"Keeping station" refers to holding a position in the water - not
moving relative to the land - and here we're talking about staying still
without being secured to a dock or anchored to the bottom. We hold the
boat in place by piloting it at (not "to") a certain spot without making any
"way", and unless there is absolutely no wind or current, station keeping
requires very active and positive control of your vessel.
It's a little bit like balancing a pencil on its tip, or like hovering a helicopter - much more difficult than
just moving the thing somewhere! As such, it ranks right up there in the advanced category of close
quarters maneuvering skills, and makes a very good exercise for familiarizing yourself with your
boat's slow speed handling characteristics.
Why it presents such a challenge will become apparent as we go along. But first, consider why to
bother with station keeping in the first place. Any number of scenarios can present themselves.
Commonly, you need to wait for someone else to clear a slip, or just for other boats to get out of
your way, before you proceed along the next leg through the marina to or from your dock. You may
need to stop and talk to someone on shore. You may be involved in search and rescue, in which
case there are many times when the helmsman's job is just to hold still (and often, under these
circumstances, it's in a storm, at night, nearby to rocks and other vessels, and with rescuees,
rescuers and debris in the water).
Even if the conditions are extremely calm, remember that you are still considered to be "under way"
(albeit with "no way on"), and are responsible for the handling of your boat. Keep a close watch all
about you, and be prepared to get moving promptly should circumstances so dictate. Bear in mind
that a boat which appears to be motionless second by second still may stray quite far minute by
minute. My personal preference is to remain very close to the helm, and to leave the engine running.
There will be other times when the conditions are active enough that keeping station will not be
practical. In heavy weather then, even if you can't control the boat enough to hold it still, you can
probably keep circling or doing figures of eight. If there's not enough room to do even that, then you
likely shouldn't be there at all anyway.
Station keeping rule number one and only
Stay aligned with the wind. (Or, stay
aligned with the current, and if there are both then figure out the best compromise.) The wind will try
to slide a boat sideways in the water, not only pushing it along but also yawing it broadside. The
boat's propulsion is only fore and aft, so the only way to maintain control of your vessel is to keep
yourself lined up with the wind.
The wind will constantly try to blow the bow off to one side or
the other. Once out of alignment, you might think, you will
simply steer yourself back onto your desired heading. "Simply",
however, is not quite the right word, because once you begin to
turn off the wind the whole side of the boat becomes an inclined
plane. Now the moving air mass not only not only pushes it
down wind, but laterally too!
It gets worse. Let's say that you're starting off head to wind, and
the wind has you yawing clockwise (viewed from above). The
boat now is now not only being pushed astern but also to
starboard. Clearly, you apply forward propulsion and steer to
port. However, at first, the thrust of the propeller's discharge
current also pushes the boat further to starboard.
This dilemma, of what amounts to very sensitive steering when head to wind at slow speeds, is never
more apparent than when the speed is so slow that it's zero. About all you can do about it, when
keeping station, is to pay attention and catch any yawing early. With practice, most of us will be able
to hold our boats almost directly into the wind for as long as we care to. It may however, require us
to be in forward gear much of the time. (The vagaries of steerage in reverse gear preclude its use,
when head to wind, except for light airs and the most benign of boats.)
This is fine except that now, in forward gear for much of the time, we begin to make headway.
Making headway is not keeping station, and this is why I made the implication earlier that in really
heavy weather we had better leave station keeping to those who have received extensive
professional training in specially designed craft. In moderate winds, however, the remedy is to pop
into and out of forward gear, just enough to maintain alignment without starting to move appreciably
forward through the water.
Doing this well requires experience. Your reflexes have to be sharp, and it certainly helps to know
your boat well enough to be able to anticipate what it's going to do next. It's a matter, as has been
said in this space often before, of honing the "timing, vigor and duration" of the various control inputs.
It connotes having a feel for your boat, and while reading about it here surely can accelerate your
progress and focus your thoughts, there is no way to get that feel except by practicing and
rehearsing, out on the water. (There's nowhere I would rather be, anyway!)
Let's back up for a moment.
Another way around this seeming impasse is to go stern to
wind. This won't work in all boats, because many are simply not adequately steerable in reverse
gear, especially with no way on. Because of this, the default technique remains head to wind. But for
those boats which can steer well enough in reverse (more likely an outboard or an I/O than a
straight-shaft inboard), there are at least two advantages. First is that the propulsive force of the
propeller's discharge current is often considerably weaker in reverse gear than in forward. Thus, you
will likely make less sternway against the wind than you would make headway in forward gear. So,
you can stay in reverse gear more of the time, using it to steer (if that works in your boat).
Secondly, in reverse gear the vessel's pivot point moves aft. So,
even though the wind still and always exerts a yawing force on
the boat, attempting to put it broadside to the direction of air
flow, this will be mitigated to some extent, in reverse gear, by
the aft-displaced pivot point, which lets the bow tend more to
weathervane down wind. The swivelling discharge current, as
you steer, also pulls the boat back on course, rather than
pushing it off as was described above for forward gear. We're
no longer so much balancing a pencil from the bottom as
hanging it from the top. In short, given the right boat, steering
may be easier stern to wind.
Don't change that station!
Station keeping is another one of those many close quarters maneuvering topics in which absolutely everything you know about slow speed boat handling comes into play and contributes to your successful piloting. There is much more to know than can possibly be presented here, so consider purchasing Boat Docking.
Close quarters maneuvering is about always improving, and this applies to station keeping just as
much as, if not more than, to other boat handling skills. This is no place for coasting! As such, one of
the very best indicators of your progress is your ability to make your boat just hold still.
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