If it was just us, then it doesn't matter. But with swells running and guests both senior (my parents) and junior (our 17-month-old grandson), getting in & out of the dinghy can be uncomfortable, difficult, or downright dangerous. Much easier to tie up where everyone can safely embark & disembark in their own time and at their comfort & safety level. (And when we're home, I have to carry my 50 lb senior dog onto & off the boat, so anything other than flat water makes it pretty hard.)

I watched a day sail cat unload a group of tourists off their boat which they had pulled alongside the dock instead of stern-to. The first to get off the boat was a 92-year-old woman with a cane who had to climb down the sugar scoop & then leap to the dock. I know NOTHING about cats, but it sure seemed there should have been a safer way to treat a guest. Bless her, she made it... Barely... But I'd like our family to be treated in the best way we know how.