When it comes to tying off your dinghy, most people will automatically tie it off at the stern of the yacht. I would like to propose a different place to tie it off.
Instead of tying at the stern with a short painter, consider tying midship with a long painter. When you need to board the dinghy, the painter is already tied midship, making it easy to pull it up to the gate in the lifelines. When arriving back to the boat by dinghy, you can tie the long painter up as you arrive at the gate as well. All of a sudden, you don't have to go to the stern to reach your dinghy every time you come and go.
The last reason to tie up midship has to do with areas with strong winds and currents. If you tie up at the stern, all will be fine when the wind and tide are in the same direction. When you get wind over tide, the boat will point into the current but drift in the direction of the wind. This means that your dinghy that is tied to the stern will now be midship and smack into your hull for the next 6 hours.
If you tie the dinghy up midship with a painter long enough to reach beyond the ends of the boat, your dinghy will always hang out (bow or stern) just past the end of the boat and never smack into the side of your hull.
