Single handed docking strategies

Simplify the problem in your mind, and relax. Always have a boat hook close at hand before you enter the slip. Enter the slip slowly. (If you're going slow enough, you can grab a piling to stop the boat. If you're going too fast, you have to use the engine in reverse.) When you get your boat into the slip and stopped, it isn't going anywhere. The pilings hold it there. The boat has rub rails. It won't be hurt to gently bump the pilings. Walk forward (there's no hurry) and connect the spring line first. (I connect the spring line to a mid-ship cleat, rather than the bow.) The spring line will prevent the boat's bow from bumping into the dock. Then just walk to each corner of the boat and connect each remaining dock line. Connect the bow lines first. If you can't reach them, use the boat hook. When you leave the slip, always leave them in a way so that you will be able to hook them when you return.

If you visit a different marina, where your lines aren't already in place, put them on your cleats before you enter the slip, and follow the same procedure, attaching the spring line first.

If you're going to singlehand your boat, you have no alternative - you must learn to dock without help. You can't rely on someone being there to help you. Over the years I've become proficient at boat handling, and totally self-sufficient, but there are occasions when the conditions are too rough to try docking and you have to recognize your limitations. On those rare occasions, I'll anchor somewhere and wait for the conditions to abate. The last time it happened, a localized storm blew over just as I reached my marina, and I anchored for an hour before the storm abated. You might also exercise judgment before leaving the dock in severe conditions. While I was anchored outside the channel leading into the marina, I saw a sailboat try to leave the marina. It was blown onto the rocky jetty. If he had waited an hour, he'd have been fine.