Making fast in a marina

[franksingleton]

We have just spent 9 nights in a West Country marina. We are appalled at the poor seamanship and lack of consideration shown in the way many sailors tie up. The majority made fast to a cleat and did not return lines to their boats. They just dumped the lines on the pontoon inviting people to be tripped up. Some took so many turns that the next boat could not use the cleat. When we arrived, I could not get my bow line through the cleat to return to our boat. The boat ahead, a 40 footer, had put three thin lines from one cleat his boat that it was totally unusable by anyone else. He (surely nota she) had just dumped the three line in a tangled mess on the pontoon.

Surely, it is good manners and good seamanship to put lines through cleats as is usually possible and make fast on board. Departing is then straightforward. If considered necessary, take a turn on the pontoon cleat and then return to your own boat. If returning a line to the boat is not possible, then why not make a Flemish mat? That ensures your line is not tangled up and minimises the chance of tripping up the unwary.

Electric cables are another hazard to which some are blind. Just plugging in takin the cable direct to your boat usually creates another hazard. Why not take the cable round the electricity box. That way it will lie flat on the pontoon. Also, if you forget to unplug, easily done, you are more likely to recognise that gentle tug rather than trying to pull the plug out directly as you move slowly out.

We saw all sizes of boats offending in these matters from a large yacht flying white ensign down to small motor boats. Maybe I am getting to be a cantankerous old man but I do despair at such examples of poor practice and thoughtlessness.

 

[pvb]

You forgot the ones who tie up so close to the main pontoon that their anchor overhangs about half of the pontoon!

 

[Daydream believer]

You forgot the ones who tie up so close to the main pontoon that their anchor overhangs about half of the pontoon!

That (& bowsprits)can be quite dangerous for small children & there really is no excuse for it.
I no longer have children on board but I have seen a few near misses -- most in Cherbourg for some reason.

 

[Daydream believer]

Surely, it is good manners and good seamanship to put lines through cleats as is usually possible and make fast on board. Departing is then straightforward. If considered necessary, take a turn on the pontoon cleat and then return to your own boat.

I normally take the line back to the boat because being single handed I can cast off whilst on board. However, if in a rolly marina ( ostend for example) & staying for a while, it soon chaffes the line. In those cases a loop suitably passed under the neighbour's line which can be easily released when required is the best solution

 

[franksingleton]

You forgot the ones who tie up so close to the main pontoon that their anchor overhangs about half of the pontoon!

Agreed, but where we have been is all alongside.

 

[Gary Fox]

You forgot the ones who tie up so close to the main pontoon that their anchor overhangs about half of the pontoon!

The bobstay should give them ample warning!

 

[johnalison]

I think that this kind of carelessness has increased, and it has become harder to correct people who have adopted a sense of entitlement. There is a special Baltic version, which consists of putting a self-tightening slip hitch on your line above that of the earlier shared occupant of a pole. This makes the usual exit method of slipping your loop up through the later loop and over the pole absolutely impossible, and I have sometimes been tempted to use a knife.

 

[pvb]

The bobstay should give them ample warning!

The big problem is at night. I've walked into an anchor in the dark.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I normally take the line back to the boat because being single handed I can cast off whilst on board. However, if in a rolly marina ( ostend for example) & staying for a while, it soon chaffes the line. In those cases a loop suitably passed under the neighbour's line which can be easily released when required is the best solution

It doesn't take a particularly rolly berth to chafe the line. If everyone is made of money and doesn't mind their lines chafing several meters from the end, then I can understand why they leave the loop through as a permanent mooring technique. Personally we usually tie off the the cleat (either a round turn and two half hitches on the 'uprights' or a bowline in the end and the loop dropped over the cleat (or the loop through the cleat and back on itself) and the excess line coiled on deck. I was always taught that leaving piles of line on the pontoon is a rude and unseamanlike thing to do.

If YM candidates tie up sloppily, I sometimes ask them to tie the boat up as if they are leaving it for a few weeks and are expecting some brisk winds while they are away. It reveals a lot about their seamanship and awareness of chafe and knots and cleats...

 

[Aeolus]

Gosh, don't we sailors have a hard time of it! Pile of rope left on the pontoon? - if it's genuinely a hazard, then just accidentally kick it into the water. Other people's ropes clogging the cleat? - undo them, tie them better and perhaps the miscreants will learn how it should be done when they come to depart.

 

[Gary Fox]

The big problem is at night. I've walked into an anchor in the dark.

I always dangle a fender if I'm overlapping the pontoon with the 'docking probe' , it's an occupational hazard for gaff cutters.
I would definitely do the same with an anchor if needed. A bloodstained Rocna is the sign of a cad.

 

[pvb]

I always dangle a fender if I'm overlapping the pontoon with the 'docking probe' , it's an occupational hazard for gaff cutters.
I would definitely do the same with an anchor if needed.

You're a hero!

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

What's all this talk of taking the line round/through the cleat and back to the boat? That's a sure way to induce wear in the middle of your warp.
The correct way to make fast in a marina, (or on a quay) , as can be seen demonstrated by Lifeboats and Naval vessels, inter alia, is to make a bowline loop on the end of your warp, if you don't already have a spliced loop, and put this through the hole in the cleat, then take it up and over the horns. The next person to use the cleat should do likewise, then either boat can cast off without having to do anything to the other's lines. The lines should all be adjustable without leaving the boat, very important if you have to get up in the night to tend your lines while tied to a quay with a large tidal range. If you need to make up slip lines for casting off you can double up the relevant ones to deal with the wind and tide conditions at time of departure.
You can check this out in many sailing manuals, including those by St Tom.

 

[Robih]

”Bowlines ashore, one line one job”

I generally have a round turn in the bowline loop.

(and bring the Queen in at 21.00 (at this time of the year))

 

[Poignard]

Round turn and two half hitches on the cleat leg if it's possible someone else may use the cleat, or if they already have.

If the pontoon cleat is not going to be used by anyone except me then a bowline in the end looped through the cleat and back over the horms.

 

[johnalison]

My dock lines have never chafed through. They are usually replaced when the cord goes too stiff. We generally tie up in quiet places and have never had a problem with a loop through, though I will adjust this if needed, and my springs are fixed ashore with their loop. There are ways of lessening chafe without tying off ashore. One way is to pass the end loop through the cleat if it is of the ‘eurocleat’ variety and up and over. I always cow-hitch my loop on a visitors’ mooring, as well as deploy a second slack line.

 

[johnalison]

duplicate deleted

 

[thinwater]

We have just spent 9 nights in a West Country marina. We are appalled at the poor seamanship and lack of consideration shown in the way many sailors tie up. The majority made fast to a cleat and did not return lines to their boats. They just dumped the lines on the pontoon inviting people to be tripped up. Some took so many turns that the next boat could not use the cleat. When we arrived, I could not get my bow line through the cleat to return to our boat. The boat ahead, a 40 footer, had put three thin lines from one cleat his boat that it was totally unusable by anyone else. He (surely nota she) had just dumped the three line in a tangled mess on the pontoon.

Surely, it is good manners and good seamanship to put lines through cleats as is usually possible and make fast on board. Departing is then straightforward. If considered necessary, take a turn on the pontoon cleat and then return to your own boat. If returning a line to the boat is not possible, then why not make a Flemish mat? That ensures your line is not tangled up and minimises the chance of tripping up the unwary.

Electric cables are another hazard to which some are blind. Just plugging in takin the cable direct to your boat usually creates another hazard. Why not take the cable round the electricity box. That way it will lie flat on the pontoon. Also, if you forget to unplug, easily done, you are more likely to recognise that gentle tug rather than trying to pull the plug out directly as you move slowly out.

We saw all sizes of boats offending in these matters from a large yacht flying white ensign down to small motor boats. Maybe I am getting to be a cantankerous old man but I do despair at such examples of poor practice and thoughtlessness.

Yes, a cantankerous old man. [Well, you asked....]

I'm not sure I agree with yout on the "take your line back to the boat" practice. If the cleat or dock is rough that invites chafe and is more difficult to protect. Sometimes yes, but not always. The length can also be impractical in some cases (non-floating docks). And not pilings.

Many situation, many right answers. But not this one (below).

Yes, you see some odd things. No, that was not a temporary tie-up. He left it that way. Yes, the second line was all over the dock.

(One way to correct the "all over the dock" problem is to tip it into the water, where it will get covered in growth and mud, which should be educational. Or coil it, if you are nice.)

 

[Poignard]

Yes, a cantankerous old man. [Well, you asked....]

I'm not sure I agree with yout on the "take your line back to the boat" practice. If the cleat or dock is rough that invites chafe and is more difficult to protect. Sometimes yes, but not always. The length can also be impractical in some cases (non-floating docks). And not pilings.

Yes, you see some odd things. No, that was not a temporary tie-up. He left it that way.

You'd think someone who took the trouble to put on that nice whipping would know better.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Another annoying mooring habit on hammerheads and mid river pontoons - a boat moored in the centre - why at one end therefore allowing another boat ?