Lots of people tend to run fairly fast in marinas, I guess because their sense of optimism overwhelms their grasp of reality. More than a few times I've seen various vessels, from ships to runabouts, tangle with docks and/or other boats in tight spots because of too much speed combined with the unexpected obtrusion of a mechanical difficulty. Say, something like a stuck throttle, a gear jammed in the forward mode, or some other lusty trick of fate.

I've owned and worked on a whole bunch of boats during my life, some recreational and some commercial. But I've always entered marinas, shipyards, and other such places the same way--slow. Basically, this is because I believe that it is much easier to add motive power to a moving vessel than it is to subtract motive power. Inertia being the culprit, of course.

At any rate, here's how I enter my marina aboard the Betty Jane. Upon nearing the entrance (see photo above), all things being equal, I slow down by shifting into neutral, a move that allows the boat to almost drift to a stop. Then I shift back into idle-ahead while transiting much of the marina, although I might occasionally shift back into neutral again at corners or if there's a lot of traffic around. The key to this part of the plan is to simply keep moving at a steady, reasonable rate. After all, you and your crew want to get to the dock sometime!

Now for the second half of my nifty little method. Once I get into the fairway that intersects my slip, or sometimes even before, I pull Betty out of gear and let her coast again, in order to take virtually all way off. Then, to keep the ol' girl creeping along, I simply bump her gear shift into idle ahead briefly...just for a second or two. Then I pull 'er out. And I continue to bump the shift ahead/out every minute or so (see the photo above) to keep just a little, highly manageable forward momentum going. Bump. Bump. Bump. And remember...dead-idle's the deal. Keep the throttle pulled back all the way!

Once I get to my slip, I try to virtually stop the boat (usually by shifting into reverse momentarily) before making my swing to back down. Betty, like most vessels, is easier to rotate or turn when's she stopped. Otherwise, she's both going ahead (or astern or sideways or whatever) and turning at the same time, a complex lashup of anxiety-producing vectors, particularly when the going-ahead component gets out of hand.

Frankly, I can't think of anything better for safely transiting seriously restricted waters than bump speed. I've used it on oil-field boats, tug boats, trawlers, cruisers, outboard skiffs...you name it. The technique works as nicely for twin engine vessels as it does for singles, by the way. Often, what works best with twins is an alteration of the bump gear, first port, then starboard, or visa versa. You can often even steer with your alternate port and starboard bumps while keeping your wheel centered.