Fore and Aft Trot

[laurence_penpol]

Hi everyone,

I will be shortly moving my Penpol 27 fin keel boat onto a Fore and Aft trot mooring in the next week. Having done some reading around these types of mooring arrangements there seems to be two options and I was wondering if anyone with experience could clarify which works best? The mooring buoys are 20m apart and are in a line of other boats.

1- You have 2 x Fore and 2 x Aft mooring lines that can be connected together to maintain the distance between the buoys at circa 20m when I'm out sailing. A pick up boy will be connected where they join probably using a Carabina. When return you initially tie up one of each and then sort out the remainder. They will not be fixed strops but adustable ines so that they can be adjusted depending on other boats on the trot. (The harbour insist on that)

2- In addition to the above a "permanent" line connects the buoys together at around 20m again witha floatingh buoy on it. Some people seem to use this to connect to a midship cleat on return. I guiess this could be done with 1 anyway?

Some suggestions appear to just have 1 but other seem to have 1 and 2. Any advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers

Laurence

 

[pessimist]

We use a permanent line and midships cleat. Means we can still use the engine to align the boat between the buoys. It's also handy to secure the tender while day sailing. Good luck

 

[skipper021]

My trot mooring set up sounds just like yours - 4 lines tied together when you go out sailing.
I am usually single handed so picking up the mooring needs a bit of forward planning - if the tide is fairly slack, the whole bunch of lines can usually be lifted up and either hooked over the mid ships cleat, or just over the top of the guard rails.
However, if the tide is flowing a bit, the bow will tend to fall away quickly so I have evolved a refinement that works for me:
I set up a bow line and stern line on the side I will be approaching the mooring, each line outside everything and with the loose end on the midship coachroof. Each line is about 3/4 the length of the boat.
I approach the mooring against the strongest element, usually tide, stopping with midship more or less alongside the pickup buoy, I step forward and yank the pickup buoy up and over the rail and at the same time grab the loose end of the bow line around one or more of the mooring lines, walk forward taking up the slack and secure the temporary bow line - this stops the bow blowing off, and gives you time to secure each mooring line in turn.

I do not use a Karibina to join the mooring lines together as it would only be a matter of time before the topsides get scratched. My mooring lines are plain ended and I tie them onto the pickup buoy with a bowline.

My mooring is 17m between buoys, to ensure my boat is positioned correctly I have measured the distance between my bow & stern cleats, then subtracted that from 17m, then halved that figure to arrive at a marked position (a simple whipping mark) where to pull the line in and secure it. Example: distance between cleats 8.1m, 17m-8.1m = 8.9m ÷ 2 = 4.45m distance from mooring buoy to whipping mark on each mooring rope.
This may sound complicated but it helps to keep a consistent mooring position between the buoys - I find that when a lot of boats are out/away from adjacent moorings, the whole trot goes quite slack.

Anyway, I hope some of this may help.
Good luck and fairwinds!

 

[LadyInBed]

Laurence, how you describe it sounds exactly the same as my setup on the River Frome.

 

[Seajet]

If singlehanding or with a reluctant girlfriend / wife it's usual to motor up into the tide - unless it's blowing a gale - and pick up the forward line first, to prevent the bow paying off downwind as mentioned by Skipper 021; the stern can be steered to pick up the aft line either by current flow over the rudder or with the engine.

 

[lw395]

On some trots, it can be necessary to be sure that the lines from buoy to buoy are not too slack when the mooring is vacant, as it lets boats get too close together further down the line. Especially when the tide turns. Some places like to pack 'em in!

It's noticeable when you get a class of boats that moor together and go racing together! I'm thinking small boats (7-8m?) on deepwater trots, 8m at HW?.

 

[Cactus Sailing]

this is how our Fore & aft trot mooring was set up;

we could only access ours from one side though due to shallow water (access from port side on that drawing only) as we were on the very edge of a channel with a 1.9m keel.

having a loop for mid-ships was the best advice anyone gave to us and really made life easier on returning, i also remember once (pre-mid ships loop) having to winch in the stern line because the wind was blowing 30+knts and it was impossible to pull in by hand, at least with the line attached mid ships there's hardly anything to pull in, although we were usually quick to get the fore and aft attached in any case

if your fore & aft is in an open area of water you can play more with the tides and wind in your favour to get lines attached which we never had the luxury of having!

we used carabinas to attach lines as it was loads quicker to get lines on/off, also colour coding your lines with whipping or whatever makes it easier

hardest condition with our trot mooring was leaving when the wind was blowing us onto it! that's what we found anyway because as i say there wasn't enough water one side of the mooring and boats in front and behind so we only had access from one side and if the wind was blowing you on it made for interesting departure tactics!

 

[laurence_penpol]

Thanks everyone - Some really great help here!!!! Much appreciated. Hopefully this will help me have a successful season of mooring but I'm sure there will be some hiccups!

 

[LadyInBed]

this is how our Fore & aft trot mooring was set up

:encouragement:

having a loop for mid-ships was the best advice anyone gave to us and really made life easier on returning

:encouragement:
I put three on mine, one that ends up on the midship cleat and the other two on the spring cleats.
I make a double ended loop and Cow Hitch the small loop to the jackstay.

It makes it easy to line the loops up with the cleats, it stops the jackstay laying in the water and going under the hull and it's also a backup for the fore and aft mooring lines.