Leaving and returning to a mooring buoy

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wfe1947

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I tend to use the method recommended by Duncan Wells in his book Stress-Free Sailing: Single and Short-handed Techniques whereby I have a fore/aft line running from the bow to the cockpit cleat and when leaving the mooring, remove the strop loop from the bow end cleat and thread this fore/aft line through the loop and back to cockpit cleat. This then holds the boat and when I want to leave, release the line from the cockpit cleat and motor away once the boat has swung into a reasonable direction. Then I go forward, collect the line and connect it back onto the cockpit cleat. Coming back to the mooring, I pick up the strop and walk it up to the bow and attach it to the cleat having first passes the fore/aft line through the loop. ( Duncan's recommendation is to to thread the fore/aft line through the strop loop and reattach to the cockpit. I find that this doesn't work for me possibly because I always have my tender painter tied to the strop).

Apologies for the long diatribe. Now my question. Why do boaters usually tie up to the mooring buoy at the bow? For me it would seem easier to just connect the mooring strop to the cockpit cleat. I have done this on a temporary basis but have never left it that way as it seems odd in that the boat would take up a non-normal position. The only downside that I can see is that the weather/rain would be blowing against the washboards. However, it would make leaving the mooring easiier as you are then not easily going to moter over the mooring strops, etc.
 
I sometimes moor by the stern but only temporaily in calm conditions. Last time I did it was a few weeks ago whilst on a buoy waiting for Cran swing bridge on the Vilaine to open, and being too lazy to go forward :cool:. As soon as the bridgemaster (bridgemistress on this occasion!) climbed up into the control tower I slipped the line and prepared to go through.

If conditions are such that there is a likelihood of water coming over the stern, I wouldn't do it; and if the current from astern is strong I would lash the tiller to prevent the rudder crashing against the stops.
 
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I think you're overthinking it. I've had a mooring my entire sailing life - basic procedure is;
Engine on and in neural,
Walk forward,
cast off.
Wander back to cockpit
Have slurp of coffee
[by this time the boat has perhaps blown back 2m to give clearance off mooring buoy]
Motor ahead, steering away to avoid running over pick up line.
 
If you were moored by the stern, it could potentially load the rudder in the "wrong" direction. lashing the tiller/wheel amidships would help, but you'd still be putting stress on it in a direction it isn't designed to take. Also, the relatively "blunt" stern might well result in more yawing.

All these are rationalizations of "It just looks wrong!"
 
On returning - even well crewed - I find it easiest to take a long line from the bow cleat, through a fairlead and outside of everything back to the cockpit; thread the pick-up ring/strop from there, then walk forward taking up the slack as the boat drops back on the wind/tide. additional or double-looped mooring lines can be fitted after the event.
 
Most boats are designed so they keep the weather out better if it's coming from the bow - I doubt many companionways would be entirely weathertight against a gale-driven downpour from the stern. Also, the bow is better shaped to break through waves than the stern, so reducing stress on the mooring. Plus, as Poignard mentions, far less stress on the rudder.
 
If the wind is ahead of the beam when moored, set enough main to make way over the tide, drop the mooring then sheet the sail.

If the wind is on or aft of the beam, set a bit of head sail drop the mooring then sheet the sail.

To pick up, reverse the process. If there is strong wind over tide, you may need to stow the spray hood to sail onto the mooring, in order not to sail past it over the tide with no sail drawing. In yachts with high topsides, where you cannot reach down to the buoy, lassoo it and sort out the permanent connection to the buoy at your leisure. Of course it's all much easier if you have more than one on board.

From my youth, on no account start the engine to pick up or drop a mooring unless it's flat calm on pain of at least one year's mockery from the pipe sucking veterans in the clubhouse, who will be watching your every move.

Lastly, if your engine is a Stuart Turner 4 hp. Once you have started it do not shut it down until you are absolutely sure you have no further need of it for at least 6 hours.

Peter.
 
Minerva said:
I think you're overthinking it. I've had a mooring my entire sailing life - basic procedure is;
Engine on and in neural,
Walk forward,
cast off.
Wander back to cockpit
Have slurp of coffee
[by this time the boat has perhaps blown back 2m to give clearance off mooring buoy]
Motor ahead, steering away to avoid running over pick up line.
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That's fine normally. However, I am on Windermere and so no tide issues but the wind direction is very variable. The procedure that I outlined was Duncan Wells' suggestion for single handed getaway without leaving the cockpit. I usually have to wait for a bit until I'm pointing away from the shore (not very far away) and the other close by moored boats and so ideally I have only about 100 degrees of direction to play with.
 
wfe1947 said:
That's fine normally. However, I am on Windermere and so no tide issues but the wind direction is very variable. The procedure that I outlined was Duncan Wells' suggestion for single handed getaway without leaving the cockpit. I usually have to wait for a bit until I'm pointing away from the shore (not very far away) and the other close by moored boats and so ideally I have only about 100 degrees of direction to play with.
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Use the very simple Minerva technique (ie simply drop mooring at bow and slowly wander back to helm) - if no wind to blow you back, either engage reverse on engine, or unfurl a bit of jib and back if under sail.
I hope your “long rope” back to cockpit isn’t long enough to reach the prop, or you could be blown ashore with a prop wrap.

When solo I generally also pick up at bow - even managed to thread rope through small shackle on buoys without pickups, using magic Hook&Moor pole - though have occasionally done this stern to if blowing hard.
On a larger boat, picking up at cockpit and trying to walk forward can get rather exciting if bow blows off, and left holding 10 tones or so broadside to the wind from the middle of the side deck. If buoy on lee side can get tangled under keel (or prop)
 
wfe1947 said:
That's fine normally. However, I am on Windermere and so no tide issues...
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When first learning we were on a sail training boat in I think Portsmouth Harbour, practising to pick up mooring's under sail and after perhaps 10 or 12 efforts, neither I or any other student had managed it - nobody had even come close! The exasperated Instructor eventually took over to show us how, only to fail equally miserably. He however soon ascertained that the buoy that he'd randomly chosen had an extra/different and very localised tidal current ; all would go well until you were 15-20' from the buoy, but in that last half a boat's length of the approach, you entered a strong side-stream which pushed you 8-10' to starboard. We moved on to target another buoy not more than 30m further up-tide and succeeded easily - bloody sailboats!
 
I used to have a mooring in a typhoon shelter in Hong Kong with very little room to manoeuvre.

Sometimes, if the wind was from ahead, I would turn the boat so she was held by the stern with a slip, and set the jib in stops.

When I was ready to go, all I had to do was break out the jib, slip the bouy rope and away we went.

The thing I like about writers such as Duncan Wells and the late (much lamented) John Goode, is their ability to to think out of the box and to encourage their readers to do the same.
 
wfe1947 said:
I usually have to wait for a bit until I'm pointing away from the shore (not very far away) and the other close by moored boats and so ideally I have only about 100 degrees of direction to play with.
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If pointing away from the shore, I assume that once the buoy is dropped you motor forward past the buoy.
If pointing toward the shore, you could be waiting a long time for the wind to point you away from the shore! I would drop buoy as per #3 and motor in reverse away from the shore.
 
oldharry said:
Ever watched a boat riding out a bad gale on it's mooring? There is also a risk that water can be forced up the exhaust into the engine, even if there is a swan neck and watertrap. Boats have been sunk this way.
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Very good point. Especially if the vessel's seaworthiness is compromised by having a transom. On a proper double-ender, your exhaust (and bilge pump) discharge through-hulls will be at about 4 or 8 o'clock to the ship's head, which greatly reduces the risk... although on most boats, a tapered softwood bung can be inserted from outside to be sure. If you forget it and start the engine, the exhaust gas will pop it out.
 
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Sailing a dayboat, we sometimes used to drag the mooring back to around amidships and set off on a close reach.
You could maybe rig a slip to a centre cleat and only have a short rope to retrieve, more easily reached from the helm.

Picking up a buoy alongside the cockpit with a line led from the bow outside everything is often a good call in wind or current.
 
Some of the more unconventional approaches here must be limited to boats of relatively small displacement not moored in a tideway. I shudder at the thought of a decent sized vessel in a 2 knot tide moored amidships or by the stern, whatever the weather.

In an area of swinging moorings, it's desirable for all the vessels to turn in response to the wind and tide as far as practicable at the same time. While this will never be achieved absolutely, it is aided substantially by all vessels following the convention of mooring by the head.

Yes, and it looks right.

Peter.
 
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PeterWright said:
Some of the more unconventional approaches here must be limited to boats of relatively small displacement not moored in a tideway. I shudder at the thought of a decent sized vessel in a 2 knot tide moored a midships or by the stern., whatever the weather.

In an area of swinging moorings, it's desirable for all the vessels to turn in response to the wind and tide as far as practicable at the same time. While this will never be achieved absolutely, it is aided substantially by all vessels following the convention of mooring by the head.

YYes, and it looks right.

Peter.

Peter
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Is mooring via the toilet an East Coast thing?
 
wfe1947 said:
That's fine normally. However, I am on Windermere and so no tide issues but the wind direction is very variable. The procedure that I outlined was Duncan Wells' suggestion for single handed getaway without leaving the cockpit. I usually have to wait for a bit until I'm pointing away from the shore (not very far away) and the other close by moored boats and so ideally I have only about 100 degrees of direction to play with.
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Happy to do some practice with you if you like as I'm also on a swing mooring on Windermere (behind Belle Isle). Seem to have refined my single-handed pickup (I think). I've tweaked my pick-up buoy and strop arrangements too which help.

Send me a message if you like and I'll pass on my contact details.
 
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