Accoste — Berthing Practice

Seventeen manoeuvres, from a calm quay to a Breton finger berth at night with no astern gear. Prop walk, pivot point and lines under tension, all computed in real time.

A berthing simulator, and the course that goes with it.

Accoste reproduces what makes coming into a harbour hard: the momentum of five tonnes, the prop walk that throws the stern sideways in astern gear, the rudder that goes dead the moment you back up, the wind that puts the bow off the moment you lose steerage. You manoeuvre from above, at full scale, on a chart.

SEVENTEEN MANOEUVRES

Alongside a quay — getting the feel of her, berthing in calm weather, in an onshore wind, against a current, and springing off between two neighbours.

Finger berths — a Breton marina at real dimensions: main pontoon, 8.4 m fingers, berths at 5.2 m centres, a 23 m fairway. Bow in, stern to, cross wind, and leaving with the wind pinning you on.

Hard situations — force 5 downwind, a cross set, a neighbour backing out at the wrong moment, a jammed gearbox with no astern power, force 6 gusts, arriving at night, and rafting up on the visitors' pontoon.

WHAT THE MODEL REPRODUCES

Prop walk, to be checked before anything else. Prop wash over the rudder, which gives you steerage at zero speed going ahead and nothing at all going astern. The pivot point, calculated in real time — not drawn a third of the way back: it moves with the way she carries, and you watch the stern swing. Mooring lines under real tension, each pulling on its cleat with its own lever arm: forward spring, engine ahead, helm to seaward genuinely holds the boat still, and springing off genuinely works.

OBJECTIVES THAT ARE MEASURED

Every exercise marks itself. Contact speed is measured in metres per second. Impacts are counted. And making the bow line fast instead of the spring does not tick the box — because it does not work on the water either.

THE COURSE

Ten chapters: how to use the course, the vocabulary aboard, the names of the lines and what each one forbids, the five effects that account for failed manoeuvres, the five-minute check before going in, the manoeuvres one by one, locking in, lying against a tidal wall, the classic mistakes, the exercises to do offshore before your first entry, and a crib sheet to laminate. Plus a ten-question quiz, with the reasoning after every answer.

HONESTLY

The hydrodynamic constants are eyeball-calibrated for an 11.4 m yacht. The orders of magnitude are right; the feel is no substitute for twenty minutes of real practice in clear water, nor for checking the prop walk on your own boat.

ASKING FOR NOTHING

No account. No network. No data collected, no trackers, no advertising. Everything runs on your iPhone, including at sea, out of signal.

Four manoeuvres and two chapters are open. The rest opens with a single purchase, no subscription: the content is finite, and it stays yours.