On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 00:24:46 -0500, sherwindu
wrote:

I have to avoid hitting the
pier,
the wooden piling, and/or the boat in the downstream side of the slip.

That is a very common dock layout.

What I have seen many people do, and it seems to work, is to tie a
permanent line between the piling and the sea wall. Keep it fairly
tight and it will give you something to catch your sideways drift
before you hit the boat in the adjacent slip.

Another strategy is to hang a number of fenders on the side with the
adjacent boat and just lay along side while you tie up. Shouldn't be
a problem as long as you are using nice clean fenders of a suitable
size.