Just the two of us

Boz

Boz

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Hi all.....
Bit of advice required please
We're planning to take the boat to Holland later in the year, but having experienced them on a friends boat, |'m a bit worried about the Marina pile berths.
I would be grateful if you guys with experience of these berths could share the techniques with me. Please bear in mind that there is only my good Lady and me, but I know there are many on here in the same situation.....Boat is 11 mtrs X 4 mtrs

Many Thanks
Boz
 
The nicest places are the town quays where there are alongside pontoons. The box moorings do inject an element of fear and excitement. You will probably get directed to a box that is only a bit wider than your boat. Fenders are more of a hindrance than a help. If there is a crosswind then concentrate on the windward posts and have fenders on the lee side. It gets easier by the time you come home as you will have learnt much from your mistakes! All part of the joy that is the Netherlands.
 
Our home berth is Birdham Pool (our boat is currently in East Anglia which is why I follow this forum). Birdham is nearly all pile berths and there is just me and my wife on the boat which is a Westerly Konsort Duo 29'. This is our first boat and Birdham was our first berth, where we have learned most of what little we know. The outside piles of our berth are only a few inches further apart than our beam so we always touch, but they are timber piles and our boat is a Westerly so it really doesn't matter.

The key difference between piles and coming alongside a quay or pontoon or finger is that Crew can't step ashore before the boat stops and get a line made fast to hold the boat against the wind or current. It's cold comfort I suppose but when it's your home berth the trick is to have permanent lines on the jetty and on the outside piles, on hooks or posts or whatever is suited to the place, so you can pick them up and they are always the right length.

But assuming you are coming in to somewhere you've not been to before I would suggest that in every case if at all possible go on to a visitor pontoon first and walk round to take a look at your berth and the approach to it. If it was me I would try hard to choose destinations where this is possible, rather than places where you are given a berth and have to go straight to it. And the second thing is to have all lines prepared using whatever information you have about the location and the conditions. I would say it's essential to have a good bow or stern fender depending on which way you are going in, but keep all the other fenders on the deck ready to be thrown over after you have got in.

Here is what we do, with the caveat that we always come in bow-to. On approaching our berth Skipper tries really hard to get lined up square, and keeps enough way for steering right up to the moment when Crew gives the STOP signal. Skipper then uses full power to stop the boat dead. Crew gets port and starboard bow lines fast to stop the bow swinging. At the same time Skipper gets a line on the upwind/upcurrent pile to hold the stern. The thing is that on our boat Crew can't hold it in anything except flat calm, so Skipper must stay within reach of the throttle in case the boat moves towards the jetty. Crew then makes aft spring lines from the outer piles to hold the boat away from the jetty and Skipper stays by the throttle until this is done. When you have got the bow lines, aft springs, and upwind aft line all made fast, the final line is the aft line to the lee pile. From my point of view there is much to be said for this mooring plan because it keeps Crew busy and Skipper can practice his skill in making remarks which almost but not quite result in going to bed without any supper ;)

We have never gone in stern-to and while I could guess how we would do this I'd rather leave others with more experience to say what their techniques are.

One thing that does make a difference is whether the outer piles are set further out from the quay than your boat's length. Ours are, but only just, which means Skipper can reach them when the boat is right in, but the stern lines can't be relied on to hold the boat off the jetty. If the boat is longer than the berth then you might need to adjust the plan. Which is why I say that it's a really good idea to do some reconnaissance if you possibly can.

With the benefit my whole 12 months' experience behind me I can say that this kind of berth doesn't bother me at all.

Edit:
(1) It does make a difference how high your bow is above the jetty or pontoon. If there are no bow lines ready to be picked up I suppose Crew has to jump off the bow and that could be dangerous. I have seen fender steps hung off bows to give Crew a way of getting down to fix the bow lines. At Birdham I got permission to screw a wooden box to the jetty so we can get on and off the boat easily. If coming in stern-to you may need a plank to get ashore.
(2) Nobody has mentioned breast lines (strung permanently between the inner and outer piles/posts on each side). You are supposed to be able to pick the windward breast line up with a boathook and control the boat that way. Never seems to work for us because they are always too slack, and if they are tightened too much they would pull the posts over.
 
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Our trip to Holland a couple of years ago we "had a go" at three sets of box moorings (Middleburg LH basin), Kortgene, and the third I can't recall. We were double handed, and the final score was box moorings 3, Gladys 0. I had found a tip on line the had you have a very long line for stbd bow that you led all the way aft around the boat to port quarter, and a normal line for port bow. You then came alongside the two piles (port side to) and attached the two bow lines. The theory was then that you motored ahead against the long line which pulled your bow out and allowed you to pivot in between the two posts.... Never worked for us, and I never had the cajones to approach faster in astern to back straight in... That may have been the secret
 
We are cruising around the Baltic and have done the same for the past few years, although back on the EC for each winter, so we have dealt with a very large number and variation of box moorings. All previous posters advice is good, but we actually choose boxes instead of alongside moorings now, because you are much more secure and don't have people rafting to you!

Note that in most places, you pick your place to moor - the free boxes have a green Mark, occupied red, but in more crowded harbours you may have to call the harbourmaster - stop where it says "Hier Melden" or equivalent in target language, or radio or even phone. We almost always barge in, moor up in a green marked box, and then find the HM (or pay machine)
So our approach...
Pick a box with the wind parallel if you can - cross winds are the main problem. If there is a bit of a cross wind, find one with a well fendered boat to get blown onto.
Do NOT deploy fenders (keep them on deck ready) because they will get tangled with posts, mooring lines, and generally cause more trouble than anything else. Put them down when you are moored, and take them out before you leave.
Have long lines on the stern cleats - very long lines are often necessary, and shorter ones on the bows.
Approach chosen box fast enough to keep steerage way.
Crew stands about halfway along boat on the windward side with a bight of the stern line.leaving the end of that line beside the helm. As you pass the post, she drops the bight over the post, and the helm now has the end of the line and can control the stern.
Crew shouts out the distance to the pontoon, and climbs onto the bow (ideally through the split pulpit of your boat, or over it) with the windward bow line.
She shouts stop, helm hard astern when about 0.5m off, and then steps onto the pontoon and cleats off the line.
Now you are secure, so you can take your time with the other lines and fenders.

There are lots of problems which arise, but most of them are easily solvable. People passing invariably come to help. Some pontoons are stupidly low, which makes the leap off the bows precipitous (NL are mostly ok )

If your box is a bit too narrow, often you can bend the posts to let you in! We do this a lot, except that one actually broke and floated away last week! The posts are sometimes pretty nasty and rough below the waterline, so we don't use loops or nooses on the posts, though many people do, because if they sink and get caught they can be hard to recover.

now, stop worrying - everyone, even locals, make a mess of it sometimes!

Enjoy Holland.
 
If your boat hasn't got a rubbing strake, this is a very useful dodge for saving your topsides:

Rig a very heavy line, say 35mm so it's long enough to cover 3/4 of the the length of your boat, and arrange it so covers the topsides; it doesn't matter if it sags a bit and don't worry about the hull extremities. What you are trying to achive is in effect a rope rubbing strake. This will allow you to lean against the piles whilst you attach your mooring lines with no worries about scratches etc.

I found the suitable line for my boat in a marina skip:)
 
we are heading up to Holland this week and I'm having a bit of a worry on about the stern to mooring. Despite all my worries about berthing Ocean lady, I'm feeling Ok about the box moorings as it what I had at Gillingham and I reverse into my space at Limehouse (bow thruster doing all the work). What I am more worried about it getting off the boat the stern. I think we will have to go very close up and we don't have any platform or owt to help the dumpy shortlegged or over 75 year olds disembark.

Any tips?

We are either going to VVW at Flushing or to Breskens first. Then up to Middleburg and I think that all the way we will be encountering ths problem. We will probably look to getting a plank tomorrow!
 
ChattingLil said:
we are heading up to Holland this week and I'm having a bit of a worry on about the stern to mooring. Despite all my worries about berthing Ocean lady, I'm feeling Ok about the box moorings as it what I had at Gillingham and I reverse into my space at Limehouse (bow thruster doing all the work). What I am more worried about it getting off the boat the stern. I think we will have to go very close up and we don't have any platform or owt to help the dumpy shortlegged or over 75 year olds disembark.

Any tips?

We are either going to VVW at Flushing or to Breskens first. Then up to Middleburg and I think that all the way we will be encountering ths problem. We will probably look to getting a plank tomorrow!
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It is possible to berth without encountering pile boxes. Breskens, Wemeldinge, St Anniland, Colinsplats, Roompot, Port Zelande all use pontoon berths,Port Zelande even have a finger each side of the berth. For pile box berths we always moor bows in with a bow ladder, though we have a split pulpit.
 
ChattingLil said:
We are either going to VVW at Flushing or to Breskens first. Then up to Middleburg and I think that all the way we will be encountering ths problem. We will probably look to getting a plank tomorrow!
Click to expand...

VVW Flushing (I assume you mean VVW Schelde inside the lock) is fairly tight but there is the chance of rafting up alongside just inside the entrance on the right where there is a pontoon. I haven't been to Breskens but aerial view shows either alongside or finger pontoons.

Middelburg (inside the bridge) have box moorings on one side and alongside pontoons on the other for larger stuff like yours.

We did find a fenderstep handy.
 
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Lisa - I really don't think you need to be concerned.
We have only had to use a pile mooring once - in Enkhuisen - and that had three piles which we moved as we squeezed in. No real issue for us as we have a stainless steel rubbing strake.
Bows to is tricky for us as our bowsprit is miles off the pontoon.
Everywhere else in Holland, we have used fingers, hammerheads or alongside including Hellevoetsluis, Breskens, Middelburg, Kortgene, Port Zeeland, Turneuzen, Wemeldinge, Colijnsplaat, Dordrecht, Willemstad, Ijmuiden, Volendam, Urk, Medemblik, Den Helder......er that's enough to prove the point I guess.
Let me know if you want any info/charts etc as we are heading to France this summer.
Are you popping into the Orwell on your way across?
D
 
ChattingLil said:
Thanks all. Duncan we are already in oostende. Heading to flushing in the morning
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Hope you have fun.
Not jealous at all!!
Keep an eye out for Roger - Jolie Brise - as he has just headed towards Holland.
Also, another Foxs boat - Jesamine, 39ft cutter rigged double ender (Vic and Nigel on board) - is over there. (in Port Zeeland as of this morning).
 
We missed Jolie brise by 2 hours in oostende and we wont catch up now as we are dallying. We saw jesamine this morning! They were coming out of middleburg as we were going in. I didn't recognise them but they yelled out to us :)
 
We're still in middleburg. Lovely. Had bath night last night in super hotel. Have bumped into more people we know including Barbican Bill who is moored over the way to us. Tomorrow we head to veeresmere then round to roompot before leaving here on Wednesday. Need to go to gillingham for insurance quote on damage caused by the ninny who drove into us at ramsgate. Other than that and Marc falling in at schelde we've had no drama (touch wood) x
 
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