Fore & Aft moorings

[chappy]

Any sailor out there who has a fore & aft mooring, have you any tips on where to tie the tender, at the moment i tie it to the pick up bouy but when i aproach my moorings after a days sail it gets in the way & then when i try to haul up the pick up line it sometimes gets caught under the tender, making it difficult to get the lines onboard.
If i aproach the moorings on the otherside of the pickup line when there is no tender in the way , i run the risk of the yacht getting blown on to the lines or the current takes me onto the line.
Any tips would be gratefull, as i'm sailing tommorrow & i do not want a repeat of what happened to me last time!!
Thanks.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Goodge]

We leave the tender attached to the bouy at the bow.

We have two lines linked together by a pickup line and pick up buoy attached midway.

Sail up to the mooring, pick up the buoy. Pull on the line which is attached to the front mooring bouy and secure the mooring line on the bow cleat.

Then drop back slightly following the line that is connected to the rear mooring line and secure that on stern cleat.

As the bow mooring line is quite short it is possible to bring the dinghy alongside the bow with a boathook and then you jump in ! My skipper is 6ft 6 in so he's quite good at this !

Untie the dinghy and pass yourself to the stern of the boat.

You will have a reasonably clear run at the mooring but getting in and out of the dinghy over the bow is the downside.






<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Wai_Tapu]

Tie mine to the aft mooring buoy. Two reasons: 1) board the yacht by means of transom ladder, 2) when leaving, I can drop the aft warps into the dinghy so they stay nice and dry and out of the mud for return pick-up - well, the crew picks up the bow warps! Strange how often they forget to put on gloves
PS Don't have a courtesy line between the buoys either, so one less line to worry about fouling

<hr width=100% size=1>Be alert ........ your country needs lerts!

 

[chappy]

The problem is that my fore & aft bouys are a little bit to far to tie te tender onto & then jump in to my yacht, also i am on a deep water mooring & the mooring officer says we all have to have pickup lines.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

We tie our dinghy alongside using a fore and aft painter on the dinghy with snap clips on. Then we just clip it to the shackle on the fore and aft stays, but any strong clip on point will do. Obviously you can tie it, but with clips we have the right length painter and coming alongside takes a few seconds and we are all secure. We have a fender horizontal just above the water between the dinghy an boat. (hard dinghy).

We board in the centre of the boat as she has a centre cockpit and we have steps on the hull (best idea ever, from previous owner, both sides so approach can be either!). Having the dinghy alongside, slightly taught lines, but using stretchy lines, also helps to keep the dinghy stable when loading and unloading, you can let go of the main boat when stowing bags etc.

When we go out we tie a few turns of the dinghy painters to the fore and aft strops respectively. The dinghy now sits between the buoys awaiting our return. You can approach the mooring from either side upon return as you only have to pick up the dinghy painters with the boat hooks and pull in the strops.

An important rule though, the crew on the bow must be patient and wait until the boat has passed the dinghy and only pick up the fore strop, picking up the aft first means you have to fend off the dinghy. As you pass the helmsman picks up the aft painter / strop and drops it over an aft cleat, thus stopping the boat if she has any way on. Important to pre-set the fender if you are using one to stop the dinghy banging into the boat.

Untie dinghy from strops and clip at back to the stays. You can then set your strops properly over the cleats. We have a cat, but I can't see why this method should not be used on a monohull, in fact with an aft cockpit gathering the aft lines should be easier.

This has worked really well for us, though, in the odd gale we have moved the dinghy and streamed it aft behind the boat as the knocking fender can be a little annoying.

Hope this helps......

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>

</A>

 

[dralex]

Did the previous owner also put the stickon " brill step " or was that your idea?/forums/images/icons/wink.gif I think I'm going to label my boat to make it easier for people eg ENGINE, BIG SAIL, LITTLE SAIL, PULL THIS etc.

<hr width=100% size=1>Life's too short- do it now./forums/images/icons/wink.gif

 

[silverseal]

I tie the tender midway between the fore and aft. My tender is heavily "rubber fendered" and expects to be barged out of the way, on our return. 50% of the time wind and tide take the tender out of the way anyway... the other 50% it gets booted out of the way on return! Our fore and afts are split midway to allow "breaking of the rope" should tide and wind prove troublesome. The midway eyes make an ideal tie off point for the painter

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kds]

Silverseal,
Can you explain the "split midway" bit.
I have trouble getting taken over the rope joining bouys by the tide, in certain wind conditions.
Ken

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[chappy]

Some very interesting replys, thanks for the help.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[freebird1]

I've had a fore and aft mooring for a few years but still have not decided what's best. I too have a connecting rope between the strops and find that boat length +3' seems about right. I've not tried tying the dingy midway as one side of my mooring is decidedly shallow and if returning at low water, with an easterly wind, my dingy would be laying accross the deeper approach side.

I usually tie the dingy to the forward strop, but if i'm away for anything more than a few days, the painter and pickup bouy usually ended twisted together.

I've often wondered about tying the dingy fore and aft. May be i'll give it a try. This would save having the extra pick up rope and remove the chance of becoming foul of it while getting under way.

The worst thing is not being able to leave the strop in the dingy and all the weed and slime when you come back to it after a week.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jorinda]

I splice stainless steel rings into the mooring line loops and then connect the trot lineto them with carbine hooks, unclip them and keep them in the cockpit when moored up, rig them to windward when you leave the mooring and you can easily unclip them if things go wrong.



<hr width=100% size=1>The Chandler at Bucklers Hard

 

[Walnut]

Knowing the tide direction for when you return, tie your tender to the down tide end with a long line. It won't be in your way when you come in. Just hope the person up stream doesn't know the same trick.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[freebird1]

My dingy usually lays to the wind as there is not much of it under water!!
It has a tendancy to drag the strop away with it though so i fitted a small float mid-way between the two. This also discourages it going under the boat.


<hr width=100% size=1>