member or taking a class in sailing.

When you are ready, finding yachts for sale is going to be relatively easy and you could, as mentioned before, take the services of a broker. A yacht broker works to sell a yacht for a client, but can also find you a boat for sale and will likely have many suitable and well maintained vessels ready for you to see - it can take quite a lot of risk out of buying a used boat, similar to when buying a used car from a dealership.

If Olympic sailing has inspired you or someone you know, spend a little time on the internet, at your local library or check out the nearest marina. Get to know the sport and try it out first - if you catch the bug, then start looking for boats!