During a leisurely voyage or after long days at sea, the yacht and crew dock at the marina.
What is this?
Parking for yacht, marina (Spanish: marina «marine", from Latin marinus"nautical") - a specially equipped parking lot for yacht, boats and other small vessels, where crews are provided with various services.
Marina is an equipped and sheltered from waves and wind calm harbor where yachts can safely moor and crews can relax.
During the Mediterranean and other popular sailing seasons, marinas resemble a forest of masts, with large berths accommodating several hundred vessels.
In addition to convenient mooring places and safe parking for the vessel, there are all the necessary amenities for the crews on shore. It is so nice to take a shower where you don’t get seasick, visit the sauna, have dinner in a restaurant and drink a cup of coffee.
If the voyage is long, you can take your dirty clothes to the laundry. The next day they will be returned to you in perfect condition. In the office, they will not only write you a check for parking, but also tell you what sights to see in the city, what to visit, how to have fun.
For boats, marinas always have fuel and water stations, repair facilities, and a weather forecast for the near future.
Different moorings have different conditions for yachtsmen. Some moorings include water and electricity from the shore, all amenities for the crew on the shore, including a sauna. And somewhere you have to pay extra for a shower, but the shore toilet is always free and you can contact the office to solve any problems.
A little about the rules
Before entering an unfamiliar marina, it is worth checking the navigation situation using the sailing directions. Usually there are descriptions of the moorings, with a depth map and the location of the berths. All the facilities (showers, toilets, water, fuel, shops, restaurants) are also indicated.
You are given the phone number of the harbor master, the main person in the marina who helps with mooring and shows you where to put the boat.
When approaching a marina, it is worth contacting it by radio or phone, notifying it of your planned arrival, and clarifying whether they can accept your boat. Some marinas have restrictions on the length of incoming boats. If you have agreed and everything is fine, enter the parking lot. The harbor master will show you your place.
After mooring, you need to resolve all the formalities - pay for the mooring, register the yacht. To do this, you will need a ship's ticket, sometimes they ask for the captain's license, a passport. But in most cases, you just need to fill out a form and indicate the name and registration number of the vessel, length, width and draft, flag, home port, captain's full name, his contact phone number.
The marina is always crowded during the season. Usually all yachtsmen follow the rules:
- Do not walk on someone else's boat without the owner's permission.
- Don't take anything from someone else's boat.
- If you are moored to someone else's boat, then you should walk along the boat to get ashore through the bow, so as not to disturb the crew in the cockpit.
- Don't make noise on the boat or on the shore. People on other boats are relaxing. Don't disturb them.
- Do not drink alcoholic beverages in the cockpit. It is bad form.
When you get off the boat in a comfortable marina, at first you enjoy the solid land, you taste all the delights of earthly life, but after a few hours you want to return to the boat that has already become your home and go out to sea.
