Baltic style moorings - Shorthanded advice please

[Guest]

I am planning a trip up to the Baltic next summer and for most of the time there will be just my wife and I on board. Whilst we are quite OK mooring alongside finger berths and picking up moorings etc, our experience of either picking up stern piles and/or dual stern buoys have been mixed to say the least. It appears you need crew in both quarters both side decks and forward at the same time. I can move fast - but not that fast!

Any advice from seasoned northern European mariners would be appreciated. Including pros/cons on going in stern or bow first (we do have a "dropped" pulpit and sugar-scoop stern.

Malcolm

 

[chrisc]

I think it is just a matter of what you are used to ,My lady wife and I have
been crashing round the baltic in boats from 40 to present 34 ft. there are 3
different types ,in denmark you mostly have the poles either side ,on these
if there is not much of a side wind my wife usually rigs the lines from the
rear of the boat ( we favour one line passed over pole and back to boat ,makes
getting away much easier than putting a loop over pole) then stands at the front
with bow ropes shouting coded messages to me ( i haven't learnt the code yet)
if I go in slow it is easy to get both sides on ,best is with a wind from behind I
can just put a bit of reverse on and stop by the poles before proceeding. if there is a
side wind i make sure I get the upwind rope on first and go in faster (wife shouts louder)
If I miss the downwind pole we can always let the boat out again from the quay.
A variant on this mainly found in Swedish Harbours is the buoy pass a line through
as you miraculously pass the rear of the boat within inches of it ,actualy degree of
difficulty depends on freeboard of the boat ,and one good solution is those bent bars
which you grab the buoy with ,line already attached.my wife usualy does the threading
and then walks forward ,I make sure the wine does'nt spill and steer the boat.
Even more cunning this is in Upmarket Swedish harbours is the sunken rope
tied to the Quay -together with notices saying no anchoring- you have to take the
front of the boat up to the quay ,one person jumps of holds front of boat, skipper runs
down deck grabs line and walks to back of boat with it ,line is covered in weed ,mussels
jellyfish etc. other end of line is fixed to a line in middle of harbour so you just have to
attach to rear of boat ,wash hands ,rinse of boat .
of course proper sailors in this part of the world just through an anchor over the back ,as they
approach at 5 knts , haul on it hoping for grip and hang the wife/girl friend over the front as a
mobile bumper. it works -sometimes.

 

[bryantee]

and I thought it was only in the med that you got your hands cut to pieces with the lazy line.

 

[Guest]

Most of the ones I used had a rope stretched between the pile and the shore. The easy, leisurely, way to moor two handed is:

with the crew at the pulpit slip between the piles and stop the bows within hopping distance of the quay. Crew hops and secures bow warp (on windward side, assuming a nasty cross-wind). Meanwhile helmsman at the stern using a boathook simply hooks the rope stretched between the windward pile and the shore, to stop the stern drifting downwind, and waits patiently. Once crew has passed bow warp through cleat on the pontoon, simply reverse out gently to the pile (with crew paying out the bow warp of course), still using the boathook to stop sideways slippage, and drop the stern warp over it. Let go with boathook and the wind will drift you down to leeward pile, which you lassoo, and Bob's your uncle.

Generally it's easier than coming alongside a hard nasty British pontoon. The only tricky situation is if there is no rope between the shore and the piles, the piles are much further out than a boatlength and there's a nasty sidewind. In that case the crew should stand at the widest part of the beam to drop the windwrd stern warp over the pile as you slip between them. Having done that, he/she then toddles forward and does the bow bit.

 

[david_e]

I remember having to do this in Denmark back in the late '70's when we sailed 27ft Cutlass's, without engines, between the piles. Afraid that time has obliterated much of the technique but it went basically along the lines of; sail gently (difficult in a 6-7!) past and loop the first pole and then the second, pull the boat to a stop and then swing the bow round so you went in stern first. What I can't remember is exactly how the lines worked, but that they worked around the bow and back. The relevant fact is that if one experienced skipper and 3 novices can do it without motor then it isn't so difficult. What I can remember is what great sailing it is around the Danish Islands, in particular night sailing up the narrow channels, certainly tests the chart work! There are alot of shallows so take a bottle of whiskey just in case you need a pull from the local fishermen.

Have a great time!

 

[Guest]

How do you do that with a 12' bowsprit?

 

[Guest]

Well, I haven't tried, but a minor modification should do it: slipping between the piles, crew stands at widest part of beam and slips stern warp over windward pile as it passes.

Crew then moves forward and hooks windward rope between pile and quay and waits while helmsman walks forward and steps along the bowsprit onto the quay. Helmsman then goes to pub leaving crewman still hanging on with the boathook.

 

[pandroid]

We watched the scandanavians and found the best way was:
a) Crew ties a large bowline in one end of a mooring rope, and takes the other end back round the winch, helmsman holds that end to brake the line (like stern moorings in the med)
b) Come right up to the windward pole of the box and the crew drops the bowline over and walks forward to the bow. Helmsman keeps the boat moving and if neccessary brakes the boat with the warp round the winch.
c) When close enough, crew piles over the bow and ties off the bow lines. Sort the aft lee line out later.
Only things to watch for are:
i) Width of boxes vary and its sometimes difficult to gauge whether its ok for your boat. Our HR has a big brass strip on the side so its OK to hit the poles.
ii) Cross winds tend to blow the bow off. Keep enough way on the boat to get to the pontoon.
When leaving, flip the lee aft line off before you move the boat. Crew takes windward one off as you pass, but watch slack from the prop.

It's easy really, and the Baltic is just heavenly sailing.

 

[Guest]

I own, sail and moor a boat in the Baltic, Estonia and most moorings this side are single stern buoy with line to shore which provides stern line and two boat bow-lines to shore.
The boat is normally bow to the shore if sail, stern to shore if power.
My boat has no engine and we are inside the marina ! So you sail in, drop genny before approach to your mooring slot. Scandalise the main till speed drops to a gentle glide. Estimate main 'droppoint' and 'lose the main at that point. Glide in and bowman picks up line between buoy and shore and lifts enough for stern guy to get hold of and use as brake. Helm is put midships, bowman is pulling boat to shore, sternman is controlling speed and stop point. When bowman shouts stop its a quick couple of turns over a cleat aft with the line and the bowman then jumps ashore with a line to secure the bow.
So now we have a boat with one stern line to the buoy and one headline to the shore. All we need now is another headline from the opposite side of the bow to the other shore point making two lines out from the bow at about 80 degs to each other and equal.

How do I leave without engine ? Thats easy as well. A line is made fast to shore long enough to reach the stern. The sternman casts of and holds the stern on the buoy to shore line. The bow man casts of the headlines and holds onto the line made fast to shore. The sternman pulls the boat aft till clear enough to allow the boat to swing, the two guys basically swap ends and pull the boat around 180 degrees. So now the boat is pointing bow out and we temporarily make fast while hoisting sails etc. We cast of the shore line and pull hard on the buoy line to get a bit of speed up and sail out !!!!!! Sounds much harder than it actually is !!!!

 

[gunnarsilins]

Beeing a Swedish native and......

....sailing mostly in the Baltic sea my comments are:
Along Sweden you mostly will find bouys in marinas. Take a long line, tie one end to an aft cleat, the other end OUTSIDE everything to the area around the shrouds. Pick up the bouy on your lee side, so the wind pushes you on to it, preferably midships where the lowest freeboard is. They are of soft plastic and wont scratch your topsides. Pull the line through the eye. If you aim for doing this when the buoy still is midships you got plenty of time even if the yacht moves slowly for keeping steerage. Motor slowly in, bows first.
When leaving, just pull yourself out and when free from your neighbours, just let the line go, pull it in and motor away. But watch your prop...
Most mistakes are made when people tries to tie a line to the buoy, it simply takes too long time and with a strong crosswind.....your in trouble. Also when leaving, it´s an nuisance having a tied line, probably hard to undo.
Piles is a different matter. They are mostly found in Denmark and I won´t give you any advices, because I always make an enourmous mess of my manouvres when forced to use them. I simply hate piles!
But the best thing with the Baltic sea is the possibility to use an aft anchor and put the bows right on to a suitable rock. For this you need a suitable, not to light anchor (Bruce is my first choice but CQR will do, Danforth are less suitable) and a couple of metres of chain and at least 30 metres of warp. On my Moody 42 ketch, displacing 12 tons I use an 15 kg Bruce, probably a little on the light side.
When sailing in the skerries on the Swedish west and east coast, choose a suitable rock in level with your bow, motor in slowly to check if it´s deep enough for climbing ashore, if OK, reverse out, drop your anchor in about three boatlenghts from the shore (depends on the depth where you anchor) and go back in.
If you are lucky youll spend the night in solitude without needing any fenders.
But of course check the weather forecast, so your leeside berth wont convert into a weatherside.....
Welcome and Happy Journey
Gunnar/Stockholm

 

[Guest]

Many thanks to all have contributed suggestions.

I intend to get a really long boat hook, a large rope fender to rig fore and aft and then shout at the wife as usual!

Fair winds

Malcolm

 

[Guest]

Follow Pandroid's advice; pre rig, have your wife loop over the windward pole as you pass it close abeam and then have her walk forward to deal with the bow while you tidy up aft. No trouble.

Ps he is right about beam. Many berths are only 10-12ft wide

 

[cleutch]

Baltic style moorings

If you sail along the Baltic German coast, you will also in most of the cases have to moor between poles with few exceptions such as the marina in Kröslin accross Peenemunde. It can be a tricky exercise with a nasty side wind.

 

[petedg]

Mooring to piles

We did it this year for the first time and what a mess we made of it! Although we always found someone onshore to help. When there were no crosswinds we did it OK, however when there were strong crosswinds that made it much more difficult and we made a mess of it. You've had good advice from many experienced forumites so good luck. We will also be in the the German part of Baltic again next year and really looking forward to it.
Advice: Keep watch on your depths it is very shallow in places. Can recommend Kröslin, finger births. Greifswald, good 'backfish', Ueckermünde, nice small German town, good sandy beach.

 

[swanny]

I often enter these berths on my own in my Contest 36k which is heavy to handle in a marina at the best of times. However, what I find works for me is to enter the box with two stern lines leading from the cockpit through the aft fairleads, outside of everything back to the cockpit and drape the ends over the main winches. These lines have loops tied into them. I have one bow line cleated and coiled ready to throw should someone be on the pontoon to catch it. Entering the box I try to get the windward line on first but if not because the boat drifts to the leeward post I put them over the posts however I can, usually using a boat hook if the post is too far away. No chance of pushing the boat over to the winward post with a side wind. It's important for me when doing this that the boat is stationary and resting on the leeward post around midships so she does'nt move so much. Then I give some power while taking in the slack of the lines. Usually, using power on the taught aft lines you can steer the bow to where you want her giving time to sort the bow line out. Alone, this can take a bit of running to and thro as I judge how much line to let out with the power on to get her close enough to leap ashore. If you have a couple of cleats or winches that you can use further along the boat it's better as the steerage you get from this point is much more positive. If there are side lines leading to the pontoon or jetty from the posts then it's a whole lot simpler. I usually have a light line running on the windward side from the cockpit forward to the bow fairlead and back outside of everything to the cockpit. This line has a carabineri (can't spell it!) hook on the end which I clip onto the side line to the pontoon and then pull tight to the bow which holds her bow perfectly so I can relax. Going in astern is actually easier because I have quiet strong prop kick to port which when I go alongside the box (what the locals call the berths) enables me to alternate between forward and reverse to twist her in astern. I too have the teak and stainless rubbing strake which lets me sometimes use the post as a pivot. The only problem with going in astern is that when leaving, if there is an unfavourable wind it's very difficult to get the bow around the way you want it. It's far easier for me (again alone) to exit stern first. Important when leaving the box though is to use no power until all lines are off. Pull your boat out of the box using the stern lines which usually means she is half way out before you need power. This avoids any prop kick which can disturb your graceful exit. The last thing is that when you are in the box bow first, cross over your stern lines so that your stern doesn't drift around so much. Your neighbour will appreciate this. From what I have read from this thread I won't be visiting Sweden alone! Buoys and hooks, slime lines! Sounds impossible alone!

 

[TQA]

I own, sail and moor a boat in the Baltic, Estonia and most moorings this side are single stern buoy with line to shore which provides stern line and two boat bow-lines to shore.
The boat is normally bow to the shore if sail, stern to shore if power.
My boat has no engine and we are inside the marina ! So you sail in, drop genny before approach to your mooring slot. Scandalise the main till speed drops to a gentle glide. Estimate main 'droppoint' and 'lose the main at that point. Glide in and bowman picks up line between buoy and shore and lifts enough for stern guy to get hold of and use as brake. Helm is put midships, bowman is pulling boat to shore, sternman is controlling speed and stop point. When bowman shouts stop its a quick couple of turns over a cleat aft with the line and the bowman then jumps ashore with a line to secure the bow.
So now we have a boat with one stern line to the buoy and one headline to the shore. All we need now is another headline from the opposite side of the bow to the other shore point making two lines out from the bow at about 80 degs to each other and equal.

How do I leave without engine ? Thats easy as well. A line is made fast to shore long enough to reach the stern. The sternman casts of and holds the stern on the buoy to shore line. The bow man casts of the headlines and holds onto the line made fast to shore. The sternman pulls the boat aft till clear enough to allow the boat to swing, the two guys basically swap ends and pull the boat around 180 degrees. So now the boat is pointing bow out and we temporarily make fast while hoisting sails etc. We cast of the shore line and pull hard on the buoy line to get a bit of speed up and sail out !!!!!! Sounds much harder than it actually is !!!!

RESPECT