Boat handling mayhem! Ermioni Greece.

[Norman_E]

I am so used to mooring stern first with either anchor or lazy line that I have to take extra care when I need to go alongside, for example at a fuel berth. Even in a crosswind going stern to should not present too much of a problem provided the skipper understands what to do. The usual mistake people (particularly charterers) make is to make the turn to line up on their chosen slot far too close in. If you turn and line up well away from the quay or jetty, and go astern fast enough to be able to steer, and drop the anchor at the right point its actually quite easy. In a crosswind choose your spot carefully, aiming to have a boat at least as big as yours on the downwind side of your slot. When you stop the boat you will lay against the downwind boat giving you time to get your sternlines on, and pull the anchor chain tight. If its a place with lazylines, secure the stern lines and motor forward against them just hard enough to keep your boat off the quay whilst you pull up and secure the lazy line.

The one time the stern to moor becomes dangerous is when there is a really strong wind blowing crosswise towards the quay and you have no boat to lay against or any help on the quay to take your lines. In those circumstances you need to lay your anchor further out than any lazy lines as you dont want to snag the chain they are attached to. You need the anchor to stop you from being swept into the quay. You also need to crewmember to step ashore with the upwind stern line.
In Turkey the wind frequently gets quite strong mid afternoon, but drops off markedly later so picking your time and even anchoring out and waiting are useful tactics. In one bay I use there are three restauants. One usually has the wind blowing strongly away from it, the other usually has a crosswind. Guess which one I go to.

 

[RJJ]

As far as I know, stern-on Mediterranean style mooring isn't taught on RYA courses, nor is is at all common in the UK, if indeed it is used anywhere in the UK. Therefore, even a highly experienced UK skipper might struggle to get it right on the first attempt. I've never encountered it, and would definitely struggle to get it right first time - or even second or third! I can see that the principle is that you drop an anchor some distance (several boat lengths) from the quay and then reverse against the anchor to control the boat going into the quay. But how, for example, do you judge the right place to drop the anchor? And how do you control the lateral motion of the boat while reversing against the anchor? It might be valuable if the experienced people on here put together a useful set of diagrams to illustrate how to do it in various conditions of wind and/or current (the lack of tides in the Med doesn't preclude the possibility of wind-driven currents), taking into account things like prop-walk and lack of rudder function when reversing slowly.

The RYA courses can't teach everything. In my view there's little point in trying to teach people stern mooring when there's nowhere reasonable to practice it. There's enough of a challenge on the Day Skipper to do it all, for 4-6 punters, in a week.

There's a broader point here, which is that all of us should be humble about what we don't know and what we need to figure out. You could be an Ocean Yachtmaster who'd lapped the world five times, and still be facing your first Med Moor. You should seek advice, you should practice some reversing manoeuvres in your new-to-you charter yacht, you should think it through, you could ask the charter operator to give you a quick lesson. A skipper should have that attitude of "what can I do to bring this new situation under control" as opposed to "I'm just going for it".

Slightly speculative, but I don't reckon the chap in the video did that; I reckon he didn't have the social confidence to delay his crew's arrival at the bar while he did slow circles and anchor up/down for half an hour before trying for his spot.

 

[laika]

The RYA courses can't teach everything. In my view there's little point in trying to teach people stern mooring when there's nowhere reasonable to practice it.

For the avoidance of doubt, my noting in a previous post that med mooring wasn't taught did not imply that it *should* be taught. Nor does AntarcticPilot as far as I can see. I completely agree that there's only so many things that can be taught within the constraints and leaving out practices not common in the UK make abundant sense.

I would think researching "how do they do things differently there?" is a wise plan before you even get to any new destination, be it one of the med countries or those herring-eating northern countries where they do the bows into the rocks thing and box moorings. All made easier these days thanks to the joys of YouTube.

 

[Slowboat35]

Nonetheless it is clearly a technique that though eminenty suitable for small greek fishing boats and caiques manned by lifelong seamen using rope rodes and probably deadweight (boulder) anchors that will be far less liable to snag even in the unlikely event that they are laid inaccurately it is not a technique suited to massed novice charter holidaymakers in boats often far too big for them to manage deploying vast cat's cradles of of chain and hook-style (ie snag prone) anchors in the unthinking assumption that as this is what everyone else has done must be safe and prudent today. The hazards of others' chains being all ahoo and at every angle to the shore means 'my' anchoring skills, be they of the highest accuracy, are doomed even if I lay my chain at a perfect 90' angle to the quay - yet unknowingly across someone else's. Call me a cynic if you will, but in reality I'm just not that credulous.
Plus the hazard of a windshift or blow propelling boats onto the quay or blowing them side on to each other where just one anchor letting go creates a domino effect - sod that!

I'm happier, safer and far more comfortable at anchor in a suitable part of the bay watching the entertainment, thanks. And if that bay isn't suitable due to today's weather, then I'll be in another one - even if it doesn't contain my favourite taverna.

Horses for courses; for fishing boats and in suitable weather well handled yachts it is all very well, but as a universal technique for every Tom, Fritz and Gustav in the biggest boats they can afford (rather then handle) and in any and all weathers...its a recipe for great amusement - and doubtless much employment at local boat repair yards.

And after repeatedly watching charter boats merely trying to set an anchor (not that they knew or understood that expression) in bays with no harbour it is no blooming wonder their attempts at this far more complex and co-ordinated manoeuvre often come to nothing.

 

[zoidberg]

I do recall, a long, long time ago, picking up a last-minute bareboat two weeks among the islands off Gocek.... and wanting to moor for a swim, a meal or a laze in various empty inlets. My stern-to technique was to stop the boat about 30 yards ( metres? ) offshore, drop the 'ook, then send Milady to swim ashore with a long stern-line held in her teeth.

Once ashore, and having picked some of the 'urchin' spines out of her feet, she'd wind the end of the rope 3 or 4 times around a convenient tree - tucking the end in. I'd then pull the boat astern until there was 'enough and a bit' still under the rudder, then wade ashore myself to sort out the end of the stern-line by means of whatever remnants of BoyScoutery I could recall.

When my young and lovely inquired why she always had to do the swimming-with-rope, I intoned something about 'responsibility' and 'security deposit at risk'....... and opened the chilled bottle!

Wouldn't get away with that these days.....

 

[NormanB]

For those who are inexperienced in med mooring - this You Tube video is IMHO about the best technique you can choose to emulate. As well as being ‘technically’ sound it is also a silent procedure so it has the advantage of not requiring any voice commands a wonderful bonus in the sort of challenging conditions often experienced late afternoon in Ay Euphemia and the like where even raised voices do not carry from stern to stem.
In windy conditions, when a more brisk approach to the wall is required to maintain authority, many windlasses cannot lay the chain fast enough under electric power - this method avoids that pivotal problem.

 

[Norman_E]

I do recall, a long, long time ago, picking up a last-minute bareboat two weeks among the islands off Gocek.... and wanting to moor for a swim, a meal or a laze in various empty inlets. My stern-to technique was to stop the boat about 30 yards ( metres? ) offshore, drop the 'ook, then send Milady to swim ashore with a long stern-line held in her teeth.

Once ashore, and having picked some of the 'urchin' spines out of her feet, she'd wind the end of the rope 3 or 4 times around a convenient tree - tucking the end in. I'd then pull the boat astern until there was 'enough and a bit' still under the rudder, then wade ashore myself to sort out the end of the stern-line by means of whatever remnants of BoyScoutery I could recall.

When my young and lovely inquired why she always had to do the swimming-with-rope, I intoned something about 'responsibility' and 'security deposit at risk'....... and opened the chilled bottle!

Wouldn't get away with that these days.....

You certainly would not get away with tying round a tree these days, you have to use rocks or the mooring bollards that have been installed in many of the bays. There are heavy penalties for damaging trees.

 

[Norman_E]

Good video, but I have another tip. Whatever way the wind is blowing out in the bay always look for flags at the quay to see what is happening there, the wind may be in quite a different direction there.

 

[jimi]

I'm no expert but the way I've done it is by dumping the anchor well out , ensuring the chain runs completely freely , even to the extent of faking the chain out on the side deck. Manoeuvre into the space , get the stern lines ashore controlling not bumping quay with the engine, motor against stern lines when fixed, tighten up anchor and that usually works ok.