lassoong buoys

[alant]

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.

Lassoing - should not be used if there is a pick up buoy, because the pick up line will often get entangled & wrapped around the mooring chain, by the lasso, rendering it unable to be used by the next boat.

Pick up buoys - how many people go for that (expecting it to hold the boathook/crew/'heavy' boat) instead of the line underneath it? These small plastic buoys, have been sunbathing since originally attached & often very weak/brittle due to UV.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

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.

That's certainly one approach but I would suggest instead that boaters remember that RYA courses teach various methods, none of which is ideal in all circumstances. A bit of applied common sense is then needed to work out which particular technique should be used when approaching a mooring.

I certainly don't think that boaters should need to spend extra money beer tokens on the off chance that somebody is going to try to moor on their buoy using an imnappropriate method. The onus is on the visitor to do it properly, just as it is his responsibility to not put a 40ft boat on a mooring designed for a 20 ft dinghy....unless somebody is going to propose that all moorings should be upgraded to take 40footers..................

All that's needed is some applied common sense.

 

[SAWDOC]

Quote

That's certainly one approach but I would suggest instead that boaters remember that RYA courses teach various methods, none of which is ideal in all circumstances. A bit of applied common sense is then needed to work out which particular technique should be used when approaching a mooring.
[/QUOTE]

Well said and that about sums it up. Next thread please

 

[Lakesailor]

You haven't quite grasped the way forums work. There's plenty of life left in this thread yet.
The only person who can close it down is the moderator, if they dare.

 

[photodog]

You haven't quite grasped the way forums work. There's plenty of life left in this thread yet.
The only person who can close it down is the moderator, if they dare.

I tried to introduce technique into the discussion.... but nobody bit...

 

[Lakesailor]

No one knows anything about Canadian cowboys. They didn't believe you. Tell them it's a moose-roping method.

 

[chewi]

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.

In Poole I think the regs say mark the buoy with only its ID.

 

[maxi77]

That's certainly one approach but I would suggest instead that boaters remember that RYA courses teach various methods, none of which is ideal in all circumstances. A bit of applied common sense is then needed to work out which particular technique should be used when approaching a mooring.

I certainly don't think that boaters should need to spend extra money beer tokens on the off chance that somebody is going to try to moor on their buoy using an imnappropriate method. The onus is on the visitor to do it properly, just as it is his responsibility to not put a 40ft boat on a mooring designed for a 20 ft dinghy....unless somebody is going to propose that all moorings should be upgraded to take 40footers..................

All that's needed is some applied common sense.

Considering that one of the things it is difficult to protect yourself from is numpties perhaps the cheapest option for the mooring owner is to use a bouy less liable to lasso damage.

 

[Vara]

Well if I have caused any damage to buoys by lassoing them I apologise unreservedly, it was not intentional.

What worries me is that in 42 years of sailing cruising boats the letter in YM was the first time I had come across this as an issue.



PS, perfectly aware that there are are many other ways of making initial contact with a buoy and have employed most of them at one time or another, I have never used lassoing as a long term fix.

Creeps off to corner to apply some Opus Dei scourges.

 

[jimi]

If theres a pickup buoy I use it. Until I got my special clipper thingie I used to lasso buoys with the eye on the top, now I use my clipper thingie ;-)

 

[SAWDOC]

You haven't quite grasped the way forums work. There's plenty of life left in this thread yet.
The only person who can close it down is the moderator, if they dare.

On the contrary, I have developed this supersense, a little like a bilge alarm, which begins to tinkle when the thread begins to disappear down the tubes....

 

[Robin]

I think some people believe that the user of the buoy is also the owner of the buoy which often is not the case. Many if not most moorings are laid by boatyards and yacht clubs and the buoy is part of what is supplied, with the user left to add the strop of his own choosing which then attaches to the boat. The choice of buoy therefore is not in the hands of the boat owner for the most part, but is he that can return to find the mooring sunk.

Personally I find the idea that anyone who keeps a boat on a mooring should have to make sure it is capable of resisting damage by anyone, in whatever size of boat, who happens along and wants to use it strange at best. Perhaps every marina berth holder should also be responsible for lining their pontoons with fenders to prevent any old Joe that comes along from damaging his boat? Whatever happened to common courtesy?

 

[maxi77]

I think some people believe that the user of the buoy is also the owner of the buoy which often is not the case. Many if not most moorings are laid by boatyards and yacht clubs and the buoy is part of what is supplied, with the user left to add the strop of his own choosing which then attaches to the boat. The choice of buoy therefore is not in the hands of the boat owner for the most part, but is he that can return to find the mooring sunk.

Personally I find the idea that anyone who keeps a boat on a mooring should have to make sure it is capable of resisting damage by anyone, in whatever size of boat, who happens along and wants to use it strange at best. Perhaps every marina berth holder should also be responsible for lining their pontoons with fenders to prevent any old Joe that comes along from damaging his boat? Whatever happened to common courtesy?

I am not suggesting mooring owners should have something incapable of being damaged, that would be rather silly and wasteful. On the other hand if one has the choice there may well be virtue in a more defensive selection of kit.

Equally trying to improve education is in my humble opinion is also sensible as it is quite clear many are unaware of the problem.

Yes we should all respect others kit, I know I do and quite clearly so do many others, but the world regretably is also well populated with b*st*rds, and being prepared may save problems.

 

[fireball]

Robin
I don't wish anyone a sunk mooring buoy. I've had my own (club) one to deal with. Fortunatly we were attached at the time.
Anyway. It seems daft to me that people, whoever they are, would put out buoys that were not capable of being temporarily attached to by a standard rya method.
Granted over use may be an issue where there are a high number of
Schools. But those should be isolated cases.

 

[Robin]

Personally I prefer the soft PVC 'lobster pot' or fender buoys without a top ring as these are much less likely to scratch the hull, but these are the ones most easily damaged. The saving factor perhaps is that these buoys require a strop attached below and with a separate pickup buoy. Other than the idiot we found back then who had tied a 45ft mobo to the handle of our pickup buoy our set up should have discouraged lassoing.

I think the lasso method has crept up on us, it may have been taught by the RYA for years but it has taken a long time to become normal practice and even longer for us others to say oi it is a bit inconsiderate!

 

[Lakesailor]

Perhaps the damage to the loopless buoys is caused by the lassoer hauling the buoy onto the deck rather than fishing about for the strop once lassoed.
However how any mooring owner would manage to use a loop-less buoy without a pick-up on the strops I don't know.

 

[robmcg]

Just because people are shown how to lasso a buoy on an rya course doesn't necesarily mean it is then used appropriately. The rya are not infallible and are not a panacea of good practice.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Perhaps the damage to the loopless buoys is caused by the lassoer hauling the buoy onto the deck rather than fishing about for the strop once lassoed.
However how any mooring owner would manage to use a loop-less buoy without a pick-up on the strops I don't know.

I've certainly come across visitors moorings on the Tamar which are just like that. A rather muddy, weed covered rope strop attached to the riser with no pick up buoy. Nasty things!
It maybe that the pick up buoys have simply gone missing (because of lassooing?) but I've seen it often enough to have been under the impression that it's simply the way they do it down there. A local may be able to tell us.

 

[benjenbav]

78 posts and no-one has mentioned the Victorian mooring technique of sending a small child over the side with a heaving line round the waist.

With a small amount of additional training the child should be capable of carrying out a full inspection of the buoy as well as attaching a line to the riser.

A word of caution, however: no responsible skipper should require the child to carry out a full underwater inspection of the ground gear unless the child has an NVQ in pearl diving.

 

[epervier]

And with those crews with no small child on board, a adult male will do but when encountering a heavily weeded buoy he must be a qualified muff diver