http://www.amazon.com/Powerboat-Handling-Illustrated-Make-Exactly-ebook/dp/B0055Y8HW4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401235434&sr=8-1&keywords=power+boat+handling
This is a GREAT book to have. One of the eye-openers for me was how a boat has two pivot points. In forward gear, the boat pivots around a point in the center of the boat (port to starboard) and roughly 1/3 the distance from the bow. In reverse, the pivot point moves back to about 1/3rd the distance from the stern.
In other words, in forward gear the rear of the boat will swing out left or right MORE than the front of the boat does as you steer. Going in reverse, the bow of the boat will swing more than the stern does. This is different than a car, where the pivot point is the same in forward or reverse, due to the back wheels sticking to the ground. A boat steers from the rear, but there is nothing holding the bow in place like tires do on a car, so the front swings too. It also explains why you can turn a much tighter circle in reverse, than you can in forward gear.
You can use this to your advantage in tight quarters.
It's a nearly 200 page book, and there are nearly 50 pages, with lots of illustrations, that show how to dock in all combinations of wind, current and dock configurations.
In slow speed conditions, you also need to understand prop walk. The book explains it. You'd think that if you were moving forward along a straight line, and then suddenly put it in reverse, you'd travel backwards along that exact same path. Not true. You would in a car due to the tires gripping the road, but due to prop walk, the back of the boat swings to port every time, and if you hold the wheel in the same position as going forward in a straight line, when you put it in reverse, you will actually travel in an arc toward the port side.
Understanding prop walk can be extremely important in tight quarters, and it explains why you generally want to dock on the port side of the boat, because you inevitably will have to put your boat in reverse, which pulls the rear of the boat to port (or towards the dock). When I first got my boat, I would always try to dock on the starboard side, because it was much easier to see along that side of the boat since you can just stick your head out and look. But every time I'd put it in reverse to stop, the rear of the boat would swing away from the dock. It was really frustrating. But once I got the book, I understood why this happened to me all the time. Now I dock mostly on the port side, even though it is harder to see where you are going.
Get the book.
