Tame Your Tender

There are some things in life that come in really handy when you need them, but are just a royal pain in the backside when you don’t. Certain tools, for example: When you need a 2-inch open-end wrench, a Stillson the size of an M1 carbine, or a 5-pound lump hammer, it’s nice to have one, but 99.99 percent of the time they just make your toolbox too heavy to lift . Same with crutches, flak jackets, anoraks, weight belts for diving, parachutes … heck, I could go on all day. But I’m not here to complain about all of life’s annoyances— just one of them: tenders (dinghies to some folks), and the ways and means of dealing with them.

A tender is ideal, necessary really, for chasing back and forth from boat to shore when anchored or moored. Many harbors have commercial launch services—the seagoing equivalent of Uber— but having one’s own transportation is best, and you don’t have to share a thwart with strangers. Sailors rely on the tender to carry out an anchor for kedging off aft er running aground, a procedure I know all