Docking in wind is a lift problem

A lift out here works for its living

Sanibel's dock water is the protected side, San Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound, and protected does not mean flat. There is open water for wind to build across, and the boat traffic through the Sound sends wake down onto whatever is tied up. A lift feels both. It feels them while it is holding your boat in the air, and it feels them again in the ten seconds you are easing over the bunks with a line in one hand.

That is why an exposed lift gets more attention paid to how it is set than a canal lift does. Something is always working on it: wind while your boat is up, wake while the cradle is down, and salt the entire time. Set square and set deep is what keeps that from turning into cables wearing out ahead of schedule, and square is something you get on install day or spend years paying for.

Then it gets arranged around how you actually dock on an island, which comes down to the last few boat lengths. You come in with the wind doing something, the boat is still moving when you want it to stop, and either the well helps you or you fight it. Alex sets that part with your boat in front of him rather than off a drawing, and he runs the lift with you until a breezy landing is just another landing.