Advice on stern-to mooring combined with mooring buoy please.

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Your first assessment of the buoys seems to be correct according to the info on the website linked below:
Rovinj - a Cruising Guide on the World Cruising and Sailing Wiki
What I would do would be to have a line prepared on the bow cleat and brought outside everything to the stern. I would then reverse up to the buoy, with a crew on the sugarscoop ready to take the line through the ring on the buoy. This would then be tied to it in a bowline loop large enough to reach the deck. A crew on the bow would then take up the slack and keep tension on the line as the boat is reversed towards the quay. The bowline would be perfectly secure as it will be under load when in use and would obviate the need for a doubled line. Upon departure the reverse of this procedure would keep the bow under control until clear of neighbouring boats, wherupon the bowline can be quickly released. If there is a strong crosswind and the bow line of the downwind boat is worryingly close to the stern, it might be worth surging the line out and motoring past the buoy before turning back to release it.

I have absolutely no recollection of writing this reply However, I should add that the line through the eye of the buoy would be be better if it were done as a round turn, to prevent chafe, and of course the crew should take the line round a cleat in a seamanlike manner, rather than trying to hold tension on it unaided.
In Croatia there usually worthies on the quay who will take your stern lines (plural) , pass them through rings and return them to you, (for a tip!)
Tension your lines, fore and aft, so that you are held sufficiently clear of the quay to avoid damage to the rudder from underwater debris, fallen masonry, etc., and deploy your large ball fender and passarelle.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Hi Ottow,

How do you proceed to go out when there is a lot of lateral wind and you have no bow thruster ?

I sail in the baltic in summer, I have no bow thruster and I use the hook you gave the link.

Best regards

Fab

Bow crew keep pulling tension on the bow line as you go out. If the wind is considered too strong for this to work, put engine into reverse on fairly gentle revs, release stern lines and bow crew pulls boat out against the reverse thrust of the engine. Have your most nimble crew member ready with a roving fender, whichever way you choose to depart!

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Re-visiting this thread now that we've been to Croatia and 'done the deed'.

In case anyone may be heading there at some time this is what we did:

The yacht we had was equipped with a drop-down swim platform rather than the sugar scoop so it was fairly easy for someone to stand on it while holding on to the push pit. There are no lazy lines here ~ the buoys ARE for attaching your own line, and although there are no small pick-up buoys, the stainless top ring is around 200mm in diameter and fairly easy to catch and pass the line through. I allowed around 20 metres of line, already attached to a bow cleat and run along the outside of the hull to the stern. A bowline was tied in the line after catching the ring and ensured that the loop was almost 2 metres - - this made it easy to untie the knot on the bow instead of having to hang off when departing. (The rings and loop in the line should be visible in the photos below.)
By the time we had tied the bowline and walked the buoy to the bow, the boat was a little squint and needed a little tweaking to get it straightened up - but not enough tweaking to get into the embarrassing league!

(A couple of yachts that came in later DID have some berthing issues after attaching to the bouy.)

We also visited Porec (well worth a visit) and as the marina there is very tight and crowded, we opted to berth on the town quay. My Imray pilot book says "mooring fees paid to the harbourmaster entitles the visitor to use the showers at the marina." While that may have been true when it was written, it's certainly not true now.
. . . and in case anyone wants to berth on the town quay but doesn't want to be bombarded by pulsating "music" until 1AM, don't park in front of the GL disco! - - - it's not obvious that it is a disco until the noise starts in the early evening.
(Go ahead ~ ask me how I know such wisdom!)

View attachment 71579

View attachment 71578

I'm glad to see you used some of the advice I gave back then, in those far off days before the "C"-thing, and the"B"-thing
If "tweaking" involved repeated back and forward movement under engine, this was probably unnecessary, as, IMHO, a more efficient method would have been to make fast the bow line, then motor hard against it, using the helm to point the stern in the desired direction. (Return throttle to idle before surging the bow line )
That's good advice regarding some aspects of Porec.

 

[roaringgirl]

Bow crew keep pulling tension on the bow line as you go out. If the wind is considered too strong for this to work, put engine into reverse on fairly gentle revs, release stern lines and bow crew pulls boat out against the reverse thrust of the engine. Have your most nimble crew member ready with a roving fender, whichever way you choose to depart!

- Fenders on both sides to protect neighbours
- put engine in fwd with all lines attached
- loosen leeward stern line and bow line, hold boat straight with propwash over rudder, once you're happy with holding the boat there, release the leeward stern line.
- release bow line, keep holding boat straight with rudder and propwash - you should be able to hold the boat here against the windward stern-line all day, so long as there's fuel in the tank.
- check for any obstacles/traffic ahead of you in harbour basin
- drop engine to neutral briefly while remaining (windward) stern line is released.
- put engine in gear and briskly exit the berth, making sure to avoid getting the prop tangled in the buoy in front of you.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

- Fenders on both sides to protect neighbours
- put engine in fwd with all lines attached
- loosen leeward stern line and bow line, hold boat straight with propwash over rudder, once you're happy with holding the boat there, release the leeward stern line.
- release bow line, keep holding boat straight with rudder and propwash - you should be able to hold the boat here against the windward stern-line all day, so long as there's fuel in the tank.
- check for any obstacles/traffic ahead of you in harbour basin
- drop engine to neutral briefly while remaining (windward) stern line is released.
- put engine in gear and briskly exit the berth, making sure to avoid getting the prop tangled in the buoy in front of you.

Actually that makes more sense. Out of practice, I need to go sailing again