How do you board your boat when at a mooring?

That video was horrible to watch. I think I would have left the yacht to it's own fate and waited on shore. They should never have left it unattended.
My little boat does not have life lines. I board habitually from the side from an aluminium dinghy with oars. I use the shrouds and cabin top handles to hoist myself on side deck. Getting off into the dinghy is a bit more fraught as I have to land near the middle of the dinghy. I fear the boarding and getting off problems will spell the end of my sailing not too long from now.
In the past in really strong winds I have resorted to swimming to the boat to check mooring lines. Water relatively flat but winds so strong I could not row out from shore. (quite close) (water not cold) Boarding from stern ladder ok.
So it all depends on the boat but essentially you must have hand holds up high not just foot holds. ol'will
 
Refueler said:
High sided pram dinghy ... Snapdragon 23 ..............

I paid a price for not being able to stop myself laughing .....

My Ex Wife decided that she would stand in dinghy and hold onto boat .. I advised her to sit .. but no - she stood .... dinghy did its natural action .... moving out from boat ... wife getting more and more angle till finally she was horizontal with 'bits' touching the cold Langstone water ... feet hooked over dinghy gunwhale ..

I just managed to say - "You're gonna have to just let go and I'll pull you out .... "

But she with grit and determination stated "I will get this bloody dinghy in if it kills me - I am NOT going in the water .... "

Amazingly she actually managed it .. a feat I have never seen repeated .....
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I had a similar Tom & Jerry moment on my Snapdragon 24. It was then that I realised the importance of being able to unfold the ladder from in the water. If I'd been alone, it would have been a long swim to shore, in cold water it could have been fatal.
 
Getting on board a tri is drama free. The amas are low-ish, you just step aboard, or if it’s a bit bumpy some may prefer to sit on the edge first. No guardwires to get in the way. We do also cone to the sugar scoop if the mood takes us, the tiller is a useful handhold there.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
Getting on board a tri is drama free. The amas are low-ish, you just step aboard, or if it’s a bit bumpy some may prefer to sit on the edge first. No guardwires to get in the way. We do also cone to the sugar scoop if the mood takes us, the tiller is a useful handhold there.
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Being very light- like a skimming dish-does it sit straight on a mooring, or swing about? I have seen my Hanse do complete 360s when I first had it & had to moor it for a couple of months, whilst I waited for a marina berth
 
Daydream believer said:
Being very light- like a skimming dish-does it sit straight on a mooring, or swing about? I have seen my Hanse do complete 360s when I first had it & had to moor it for a couple of months, whilst I waited for a marina berth
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You seem to have a very singular boat - countless similar Hanse ride perfectly normally at moorings, and on anchor. :)

Many go round 360 degrees - generally once every 12-13 hours.
 
Daydream believer said:
Being very light- like a skimming dish-does it sit straight on a mooring, or swing about? I have seen my Hanse do complete 360s when I first had it & had to moor it for a couple of months, whilst I waited for a marina berth
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Smaller multis are occasionally very skittish. Ours does move, but not so quickly you can’t get safely alongside.
 
dunedin said:
You seem to have a very singular boat - countless similar Hanse ride perfectly normally at moorings, and on anchor. :)

Many go round 360 degrees - generally once every 12-13 hours.
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There’s a spot in Newtown Creek where any boat will go through 360 degrees every 2-3 minutes at one stage of the tide. But quite gently, without resetting the anchor even.
 
Had to stop that video half way through!! Couldn't stand it a second longer...Anyway for me and my low freeboard halcyon 23 I just row tender to stern and step up on ladder using backstay to balance, easy easy and never in those conditions!! Why why why?
 
Chiara’s slave said:
I’ll be there on Friday, I hope. We’ll be ready to sail tomorrow, but a bit busy. Any seals?
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Yes, plenty of seals, chatted to the harbour master and lent them my binoculars so they could have a good look. They counted a dozen or so. A cute russet coloured pup on top of the wall.
I'll post a pic of the (invisible) wreck when I get home.
Off for a walk before heading home.
 
My ‘old’ boat had very low freeboard amidships, no guardrails and a pointed stern. I’d bring the dinghy alongside, attach the painter and use the shrouds as a handhold to step on board. The boat was pretty stable in any kind of conditions where I’d want to use the dinghy.
My ‘new’ boat is being launched tomorrow so I don’t yet know what the best way will be. She’s smaller, lighter and even older than the old boat but has raised topsides. There’s no side deck and the shrouds are a bit more of a reach. And there’s a counter stern….
Perhaps a boarding ladder of some sort is in order.
 
I keep my Channel 31 on a swinging mooring and never felt comfortable with getting aboard over the stern, the platform on the transom was uncomfortably high for me despite being 6ft and I tried the shrouds approach by borrowing one of those 3 step moulded plastic steps you can get, only to find it was too narrow internally for my oversize feet.

I had a step made by PCUK of this parish that I through bolted so it was a comfortable height to step onto from my 2.6m inflatable. From there it's easy to step onto the transom platfrom and then step over the transom itself into the cockpit. It certainly works well for me.

I bring the inflatable up to the starboard stern quarter, tie on to the starboard side mid cleat (painter length preset so about half the tender is alongside the hull) my right hand onto the pushpit stanchion and right foor onto the step with the tender stern painter in my left hand with plenty of slack. Depending on prevailing conditions I either bring the tender further up the starboard side and tie on the stern painter (insurance) or allow the tender to float astern and adjust both painters as I see fit.

I sent the transom angle and dimensions I wanted to PCUK, he did the necesssary and as I said, it works for me.

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