Wanderer Vagabond

Basically you don't want the rope to cross, so if the lock is full and therefore the rope going to the centre line cleat goes upwards, the rope should come to it from the top of the loop, if the lock is empty and the rope going to the centre line cleat goes downwards, the rope should go to it from the bottom of the loop. You want the line to go around the bollard without crossing over ('cos that's what leads it to 'lock off') Whenever that has happened I've just put another loop over it. I'm always standing quite close to the bollard when doing this. It's more likely to happen as the centre line cleat is almost in line with the bollard, once it has passed it rarely happens.

Once you've got it wrong to tend to remember for the future

From an experience at Ryders Green a few years back I have learned never to rely on an engine in the lock. I had chugged in at a perfectly reasonable speed and put the engine into reverse to come to a halt without hitting the bottom gate, sadly the plastic bags that then wrapped themselves around the prop had other ideas and now I'm drifting towards the bottom gate with no means of stopping. I grabbed the centre rope and stepped off in an effort to stop, but by then it was too late and I hit the gate harder than I would ever wish to do (fortunately without causing any obvious damage). Since then I go into a lock at much the same speed as I did then, but step off with the centre line and put a single loop around one of the lock bollards and gently bring the boat to a halt with that. Never failed me since (except on the occasion I put the loop the wrong way around and it locked off, stopping the boat almost immediately)