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@goodhead
That is very good advice re stopping and punting.
My boat had an old diesel Lister engine with very little fine throttle control which although awesome (proper phut-phut) made maneuvering pretty tricky, especially reversing. Combine this with the fact that:
a) I had to move the boat to empty the toilet
b) The marina berths were very narrowly spaced
c) I had to reverse into my moorings due to the fact the electric hook up was at the stern
d) Marina's are notoriously windy places - wind has a surprisingly large effect on where your boat is going to go
The first time I moved it to empty the toilet was a disaster. Imagine having been given 1 lesson driving a car and then trying to parallel park in a packed supermarket car park and you've some idea of what it was like. I got out OK but going back heads were popping up out of boats left right and centre as I churned away going forwards and backwards frantically trying not to hit anyone.
Still as mentioned by someone else boat people tend to be very friendly and I ended up being helped out - although this could equally have been out of genuine fear of me smashing fuck out of someone's pride and joy.
I learnt that the easiest way was to get close to my berth, drift in and then use the ropes to pull her back in. Aw I'm really missing it now....