lassoong buoys

[Robin]

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.

Why? I don't care really as long as the method isn't used on my buoy! I would be less bothered also if it was merely a temporary thing for use by the less competent before attaching a line properly but I have seen boats overnighting whilst hanging on a lassoed buoy and in windy conditions.

 

[Elessar]

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.

Sorry SL, you are wrong.

The force from the rope, whether shackled onto the riser or just lassood, is horizontal. There is no sliding up force.

The force on the buoy is thus the same whether it's a pick up buoy or a lasso.

See below

 

[Vara]

Why? I don't care really as long as the method isn't used on my buoy! I would be less bothered also if it was merely a temporary thing for use by the less competent before attaching a line properly but I have seen boats overnighting whilst hanging on a lassoed buoy and in windy conditions.

No wouldn't do that, lassoo only for initial contact, then secure properly.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

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.

Cheers.
I must admit that I don't like unbuoyed strops. I much prefer pick up buoy and chain...mainly because that's what I'm used to.

It hadn't occured to me to use a proper lassoo with slip knot etc. When I "lassoo" I just throw a bight of rope over the buoy, holding both ends. That's what I was taught to do.
I think I'll play around with your method next season.

 

[Pagetslady]

Cheers.
I must admit that I don't like unbuoyed strops. I much prefer pick up buoy and chain...mainly because that's what I'm used to.

It hadn't occured to me to use a proper lassoo with slip knot etc. When I "lassoo" I just throw a bight of rope over the buoy, holding both ends. That's what I was taught to do.
I think I'll play around with your method next season.

How do you remove the lasso if it has a slip knot in it surely the best way is to hold both ends of the line and toss the rest over the buoy.
Mike

 

[maxi77]

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

So some one shpuld be telling the RYA so they can get the training changed to highlight potential problems.

 

[maxi77]

Why? I don't care really as long as the method isn't used on my buoy! I would be less bothered also if it was merely a temporary thing for use by the less competent before attaching a line properly but I have seen boats overnighting whilst hanging on a lassoed buoy and in windy conditions.

Now how do you expect people to know not to use the technique on your buoy then. You almost provoke me into making an uncharitable comment.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Sorry SL, you are wrong.

The force from the rope, whether shackled onto the riser or just lassood, is horizontal. There is no sliding up force.

The force on the buoy is thus the same whether it's a pick up buoy or a lasso.

See below

Sorry, but I'm not convinced by that at all.

I'm much more convinced by the stories of damaged buoys that others have reported.

 

[Elessar]

Sorry, but I'm not convinced by that at all.

I'm much more convinced by the stories of damaged buoys that others have reported.

I'm not.

The link you pasted to a buoy that is vulnerable said it needed a pick up buoy.

I don't see how it puts more force on a buoy than a pick up line - ie I don't believe the damage reports.

Most people here lasoo and it seems have done so for years. I'm glad about that because it is the safest way of securing to a buoy - temporarily.

I will continue to lasso buoys. I'm glad I'm not alone. If vara has been doing it since 1973 then that's good enough for me.

For those who think it demonstrates my lack of skill - good. I don't care what they think of my skill level.

I will particularly look for snow leopards as he says
"If I see you doing it to mine you'll be left in no doubt of my feelings on the matter."

As ranty men always make me laugh

 

[SAWDOC]

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?

Well done on hopefully steering this interesting thread in a suitable constructive direction.

I use neither boat hook nor lassoo. Because of our high free board, particularly at the bow, I am more inclined to bring a line aft from the mooring cleat on the bow and grab the ring on the mooring buoy from the helm position and thread the line through. I then walk forward and secure the free end of the line at the bow. Seems to work well so far.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

I'm not.

I suggest that you do a vector analysis on the forces involved to see the problem with your drawing.

All I would add is that, if I am using some else's mooring I prefer to respect their property and to leave it as I found it.

 

[robmcg]

I'm not.

The link you pasted to a buoy that is vulnerable said it needed a pick up buoy.

I don't see how it puts more force on a buoy than a pick up line - ie I don't believe the damage reports.

Most people here lasoo and it seems have done so for years. I'm glad about that because it is the safest way of securing to a buoy - temporarily.

I will continue to lasso buoys. I'm glad I'm not alone. If vara has been doing it since 1973 then that's good enough for me.

For those who think it demonstrates my lack of skill - good. I don't care what they think of my skill level.

I will particularly look for snow leopards as he says
"If I see you doing it to mine you'll be left in no doubt of my feelings on the matter."

As ranty men always make me laugh

Believe me these moorings do get damaged by lassoing. Unless you are in a dire emergency, I just cant see use of a lasso is justified. Picking up a buoy isn't rocket science, even when windy or a tide running.

 

[Robin]

Now how do you expect people to know not to use the technique on your buoy then. You almost provoke me into making an uncharitable comment.

You can make whatever comment you like, charitable or not as this is a place to express an opinion. I don't have a buoy any more, haven't had one for many years as until our last boat was sold we kept her in a marina berth and our current boat is in Florida nowhere near a buoy.

I don't see it as my responsibility at all to try and educate the RYA but I do think I can be free to comment as I did here by saying that I personally don't like it, other than as a very temporary measure when more normal tactics are not working.

 

[Lakesailor]

How do you remove the lasso if it has a slip knot in it surely the best way is to hold both ends of the line and toss the rest over the buoy.
Mike

Yes. To be more precise the reason I used a slip loop was to capture the buoy so I could haul it onboard. There is no top loop on the buoy. Then I could replace the strops in comfort, release the lasso and drop the buoy back in.
I have a pick-up buoy on the strops with a line to each. Pick up the buoy and both strops emerge.

 

[rib]

sawdoc..+1.more than one tool in the box

 

[Lakesailor]

I am more inclined to bring a line aft from the mooring cleat on the bow and grab the ring on the mooring buoy from the helm position and thread the line through.

That's an ideal situation (bit tricky with a lot of windage, especially if you have sailed onto the mooring).
However lots of buoys have no top loop now. I didn't get one last time I had a mooring laid and whilst I could have complained and had one substituted, the benefit of not having the topsides battered by the ring won out.
I have, in the past, wrapped the ring in self-amalgamating tape which solved most of the abrasion problems.

 

[snowleopard]

Believe me these moorings do get damaged by lassoing. Unless you are in a dire emergency, I just cant see use of a lasso is justified. Picking up a buoy isn't rocket science, even when windy or a tide running.

Then again, there are those who are considerate of other people's property and those who don't give a monkey's.

 

[fireball]

Generally speaking private moorings will have pickup buoys so the lassoing method won't come into it for most of us.

Seriously though, if a standard method of making initial contact is damaging buoys then there are two things that need to happen
1 the rya need to TEACH crews that it's not always the right way.
2 the people who make mooring buoys need to consider lassoing and ways of preventing damage from this technique.

For now - if you have such a buoy then please mark it clearly with "no lassoing" then at least there is no excuse. I would also suggest that you change it for one that can be lassoed next time it gets changed.

 

[robmcg]

Then again, there are those who are considerate of other people's property and those who don't give a monkey's.

+1 Guess you can't help some people

 

[alant]

+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.

Those were the ones around Calshot - sea schools banned, because too many buoys damaged.