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**Dinghy Launch and Retrieval**
Published 2023-01-04; Updated 2023-06-30Sailing dinghies are dry sailed, meaning that they are retrieved from the water after sailing and stored on land.
The typical storage situations are:
- On a dolly (a.k.a. trolly, a hand trailer)
- Pulled out of the water onto a dock
- Pulled onto a beach or lawn
- Carried from a car or trailer
Launching from a dolly is generally the easiest and best to avoid damaging the boat's hull, and doing so from a protected beach is the preferred case.
Launching and landing are the times you are most likely to damage your boat or become injured. As with all of the notes in this series, I'm collecting publicly available information here and adding my experience, but not vouching for the accuracy or applicability of any of this information for your own sailing. Confirm everything with other sources, local experts, and your own experimentation.
Before launching, rig the boat with the centerboard and rudder raised. Leave the sail controls (vang and sheet) loose. Check all of the rigging. Is the sail at the top of the mast? Are all of the lines running clear and free from wear? Are the battens in good shape? Is the main sheet running through the block the correct way? And so on.
Determine the wind direction and look for signs of how it changes further out on the water. Look for boat traffic, swimmers, obstructions in the water, and other factors that will affect your navigation as and after you launch. Think about how you will later land before you launch. Consider how the wind and tide may change by then as well. Do not leave shore before you have a plan for how to land on return.
If launching from a dock, push the boat off the dock into the water while holding the painter. Turn the bow into the wind. Then, hold the mast and pull the boat alongside the dock so that it is facing upwind. If you need a moment to adjust things, sit on the dock with both feet in the cockpit holding the boat against the dock. Lower the centerboard and rudder before getting in the boat.
When ready to launch, hold the main sheet and tiller in one hand. Step into the boat while forcefully shoving off the dock with your back foot. Immediately sheet in, lower your head, and steer away from the wind so that you are close hauled or on a beam reach. Tighten the vang as you move away from the dock and get settled.
If launching directly from shore, move the boat into the water with the bow facing only a few degrees off the wind. Stay on the upwind side near the bow at all times so that you can control the boat and are not hit by the boom. In strong wind or any waves, ensure that this is also the sea side--never stand between a boat and the shore or a dock.
Get deep enough to drop the centerboard and rudder partway. If using a daggerboard, ensure that it is far enough down to allow a tack.
If you have a dolly, quickly run it up the shore far enough that waves and tide changes will not pull it in. If in waves, this is impossible to do without a second person. Do not leave a boat unattended in waves. It will capsize, smash into the bottom/shore, and potentially injure someone as it sweeps in to shore. A small boat with a wave behind it is a nearly unstoppable force.
Grab the main sheet and keep just enough tension to prevent the boom from swinging wildly. Hop in the boat over the gunnel or the stern. Quickly sheet in and steer off the wind. Drop and secure the rudder and centerboard as soon as the water is deep enough. Watch for sudden wind changes of strength or direction that often occur near shore. Tighten the vang.
As soon as the water is at least shoulder deep, you have maneuvering room, and are in relatively clear air, execute a tack in each direction and then a gybe. This ensures that none of your lines are tangled.
Because dinghies are often partly rigged each time they are launched, this rigging check is needed. Every time you rig is an opportunity to make a mistake. It is easy to have the tiller on the wrong side of a traveller or the vang wrapped around the cunningham. If there is a rigging failure that will prevent you from turning, then it is important to discover that early while still close to shore.
If there is a problem, simply return to knee deep water and fix it there. You probably do not need to pull the boat out of the water. Even a halyard jammed at the top of the mast can be corrected by capsizing and swimming to the masthead, or capsizing in knee-deep water and walking to it.
In light air, you may be able to fix simple rigging problems while sailing as well. For example, with some care as to balance, one can slide forward on a dinghy to re-rig a vang or cunningham while the sail is luffing. Beware that adjustments at the clew of the mainsail are the most difficult ones to perform while on the water, because holding the clew or aft end of the boom prevents it from luffing.
It is also important to execute the test tack and gybe soon after entering normal wind conditions to verify your understanding of the wind direction and strength and sea state. If you have difficulty executing a tack and gybe, the conditions are too challenging for you to sail that day. I compare this to testing the brakes on my car when driving in snow, to verify my stopping distance and traction.
Finally, if you are sailing in an unfamiliar area, look back at shore and memorize some landmarks so that you can find your landing spot later. Consider that cars and other boats may move, flags may be lowered, and the sun will change before then, so pick landmarks that will not be affected.
Plan your landing before you launch, and then when returning to shore review it explicitly. Determine how you will come in, where you will land, and fallback plans. Fallback plans include what to do if another boat arrives first, if you miss your desired landing, or if you have a capsize or equipment failure at the last moment.
If possible, raise the rudder and centerboard partway as you approach shore. Be prepared to release the vang and mainsheet when it is time to depower the boat.
If you have a choice of landing at a dock or a protected beach without waves, choose the beach. It gives you more options if there is traffic or something goes wrong, more choices of landing orientation, and is not a large, hard object that can damage your boat or body if a wave pushes you into it.
When landing at a dock, you must come to a stop with the boat facing upwind. You cannot land downwind or the boat will be swept down the dock. Do not run straight into the dock; always come alongside it in whichever direction is facing upwind. If possible, land on the leeward side of the dock so that the wind is pushing you away from the dock instead of pinning you to it and sweeping the boom into you.
Release the sheet and vang when the boat is alongside the dock and scamper out over the gunnel at the widest part of the boat. With experience you can learn to dock by stepping off your boat directly onto the dock, holding the mast the entire time. This requires balance and knowledge of how to steer well by only shifting your weight, so don't attempt it until you are confident. It is better to slide on your belly onto a dock like a novice than capsize next to it like an idiot.
When you exit the boat, hold on to the mast or the painter. If your boat has a halyard, drop the mainsail as soon as you are on the dock. Remove the rudder and raise the centerboard completely. When the boat is alongside the dock, be careful that it does not slip under the dock in waves or smash the underside of its gunnels on the top of the dock. Both of these can quickly damage a boat as well as any fingers caught between the two objects.
Get the boat out of the water as quickly as possible. While on the dock in the water you are vulnerable to being hit by another boat docking and are consuming valuable shared landing space.
To lift the boat out of the water, hold the bow and push the gunnel away from the dock. The boat should spin so that it is pointing straight in to the dock. Push down hard on the bow, trying to submerge it, and then let it pop up. When it starts to fall back down again, push down again hard. Then, as it rises up again, lift the bow (lifting with your legs, not your lower back!) as high out of the water as you can and drag it backwards out of the water. The boat should be pointed about 30 degrees into the air and sliding against the edge of the dock as it comes out.
When you have pulled back as far as you can, push the bow down flat on the dock, pivoting around the edge of the dock. Then pull it backwards held flat. This process avoids you ever having to lift most of the weight of the boat. First you are using buoyancy and momentum to help elevate it, and then the boat's own weight is rotating it down and flat. Once the boat's wet hull is on the dock it will slide easily enough.
To protect your boat from nails in the dock, you can use an old carpet remnant or piece of astroturf. Many dinghy docks have this permanently attached (by nails or staples, which you have to be mindful of themselves scratching the boat).
A beach, grass, or mud shore with at least partial protection from waves and wind is ideal for landing a dinghy. You have much more maneuvering room than at a dock and there is no hard object (except for rocks on the bottom) to hit and damage your boat.
At a beach you also have about 90 degrees of freedom in the angle at which you land, versus a dock where you must align upwind with the dock itself.
As you approach the beach, raise the centerboard and rudder to the same level as when you launched. If there is current or a strong cross wind, make sure to aim "above" the point where you want to land so that you will drift down to it. Ease the vang and prepare to ease the main.
The ideal scenario is wind blowing along the beach parallel to the shore. That allows you to approach at speed and without heeling on a beam reach, round up into the wind parallel to the beach to stop, and then step off on the sea side with the boat fully under control and neither being blown into the shore or out to sea.
The second best scenario is landing upwind close hauled or on a close reach. Tack in towards shore, point the boat head to wind when in knee deep water, and jump out over the side, maintaing a handhold. The boat will try to blow back out to sea if you let go, so be careful when fetching your dolly or use a long painter.
The upwind approach can be tricky if the wind is strong because you will not be able to point very high. Use your pointing techniques: keep your weight forward in the boat and hike out to make it flat, keep the centerboard down as long as possible, and tighten the luff with the cunningham if overpowered. If you must flatten the sail more because you are severely overpowered and not making headway towards shore, use the mainsheet first and then the vang. Do not overtighten the outhaul for flattening or you'll lose all shape and won't be able to accelerate into the wind.
When you must land downwind, be very careful of an accidental gybe. The wind often changes near shore and you will also be distracted looking at the shoreline and down to judge the water depth. Come in a broad reach if possible to avoid accidental gybes. When you are at the desired depth, quickly round up into the wind and jump out of the boat, maintaining a handhold on the side.
Move to the bow and hold the boat from there. Stay on the sea side and upwind, just as when launching. If you can drop your mainsail with a halyard do so, and then raise the centerboard and remove the rudder.
If you have a dolly, quickly fetch it, keeping an eye on the boat
the whole time. Pull the dolly to the boat (instead of the other way
around) and put the boat on the dolly, keeping the bow into the
wind. You may have to stand on the dolly to intentionally sink it
beneath the boat. Then bring the dolly to shore and pull it up with
the bow pointing towards shore. Go far enough up the shore that you
are safe from the reach of waves and then turn the boat into the wind
before derigging.
When landing in strong wind on a boat with a sock-style main, such as a Laser, you can release the sail by freeing the main from the block, or releasing the outhaul and clew strap so that the sail is no longer on the boom. Each allows the sail to rotate around to the bow, which may be necessary to control it if landing and retrieving downwind.
Landing a dinghy on an unprotected beach with large waves of a meter or more is challenging. Avoid it if there's an alternative, such as a breakwater to land behind or sheltered cove or stream outlet to land in. Here are some strategies for when an unprotected shore can't be avoided.
If you don't care much about the condition of your hull, then you can pull the centerboard and rudder at the last moment and run it straight onto the beach. Then get out of the boat as soon as it starts to touch shore, to avoid your weight driving it into the ground even harder and damaging the hull.
On a muddy or grassy shore this is probably fine for the hull. Mud might have sharp rocks and shells in it, of course.
On sand, this procedure will scrape up the bottom of a fiberglass or wooden boat. That's not going to cause structural damage. It will destroy the gel coat or varnish and make your boat slower. On a rotomolded plastic boat, sand, pebbles, or shale are probably OK for the hull. A more robust wooden boat is probably fine being treated the same way. Intentionally grounding onto a sharp rocky beach is of course not good regardless of the hull material.
Some boats are even designed with rowboat-like runners on the bottom to facilitate beach landings by sledding. I would personally never land a performance racing dinghy this way. However, I know there are some Laser and Sunfish sailors who sled their dinghies over sand and pebbly beaches for every launch and retrieval and have no regrets. For the older rotomolded boats I've owned, I landed them by sledding on mud and sand many times for convenience.
The advantage of this landing method is that you are quickly on shore and out of the dangerous region where waves break, and it can easily be executed by a solo sailor.
Even in a delicate performance boat, if anything goes wrong with another strategy or you are injured and unable to execute your preferred landing in worsening conditions, then the alternative of sledding can quickly become attractive. It is not terrible to put scratches on a hull that later can be buffed out. It could be terrible to injure yourself or trash the hull by letting waves uncontrollably toss it onto shore.
For this method you need an aluminum or PVC dolly that is light enough to float from the buoyancy of its wheels, and a second person on shore to help you. In strong waves or cold water, that second person may need a PFD or wetsuit.
If you don't want to scrape your hull on sand and rocks, you'll have
to stop in the water. Do so in the deepest water where you think you
can stand. Ideally this is deeper than where waves are breaking, but
that might not be possible.
Follow the general preparation for landing on a protected beach. If you have a halyard, bring down the sail as quickly as possible and lash it to the boom. Otherwise, for a sock style sail such as on a Laser, release the main from the block so that it can swing out freely, being careful that the mainsheet is not whipping around. On a sock sail if you can release the outhaul and clew strap then the sail will fly free without swinging the boom at you.
Always stay on the sea side of the boat. If you lose control, let the boat capsize and drive itself into shore. Walk around on land and quickly drag it up the beach from the beach. Your boat will get damaged if this happens, but you won't get damaged. In this case, do not let the boat sit capsized in breaking waves for any period of time or the damage could be severe. Never let a person get between the boat and shore. You cannot stop the incoming motion of even a small dinghy that is caught capsized in a wave. Once a boat is sideways, it will no longer slide through the water. It is then moving with the momentum of the sea behind it, which is effectively infinite compared to human strength.
Have a second person bring you the dolly. Put the boat on the dolly in deep water. If you have a PVC or aluminum dolly, then the wheels' buoyancy will press it up against the boat, so you don't have to support it. If possible, provisionally lash the hull to the dolly using the tail of your mainsheet or a separate line to make it easier to control.
Turn the boat's stern to the waves. Surf it quickly in to shore while you hold onto the side or stern. It will ride up the shore on the dolly wheels, protecting the hull. Quickly push or pull the boat above the wave line and turn it into the wind before derigging.
I have personally executed the retrieval methods described in this article up to this point. I've done the beach methods in up to 20 kts of wind from varying directions and 1-2 m waves on sandy, rocky, and muddy beaches. So, I know that those methods all work well with some practice.
I have heard of another method for unprotected beaches, but never tried it myself. That method is to mushroom anchor a ball fender (e.g., a typical racing mark) at about shoulder depth before launching. Then, on return, the boat can be tied to this ball temporarily while a solo sailor fetches their own dolly from shore.
I can imagine this working if the ball is anchored much further out than where waves begin breaking. However, waves break because of shallow water. So, the point at which they are not breaking is usually too deep to stand and work effectively with the boat and dolly. Because of this, I'm not convinced it is a practical solution.
As with many aspects of sailing boats of all sizes, having a companion to help remains the best way to handle landing on an unprotected shore. Any single-handed solution will be an awkward and creative compromise.
Dry-sailed catamarans are a special case. They are most commonly beach launched by dragging directly on the beach, or with canoe-style wheels that fit under each hull instead of a dolly.
The procedure is generally similar to the monohull dinghy case. The lack of keels and their stability makes catamarans easier to launch and retrieve in some ways. In other ways it is harder. Compared to a monohull, a catamaran has more mass, is much larger, and has poor upwind performance when clawing off a leeward shore launch.