or the primary anchor rode. The way this works for us is (for example), we want to anchor off a rocky beach and don't want the dinghy pulled up on it. So I get out our 25' length of covered shock cord with a grapnel on the end and clip the free end on the stern. About 30' from the beach, I drop the grapnel and motor onto the beach and get off the dinghy. The dinghy slides back out off the beach and I tie its painter to a tree or set its anchor in the shore.

To retrieve, I just pull the dinghy to shore, jump in and it glides back out to the stern anchor, where I bring that aboard.

The shock cord is simply holding the boat off the beach (or dock, or whatever) - the main tie up is the painter or anchor line.

Mark