one of the very first posters hit the nail right on the head: don't move towards a dock at a speed greater than you would feel comfortable hitting .. My comments, which are basically the same are .When you switch from a 20'-25' from back home up to a 45' or 50' you just do everything slower.. everything happens slower on a big yacht ,often times worth at least a half a million dollars .. just keep it slow and have one good bow man you can count onine knew that when he was where we wanted to be as we came up from downwind to our anchor we were trying for he wouls simply close his hand and I knew we were ther .BUT, we have a boat thet weighs 45,000 pounds or more that always keeps moving so he knew that when he closed his fist that I was gonna hit reverse ,a bit forcefully as it takes a lot of power to stop a boat that weighs that much .therefore ,he was always ready for my sudden reverse that might throw him forward . But because we knew other so well , no one got any surprises and we have never missed grabbing an anchor on the first try <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Woof.gif" alt="" />