Baltic mooring advice required

Bilge Rat

Bilge Rat

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 Oct 2009
Messages
122
Location
Milford Haven
Visit site
Hi All,

We are planning an extended cruise from South Wales to the Baltic next season and are using our time now it's cold and dark to plan the trip and ensure we have the relevant kit aboard.

Our boat has a standard, closed pulpit with no step through. As we are assuming that we will see our fair share of box moorings en route we have started to discuss how to quickly get lines (and ourselves) ashore without getting tangled in the pulpit. Like most we're on a budget so any cost effective solutions gratefully received!
 
If you can get into the smallest box mooring you fit into then you can control your approach to the pontoon using surrounding lines or boats.

Otherwise, if you can get both stern lines on the posts on the way in, a bit of forward gear and tension on the stern lines will keep you fairly straight, and you should then be able to control the pontoon end with plenty of time.
 
I have cruised in the Baltic both with and without a split pulpit. Although a split helps a lot, it isn't essential. There are several ways of controlling your approach, though it can be hard in a wide box in a strong wind.

More often than not, there will be someone ashore to take your bow lines and in our experience, people are very helpful. It is much quicker and more certain to put a bowline on your stern lines to pop over the piles on the way in. If possible, it will be appreciated if you put your loop up and through any line already there before putting ove the post but you will not be expected to do this in difficult conditions.

As PyeEnd says, it helps if you can slow your entry, in fact, I often aim to stop entirely at some stage when conditions allow. It is also entirely acceptable to stop alongside the next boat to leeward in tricky situations. It is only necessary to moor in a sensible way without alarming anyone or causing damage to score maximum points. When you get used to them, box moorings ae no harder than any other and it is easy to make yourself comfortable. A few sailors reverse in but this is not common. Often the staging is around deck level and boarding is then easy but occasionally it is low. We use a collapsible step on the pontoon but some boats are better with a ladder from the bow.

I hope you enjoy the experience. It is only necessary to keep a cool head and be sensible. You can even improvise a bit. For example, I often park my boat diagonally in the entrance to a box if it is too wide for us to reach both posts at the same time.
 
Thanks for the good advice. As we will be sailing short handed.... just the two of us we definitely need to create a technique to manage the bow lines but in a controlled manner once the stern is secured.
 
I am interested in this as well as we are thinking Baltic next year. I suspect that SWMBO wise I would gain massive brownie points by revesrsing in and going
stern to. Also wondered about benefits of these fender pad things for squeezing past the posts?
 
We cruised the Baltic without a split pulpit, and as the other posters have said it is very feasible.
The boxes come in all shapes and sizes and a big factor is how high the jetty is. Some are at deck height or even higher, and these are the easiest. Occasionally you will come across a very low one, and here you might consider purchasing one of the cheapish hook on boarding ladders to help you get on and off the boat. Some people use rope loops; it depends on how agile you are. You can buy v expensive stainless steel ladders in most chandlers out there!
When you are squeezing into boxes, normal fenders or even pads are not very effective, but some locals use a length of thick hawser which they hang along the side of the boat for the broadest 2-3m. If you cannot source it locally, you will often find odd lengths discarded in fishing harbours as it is about the size trawlers use as mooring lines.
You also need to give thought to your stern anchoring arrangements, as this is quite common in some areas too.
Don't let it put you off, as you will very soon get the hang of it!
 
jimi said:
stern to. Also wondered about benefits of these fender pad things for squeezing past the posts?
Click to expand...

Sometimes this is probably a good idea. My boat has a teak rail, and rubbing up a wooden post on the way in was fine. Richardsn9's comment about hanging a rope along the hull if it is a bit more exposed is a good one. If the posts were a bit close then fenders just catch on the way in, so had to be dropped after going past the post. I was single handed out there for a couple of months and found that I had to be reasonably quick on my feet for some of the berths, especially when it was windy. Sometimes you will find that even the pad it too big. You will get used to judging the size and getting the right technique fairly quick. Initially I ended up in boxes far too big, and found these much more difficult.

Quite often there will be a line between post and pontoon. If you have one stern line round one post, and a bow line or boat hook round the fore and aft line then you will be under complete control and can sort all out at your leisure.

If peeps want to practice before they go, Gillingham Marina has boxes.
 
jimi said:
Also wondered about benefits of these fender pad things for squeezing past the posts?
Click to expand...

It's ten years since I last sailed in the Baltic, but I'm sure we always left fenders on deck until through the posts. They'd just get ripped off otherwise - sometimes the gaps are very small.

Brass-bound rubbing strakes a la Naiad and Hallberg-Rassy make life vastly easier, as you can lean against a post or slide along it with no worries. We once went into a box that was slightly too narrow - just applied more power and pushed the posts apart :)

Don't remember any difficulty controlling the bow - once in the box with stern lines on, forward drive holds you steady in all but the strongest of cross-winds.

With the caveat that we always had rubbing-strakes, I consider boxes one of the easier types of berthing, marina fingers and alongside pontoons included. The skipper I sailed with in the Army was used to entering them under sail, apparently the BKYC formerly insisted on (or at least preferred) this at their home berths. We did it one time just to learn how.

Pete
 
We spent most of this summer in the Baltic and moored/anchored in over 40 different harbours or bays. All this was done with only two of us. We have a split pulpit with a bit of a bowsprit platform, though. As johnalison says, other boaters are very helpful - everybody helps an approaching boat to moor, and an awful lot of locals make as much of a mess of it as the strangers, so don't worry!

The most difficult ones are those with long boxes (like the bRitish Kiel yacht club) when you can often run out of stern line before you reach the pontoon. And the ones with low pontoons where a bit of acrobatics is required to climb down to sort out you bow lines.

So our routine was to rig long (or very long) stern lines both sides, taken forward outside everything to somewhere on the foredeck, with the tail in the cockpit. Also, shorter bow lines, both sides, ready to grab and fenders left on deck. Then both agree on a box, preferably with a well fendered boat to blow onto, and if possible with lines already rigged from posts to pontoon and head to wind (or nearly). Head as slowly as possible into the chosen box, crew gets the windward stern line over the post, helm picks up the tail, and then he is control of it and can power forwards against it. Crew gets other stern line on if possible (usually no time to do this) and counts down to tell the helm how far to the pontoon. By this point the occupants of neighbouring boats have emerged, and the bow lines can be handed to them. If not, then the crew clambers onto the pontoon with the windward line and secures it while fending the boat off. The lee lines can be secured at your leisure, often by lassoing or drifting back using the windward lines. Only then do you get the fenders out. Most disasters are caused by getting fenders looped round posts or mooring lines. If there are lines rigged in the box, it is much easier, because the crew can hang onto the windward one and pull the boat straight into the box in a well controlled manner.

If the pontoon is low, a better option may be to reverse in. Swap round the lines, and the crew can usually get both lines onto the posts and use them to push the boat around.

With a unsplit pulpit, more clambering is necessary, but I think the real essential is a rubbing strake of some kind, because you will frequently rub against the posts, and sometimes actually get stuck between them if the box is narrow. A heavy rope can be suspended from the toe rail if you haven't got one on your boat.

Enjoy the Baltic, it is a lovely cruising area. Our blog is at alshira2012.blogspot.com, if you are interested.
 
Ali
Thanks for that description - very useful for those of us going to the Baltic next year, who are box virgins.
Peter
 
I am also thinking of the Baltic next summer but have a mediterranean style boat ie high non split pulpit but an easy stern-to with removeable section of pushpit, sugar scoop etc

How feasible is it to come stern-to into all those boxes - not just some of them?

PS 36ft boat with no bowthruster
 
davidej said:
How feasible is it to come stern-to into all those boxes - not just some of them?
Click to expand...

I can't think of a reason not to as long as you steer ok in reverse (med-style boat ought to). The Army yachts berthed stern-to at Kiel to help with loading and unloading gear, though we tended to go in bow-first elsewhere.

Pete
 
The Cruising Association has a very active Baltic section including Baltic nets via the Ca forums. I would say it would be more than worthwhile joining to benefit from the considerable resource and assistance offered. I am a member, if anyone wants to pm me for a steer on getting involved feel free to do so.

Rob
 
Yes, you could usually reverse in.

Of course, if you cross to the Netherlands, you will find plenty of box moorings in IJsselmeer and mArkermeer, to practice on. You should be quite expert by the time you get to the Baltic!

Don't worry about the box moorings, once you have seen how helpful everyone is, and helped a few of the locals moor up in their turn, you stop worrying about messing it up occasionally.

By the way, lots of people set up large loops on their lines to pop over the posts. We have stopped doing this for two reasons. If the loop drops down the post it can get caught below the waterline and prove almost impossible to pull up again - we had to cut a line once to free it. Secondly, if the next boat puts his loop on top of yours, then you have to do some very quick threading to free yours when leaving the box, while if you had used a doubled line you could just drop one end and pull it back.

If the cross wind is likely to be strong, it sometime pays to cross your lines to the posts, but it's better to get set up with direct lines first otherwise it all gets a bit too complicated.
 
AliM said:
By the way, lots of people set up large loops on their lines to pop over the posts. We have stopped doing this for two reasons. If the loop drops down the post it can get caught below the waterline and prove almost impossible to pull up again - we had to cut a line once to free it. Secondly, if the next boat puts his loop on top of yours, then you have to do some very quick threading to free yours when leaving the box, while if you had used a doubled line you could just drop one end and pull it back.

If the cross wind is likely to be strong, it sometime pays to cross your lines to the posts, but it's better to get set up with direct lines first otherwise it all gets a bit too complicated.
Click to expand...

I think you are recommending a stern line in a long loop from boat round the post and back to the boat, as we would on a pontoon often. I beg to disagree. We have found it easier to tie a generous bowline to go over the post. It is easier to put on, almost twice the length, and can usually be flipped off with a flick of the wrist. On the rare occasions the rope has got stuck below the water, I have always been able to hook it up with a boathook.

I agree about crossed lines, although I always find it rather a hassle and at some time the ensign staff is endangered if I have forgotten to remove it.

You will also find that many piles have some kind of hook near the top to hold the loops. It is not usually hard to thread your own loop up through a neighbour's loop and off. The only problem arises if he (let's be unashamedly sexist) has put a slip-knot on the post which has tightened above yours. This is where a knife should be taken to his rope. Although I haven't yet done this, it happens very rarely and I have just untied my bowline. If it is under tension it may be necessary to put a second line in place above.

There is always some kind of solution to box mooring problems, though a prudent sailor will choose a box with a view to the boat's comfort and ease of exit.
 
prv said:
Bugger off back to the warm places where they belong :D

(Don't remember ever seeing a catameringue in Denmark or Sweden)

Pete
Click to expand...

I see. I shall go and ask Richard Woods. He sailed in a flotilla of three Striders to St. Petersburg. Day sailed too, so they must have made plenty of stops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top