Best way to tie to a pontoon in heavy weather?

[Supertramp]

currently we are in cuxhaven marina with 20 knot winds howling . this marina takes the swell wind everything in. I tied all the lines from all cleats and even used the boat's winches. it's still bucking like a bronco and groaning.
no sleep tonight ..

Being at anchor is usually a more comfortable experience in F8+ unless you really have no fetch and swell. My worse times are with mooring chain fastened rather than pile fastened pontoons. The swell affects the pontoons out of synch with the boat creating tugs and jerks. Rubber snubbers and long springs help.

 

[dunedin]

currently we are in cuxhaven marina with 20 knot winds howling . this marina takes the swell wind everything in. I tied all the lines from all cleats and even used the boat's winches. it's still bucking like a bronco and groaning.
no sleep tonight ..

20 knots is hardly “howling” - just a Force 5, so “purring” perhaps. But sounds like a place with very poor shelter, so make sure you escape before a proper breeze gets up.

PS Why the ressurection of a 13 year old thread?

 

[johnalison]

20 knots is hardly “howling” - just a Force 5, so “purring” perhaps. But sounds like a place with very poor shelter, so make sure you escape before a proper breeze gets up.

PS Why the ressurection of a 13 year old thread?

Because he was tired and in a bad mood, thought that he was doing us a service by not starting a new one.

Actually, I am surprised that he is troubled by such moderate winds. Cuxhaven is open to the river Elbe to the east, and the entrance is at the south end, while the access to the shore is at the north, with quite a long stretch between. The pontoons close to the entrance can certainly be lively. Larger boats are mainly confined to this area, though there are alongside pontoons against the outer harbour wall, mainly used by very large yachts. I would say that about 2/3 of the berths are comfortable in all weathers. Cuxhaven has the best system for payment I ever met. You can pay for berthing and services under shelter 24/7, or at the office, and when leaving any unused cash in your tally-card can be returned to your own account at any hour.

 

[TSailors]

Many thanks for your feedback. Yes we moved in the harbor to a more secluded location. My wife couldn't sleep last night because it was so still The wind did drop down and the new location doesn't get the swell at all.

 

[greeny]

Many thanks for your feedback. Yes we moved in the harbor to a more secluded location. My wife couldn't sleep last night because it was so still The wind did drop down and the new location doesn't get the swell at all.

No pleasing some people.

 

[MontyMariner]

Why the ressurection of a 13 year old thread?

It was worth the resurrection just to read / reread #37

 

[TSailors]

No pleasing some people.

indeed! after two nights of rocking (and not in a good way ) I slept like a log.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I still have occasional ‘nightmares’ about just how bad the swell was in QAB Plymouth despite the wind not being especially strong.

The year before I’d left the boat in Sutton harbour for a week and was travelling back down by train the day of the strong winds for that year’s RTIR and I dread to think what it must have been like just the other side of the lock gates.

 

[wingcommander]

It was worth the resurrection just to read / reread #37

Just spat out my morning tea reading that . Last bit is epic

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Don't tie to a pontoon, if it looks like being really bad, get your boat on the hard.

The 2023 storm surge in the Baltic Sea impaled this Taswell 49 on one of the piles holding the pontoons, despite a heavy lay-up, encapsulated keel, skeg hung rudder etc.etc.etc. .. this world girdler joined 13 other boats on the sea bottom - not to mention the plethora of other severely damaged boats in this particular marina.

(Sorry, it's in German - but YouTube can provide auto-translated subtitles in the video settings)

 

[Lucky Duck]

Unfortunately boats falling over while ashore isn’t unheard of and the problem is not limited to fin keeled yachts on cradles

 

[Rappey]

Our club outside where i live has a 350m long pontoon. There are always boats on it in winter storms. I sometimes put on my immersion suit and go out to try and secure boats. All the ones on the windward side pop fenders, get bounced up and down enough to lift fenders on pontoon or get snagged under and snap. Heeling from strong winds also place fenders under pontoon. On the leeward side ropes snap at a weak point or through faileads as the snatching is very violent.
I have never yet seen a rope snap where they have the rubber things as this absorbs the shock loading.
I Would certainly tie a boat between the fingers when possible so it wont get hull abrasions.

 

[MontyMariner]

Unfortunately boats falling over while ashore isn’t unheard of and the problem is not limited to fin keeled yachts on cradles

Unfortunately, I think boats are stored pointing in the most convenient direction that suits the yard operator, no consideration is paid to prevailing wind direction.

 

[Stemar]

That pontoon's grown a bit - IIRC, it's now 500m long!

Some years ago, a severe storm was forecast. I considered sitting it out on the mooring, but decided that if it all hit the fan, a VP2003 takes a few seconds to start, and, in 50kts, I wouldn't have a few seconds before I hit another boat, so I went as close to the shore end of the pontoon as I could, doubled up my lines, and settled down to wait it out, thinking I'd be able to keep an eye on the other boats on the pontoon.

When it got going properly (100kt gusts at the Needles), I double-checked my lines - everything fine, and thought I'd wander down the pontoon to check the other boats. One look at the way the pontoon was bucking told me that it was a bad idea. I'd have risked it on my hands and knees to save a life, but not to save an insurance company some money.

 

[Stemar]

Unfortunately, I think boats are stored pointing in the most convenient direction that suits the yard operator, no consideration is paid to prevailing wind direction.

Fortunately, in our club compound, that's facing SW. In the 20-odd years I've been a member, we've never had an issue.

 

[boomerangben]

I remember being called to a friends yacht in Stornoway when the needle hit over 100mph on the anemometer. Like Stenmar says pontoons were moving too much to be of use, besides the local lifeboat crew were ready to go and would have prevented me going anywhere. I genuinely thought I would come to a sunken boat in the morning. The Genoa had worked loose, the doubled up mooring lines had parted and the finger pontoon ripped from the main pontoon. His boat had holed the neighbours boat too. There is no way I would stay on board during such a blow. If you needed to get off onto dry land, I’m not sure it would have been possible and a rescue extremely hazardous if not impossible