How not to pick up a mooring buoy

Well if the Marie Celeste's crew were like that lot it would answer a great many things !

Nice of the apparently endless supply of blokes to leave the female to it at first...
 
Not in the same league but while I was in Newtown Creek last summer a boat came gently towards the next mooring buoy, skipper up front was a skinny guy with hairy knees, baggy bush trousers and shirt and a large floppy hat and holding a boathook as if he was going to throw it like a javelin.

He was actually using it to point at the buoy so that his crew (the missus) would know which way to steer. However, his sudden jerky movements and flourishing of the boathook reminded me of something - I didn't want to be too unkind (after all my turn next time) but I thought of yelling, "Ahab, ye'll no get Moby Dick like that."

Second thoughts prevailed.
 
Daedelus said:
Not in the same league but while I was in Newtown Creek last summer a boat came gently towards the next mooring buoy, skipper up front was a skinny guy with hairy knees, baggy bush trousers and shirt and a large floppy hat and holding a boathook as if he was going to throw it like a javelin.

He was actually using it to point at the buoy so that his crew (the missus) would know which way to steer. However, his sudden jerky movements and flourishing of the boathook reminded me of something - I didn't want to be too unkind (after all my turn next time) but I thought of yelling, "Ahab, ye'll no get Moby Dick like that."

Second thoughts prevailed.
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Not quite sure what the jerky movements were for but holding the boat hook like a harpoon (javelin?) an pointing it at the buoy is a really good way of getting a visual reference where the mooring buoy is from the helm. I don't know why everyone doesn't have the technique in their armoury of 'picking up mooring methods.' With a couple of hand signals for slow down and stop etc you can pick up a buoy in silence.
 
john_morris_uk said:
Not quite sure what the jerky movements were for but holding the boat hook like a harpoon (javelin?) an pointing it at the buoy is a really good way of getting a visual reference where the mooring buoy is from the helm. I don't know why everyone doesn't have the technique in their armoury of 'picking up mooring methods.' With a couple of hand signals for slow down and stop etc you can pick up a buoy in silence.
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Absolutely. When I have the luxury of a crew member to pick up a mooring, I ask them to point at it with the boat hook as we approach.
 
Aquarella said:
Funny videos, but have any of you here got advice about picking up a mooring buoy single handed?
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Run a mooring line from the bow cleat outside everything to the cockpit area.
Stop alongside buoy, tie on, drop back, take up slack.
If you walk forwards with the line as the boat drops back, there is no big effort in pulling the boat forwards.

Home mooring is easy if you leave the pick up line in the dinghy.
 
Aquarella said:
Funny videos, but have any of you here got advice about picking up a mooring buoy single handed?
Click to expand...

Sure. I rig a line from the samson post, through a fairlead the the bow and back outside everything to the cockpit where it gets tied loosely round something convenient. The aft end has a ruddy great stainless carabiner on it. I bring up with the buoy alongside the cockpit then either clip the carabiner on to the loop on top of the buoy or grab the pickup, pull up the strop and clip the carabiner onto that. Throw the line over and I am now moored from the bow. At some suitable point later I either retrieve the strop from the foredeck or put a shorter line through the loop on the buoy.

If I'm picking up my own mooring, which I know well (pickup buoy and strop) I normally just round up to end with the buoy under the bow and pick up the mooring with a boathook.

It's all about preparation. Make up the clip-on line in advance (and in deference to Sod's Law make sure it is too short to reach the propeller) and rig it well in advance. Quite often I put it in place before leaving - it's one less job to do under way.
 
lw395 said:
Run a mooring line from the bow cleat outside everything to the cockpit area.
Stop alongside buoy, tie on, drop back, take up slack.
If you walk forwards with the line as the boat drops back, there is no big effort in pulling the boat forwards.

Home mooring is easy if you leave the pick up line in the dinghy.
Click to expand...

Works well so long as its not blowing old boots and the bow gets blown off before you're tied on! Reversing up to the buoy is another option, but there are obvious dangers of lines and mooring pick up buoys near propellors and rudders.

One of those devises that instantly threads a line can work, but it assumes that there is an 'eye' standing proud enough to use. Otherwise we are back to lassoing and other tricks and I know the ire that will be heaped on me by some following a recent thread on that subject.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Hence the ruddy great caribiner at the cockpit end of my temporary mooring line. One swipe and you're on.
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I've got the " ruddy great caribiner" but in Greece most buoys are about the size of a football with just a tangle of lines underneath destined to get in your propeller. They are often in very near vicinity to other boats so you don't have many chances if you miss. But thanks for all the good advice, I just have to be optimistic and hope for ideal conditions.
 
john_morris_uk said:
Works well so long as its not blowing old boots and the bow gets blown off before you're tied on! Reversing up to the buoy is another option, but there are obvious dangers of lines and mooring pick up buoys near propellors and rudders.

One of those devises that instantly threads a line can work, but it assumes that there is an 'eye' standing proud enough to use. Otherwise we are back to lassoing and other tricks and I know the ire that will be heaped on me by some following a recent thread on that subject.
Click to expand...

It's what I do when it is blowing.
In light weather I just stop the boat with the buoy at the bow and amble forward with a boat hook to pick up the strop.

You don't have to tie knots, just pass the bitter end of the line through either the eye on top the buoy or the eye in the end of the strop.
You do have to get the line to a cleat before lots of load comes on it, so maybe the karabiner is a nicer variation, particularly for a heavier boat.

Reversing up might be easier, but as the boat swings into wind isn't it all likely to be a bit violent as the line takes the load?
 
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