Kedging off a dock or quay
8 steps you need to successfully kedging off from my RYA approved course!
First, what is kedging off? It is where you use your kedge anchor – your spare anchor as opposed to the anchor on the bow – to pull the boat off something.
Generally you have run aground on a sandbank and you row out the kedge anchor, set it and use it to pull the boat off the sandbank.
But let us say that we are moored alongside and there is a dreadful swell hitting boat beam on, which is giving the fenders a real workout. It is uncomfortable and it is hard to get to sleep.
So why not pull the boat away from the wall or the dock with a kedge anchor?
Here's how...
Step 1 – Fix a line to a bow cleat and take it aft
Step 2 – Tie a loop in it about amidships. You can use an Overhand Knot for this or a Bowline on a Bight, or perhaps an Alpine Butterfly knot. I would use an Alpine Butterfly knot. Add a carabiner to the loop and then secure the line to an aft cleat.
Step 3 – Row out your kedge anchor in the dinghy about 50 fifty from the boat and drop it.
Step 4 – Return to the boat and run the anchor cable/rope of the kedge anchor through the carabiner in the loop of the Alpine Butterfly knot and up to the cockpit winch.
Step 5 – Ease the shore lines to give you enough slack to haul the boat off the dock or quay.
Step 6 – Winch in the anchor cable for the kedge anchor and this will pull the boat away from the dock or quay.
Step 7 – Take up the slack on the shore lines
Step 8 – Go back to bed.
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