lassoong buoys

[little_roundtop]

I too was stunned to read that letter and I usually lasso a buoy unless it has a small pick-up buoy next to it with a line we can hook. Reading the comments here about damage to buoys leads me to two conclusions:

1. The safety of my crew (first) and boat (second) guides all my actions (I hope!). It is manifestly safer for the foredeck crew to lasso a buoy than to try to hang on to it with a boathook - especially in windy or tidal conditions.

2. If a mooring buoy's construction is such that it is damaged by being lassoed then the buoy is not fit for purpose, since lassoing is the method I was taught by the RYA.

I am certainly not going to put a crewmember at risk of injury by asking them to hold on to a buoy with a boathook because the buoy won't survive being lassoed. And I'm certainly not going to do it because somebody I don't know thinks it's more "seamanlike"!

Tony C.

 

[xyachtdave]

I don't think I've come across one of these fragile mooring buoys. The ones around here all seem to be made of grp, rock hard and looking at one out of the water yesterday, not going to be damaged by a line around the riser for a couple of minutes.

Maybe I'm not as well travelled as I thought.

So on a biggish boat where the distance to buoy (no pick up buoy) is greater than the average arm length, the plan is play tug of war with the boat hook?

That's unseamanlike.

 

[Cardo]

I too was taught the lasso method on both the RYA courses I've attended so far. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that uses it! As others have mentioned, it's much easier this way in a strong tide or wind. Going for a buoy with a boat hook when the boat is all over the shop is a perfect recipe for being -1 boat hook.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

2. If a mooring buoy's construction is such that it is damaged by being lassoed then the buoy is not fit for purpose, since lassoing is the method I was taught by the RYA.

If what you are saying is that you are going to moor up using your chosen method, no matter what damage may be caused to the mooring, then I cannot agree at all.
There are thousands of these buoys around our coast and to dismiss them as being "not fit for purpose" is a little OTT. Forumites have already indicated that there have been problems in their moorings as a result of lassoing and surely we should learn from this?
There are different methods of picking up a mooring.....using a boat hook, lassoing, sometimes just leaning down and putting a line through a buoy, using a tender etc etc. Surely the seamnalike thing to do is to use the approriate method not to always do it one particular way and ignore other techniques?

 

[jwilson]

+1

There was a group of buoys in the Solent where one or more sailing schools liked to practice the technique. It cost the owners a fortune in maintenance.

By all means lasso your home buoy but if you borrow other peoples moorings, please have the courtesy to use a less damaging technique. All may seem well when you leave after your stay but the owner returning to a half-deflated buoy isn't going to thank you.

If I see you doing it to mine you'll be left in no doubt of my feelings on the matter.

I agree that lassoing a buoy is not good practice. The buoy itself it not made to take the stresses of big shock loads in bad wind-swell conditions. I have had my mooring sink, probably from exactly this. Returned to mooring after weeks away, mooring buoy completely sunk. It was a ring-with-through-rod type, the ones most vulnerable to this damage.

 

[Cardo]

I agree that lassoing a buoy is not good practice. The buoy itself it not made to take the stresses of big shock loads in bad wind-swell conditions. I have had my mooring sink, probably from exactly this. Returned to mooring after weeks away, mooring buoy completely sunk. It was a ring-with-through-rod type, the ones most vulnerable to this damage.

I don't suppose someone could provide a picture of which type of mooring buoy we should try and avoid lassoing?

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I don't suppose someone could provide a picture of which type of mooring buoy we should try and avoid lassoing?

This is one
http://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/...5&Category_Code=mooring-buoys&Store_Code=mrst

and this is another
https://www.polyformus.com/c-8-a-series.aspx

 

[photodog]

HA!

As lassoing is a common technique done by loads... anyone who puts out a mooring bouy must be aware its gonna be lassooed.... ergo... if you dont want it lassooed dont put out a bouy...

At least thats the arguement for Hotlinking......

 

[Cardo]

This is one
http://marinestore.co.uk/Merchant2/...5&Category_Code=mooring-buoys&Store_Code=mrst

and this is another
https://www.polyformus.com/c-8-a-series.aspx

Thanks for the links. I'm happy to say I'd never consider lassoing those types of buoys. It's only the big, solid jobbies that get lassoed in my case.

I'm surprised people lasso those smaller buoys?

 

[Robin]

+1

There was a group of buoys in the Solent where one or more sailing schools liked to practice the technique. It cost the owners a fortune in maintenance.

By all means lasso your home buoy but if you borrow other peoples moorings, please have the courtesy to use a less damaging technique. All may seem well when you leave after your stay but the owner returning to a half-deflated buoy isn't going to thank you.

If I see you doing it to mine you'll be left in no doubt of my feelings on the matter.

There is a world of difference in using the lasso method on a designated visitor mooring and doing it on a 'borrowed' private one. I would not be a happy bunny finding a borrower using that technique on a mooring of mine either! When we had our boats on moorings we sometimes found people who had simply tied to the handle of our small pickup buoy and one said it was because my strops (then for a 30 footer) were not big enough for his 45ft mobo! I think he understood my feelings about that thought for the future.

We have never found it difficult to pick up a mooring even in the strong wind over tide exposed areas as our moorings were. All that it requires is coordination between helm and foredeck and a decent boathook and/or grabber device (detachable snaphook with line attached) for when there is no separate pickup buoy, then the snaphook can be replaced at leisure.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

The pull is directly trying to separate the inflated part of the buoy from the riser. The only function of the bladder is to make the top of the riser float. A pickup line puts the strain directly to the riser.

This never occurred to me but I now understand that it would not do the mooring (floatation bit) any good. The buoys that I lasso are all the solid types with the fixed ring on top of the shaft that runs through the buoy to the riser. However, I can see that even then the buoy is getting pulled up taught from underneath by a great load - the yacht.

I shall have to re-think this as I don't want to contribute to damage or accelerated wear of a mooring.

Assumption, probably the biggest cause of all hassles!

 

[fireball]

HA!

As lassoing is a common technique done by loads... anyone who puts out a mooring bouy must be aware its gonna be lassooed.... ergo... if you dont want it lassooed dont put out a bouy...

At least thats the arguement for Hotlinking......

I know you're posting tounge in cheek but surely there is a little bit of truth in what you've posted.
Whilst I don't believe in damaging someone else's mooring, lassoing is a recognised method for making fast where there is no pickup - at least until you can thread a line. Therefore if an operator is putting out buoys that can be damaged by lassoing then they must take a proportion of the blame.
Personally I don't like the rod through buoys.

Anyway. Lassoing is the method we use to pickup and check our moorings from the workboat. It would be daft if it damaged the buoys too.

There are number of highly used buoys in central Solent due to the density of sailing schools. Perhaps they need some practice buoys like the practice pontoon.

 

[PeterR]

I've been lassoing buoys for decades but I always hated the mess I got on the rope from all the wildlife under the buoy. Last season I got one of the S/S snap hooks that you can place with a boat hook. Best thing since sliced bread. Much easier than these threading gizmos. No mess, secure mooring untill you get round to putting a proper strop on and no damage to the buoy.

 

[Robin]

I've been lassoing buoys for decades but I always hated the mess I got on the rope from all the wildlife under the buoy. Last season I got one of the S/S snap hooks that you can place with a boat hook. Best thing since sliced bread. Much easier than these threading gizmos. No mess, secure mooring untill you get round to putting a proper strop on and no damage to the buoy.

We carried two of these as well as a line threader, but the threader was only used after first picking up the buoy with the hook. We also use the same hooks (ours were super large mouthed ones) to attach a spring lines for entering visitor pontoons, with the rope tail led back through the centre cleat then via the sheet winch to the helm for rapid attachment and control. These hooks were big enough to go on the end 'D' of a French pontoon.

We liked our hooks so much we are taking them to the USA with us!

 

[maxi77]

Have any of those who condemn the process ever asked the RYA why they allow sailing schools to teach this method. If it is as potentialy damaging as claimed then I would have thought those with the knowledge should have already informed the RYA, at first sight it seems they haven't.

 

[Lakesailor]

I lifted a mooring on Friday by lassoing it. The trend is to fit buoys without top rings on the lake so there is not much alternative except for trying to boathook the riser chain.
This pic shows my lasso line.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Have any of those who condemn the process ever asked the RYA why they allow sailing schools to teach this method. If it is as potentialy damaging as claimed then I would have thought those with the knowledge should have already informed the RYA, at first sight it seems they haven't.

Because sometimes it's a perfectly legitimate technique?
Not always. Sometimes other methods are preferable.

 

[Kukri]

I used to have a buoy without a top ring; after a while it sprang a leak and sank and now I know why... it is quite annoying when this happens. :-(

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I lifted a mooring on Friday by lassoing it. The trend is to fit buoys without top rings on the lake so there is not much alternative except for trying to boathook the riser chain.
This pic shows my lasso line.

I'm trying to work your picture out.
It looks as if you have either a double riser or a riser which extends into a mooring chain.
But I can't understand why the rope is shackled to the buoy if it is the lassoo line. Or is it a mooring strop?

Just curious. These things seem to be done in so many different ways.

 

[Lakesailor]

Yes the riser carries on as a tail for a couple of feet past the shackle on the buoy.
I shackled the new strop (white nylon) to the buoy shackle and the second strop (the yellowish line) to the end of the riser tail. That way if the shackle on the buoy lets go there is still a strop attached to the riser.
The lilac and yellow line is the lasso. It's an old halyard with a loop at the end with the line passed through itself to create a slip loop.