Leaving the dinghy on the mooring

[Achillesheel]

We had a bit of a to-do on Saturday.

Normally we have no trouble picking up our mooring. SWMBO steers, and I wield the boat hook. But on Saturday we came back to the (borrowed) mooring we had been allocated, and took several attempts.

It was F5 (or felt like it), and the chain on the mooring was stouter than our usual, half inch apparently. And it was High Water Springs, which meant, I think, that more of the chain was off the bottom so more to lift. It was too heavy for me to get the chain aboard.

Anyway, we tried several attempts, but each time I had to let go again. In the end, we went to another spare mooring.

But the whole thing was also complicated by the dinghy which we had left tied to the pick up buoy. The dinghy painter kept gettin caught round the keel, and generally complicated things.

We tried motoring slowly forward once I had the pick up buoy aboard, to counter the wind, we tried approaching across the wind, but in the end I got the dinghy off (cut the painter), tied it to our stern, and went to a different mooring.

What should I have done differently?

Boat is an Achilles 24, 8hp outboard, SWMBO v petite and not able to assist with pulling chain in.

Should the dinghy painter be shorter? longer? I have decided to put a carbine hook on the end of the painter so the dinghy can quickly be released and tied to our stern, so we can then go round again with it out of harms way.

Apart from this debacle, we had a great day's sail.

Any comments greatly appreciated.

 

[graham]

One suggestion would be to have a strong bit of rope attatched to the end of the chain with the pick up buoy at the other end. temporarilly moor to that until you can get your strength back to heave the chain up.

 

[Lakesailor]

I used to use the dinghy painter as an easy pick-up when it was blowing and was single-handed. Much easier to get you boat-hook under the painter and get a hold of that. Less chance of missing than a pick-up buoy.


Of course, if you are used to lifting the mooring chain on board that would make things sightly more awkward. I used a 6ft mooring warp (2 actually) shackled to the riser chain. Once a warp was on my foredeck cleat I would undo the dinghy painter and walk it back to a stern cleat.

Also perhaps easier to come alongside the mooring and pick-up from the cockpit. Again easier if you have a warp to drop over a sheet winch whilst you sort things out. Dinghy painter to the stern and walk the warp to the bow.

 

[jimi]

Lassoo the buoy with a warp then sort it out. You won't be fighting the windage that way

 

[bbg]

It takes a bit of planning, but (in this particular situation), what about leaving a mooring line attached to the mooring, coiled in the dinghy. Motor alongside the dinghy, pick up the mooring line with a boathook, and make that fast to the boat.

Then, as Jimi says, sort everything else out.

 

[fireball]

I've not had a problem with pickup since I tie the dinghy right up to the mooring buoy and lay the headgear in the dinghy - there is no fishing around miles beneath the surface where you can't see. All you need is a pickup line that is quick and easy to get onto a cleat then you can take your time getting the other lines in place.

You cannot get any lines caught around the keel/prop shaft as they are all in the dinghy - not the water. If you miss the mooring then you end up pushing the dinghy around the buoy rather than tangling all the painter underneath.

The only disadvantage is that you may need to be reasonably agile to get off the dinghy and onto the bow - which I am - so no problems there!

 

[Judders]

When we had a trot mooring I used to leave the dinghy tied to the main chain with the pick-up buoy left in the dinghy. Rather than trying to pick up the mooring first off, the crew stepped into the dinghy, to which we briefly moored (by hand if winds were light, or with a bow-line if it was stronger) we then knew we were secure to pass the chain through the bow roller and moor the yacht directly. I wouldn't necessarilly use this method with a larger yacht but it might work for you.

 

[Lakesailor]

Reasonably agile. I see.

Never had a prob. The dinghy painter floats so is clear of the (outboard) prop. The red pick-up buoy has two light lines connected to the soft loops on two mooring warps, so yank the pick-up out of the water and there is a choice of two loops to drop on a cleat.

It will vary depending on your circumstances and the stability of your tender and freeboard and.......

Everyone probably sorts out the best solution for themselves.

Erm........Except someone near me who would make passes at his mooring repeatedly and if it was blowing more than about F4 would give up and moor on a public jetty. His technique for getting from the tender on board his yacht was something to behold as well. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bazobeleza]

never use a carabiner, it will, as if by magic, come undone when you least expect. you could use a screwgate crab but they will seize up.

 

[fireball]

I do have another reason for making fast at the buoy - it leaves the fairway clearer for passing traffic .... /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
Should the dinghy painter be shorter? longer

[/ QUOTE ] You don't actually say how much you allowed between dinghy and buoy but definitely short rather than long. Too short for the dinghy sailors to be tempted to go between the two and to short to go below the keel.

I very often/usually do as LS suggests and pick up the mooring by the dinghy painter.

I also like to approach not from dead down wind but with the wind just to one side of the bow so that it blows the bow the way I want it to go and towards the mooring but if there's a tide running you've got to allow for that as well.

 

[Achillesheel]

I should have explained that on our own mooring we do not have a mooring buoy, only a pickup buoy on a stout rope, about ten feet long, leading to a chain with a loop on the end which goes over the bow cleat.

The solution in future will be to tie up with the rope first on one cleat, deal with the dinghy (which on reflection was on too long a leash) and then bring up the chain.

I am not agile enough for leaping in and out of a dinghy as an earlier member suggested - but thats the first time I have ever admitted such a thing!

I didn't say in my original post that afterwards I found my brother and my mother were watching the whole thing from the shore - and taking photos, so I may post them here later...

 

[KREW2]

Why don't you put a support bouy some 2/3mtrs down the riser? it certainly lightens the load. Pulling up 6/7mtrs of 12ml chain off the bottom is heavy work.

 

[johnalison]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I also like to approach not from dead down wind but with the wind just to one side of the bow so that it blows the bow the way I want it to go and towards the mooring but if there's a tide running you've got to allow for that as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
Curiously enough, there are times when it's easier to approach the mooring from upwind, depending on the boat's behaviour. In very high winds, say 30 knots, my boat will weathercock, and any attempt to approach from any other direction will mean the bow blows off, always at the wrong moment. Approaching from upwind, with the motor in astern, control is easy and the boat can be held stationary at the right point.
As a general rule I note the direction of other boats on moorings and approach pointing in roughly the same direction, which computes the wind/tide problem for me.

 

[Lakesailor]

That's worked for me on occasions. Only problem is, with an outboard, that the chop can lift the prop out of the water when going astern.
It certainly has saved the day a couple of times though.

 

[Marmalade]

Normally when approaching a mooring you'll come up-tide - the dinghy lies to the tide. In a blow it can make more sense to approach it up-wind as you need to slow right down and typically can get blown over your own tender / lines etc. We find that in anything more than a 5 - an upwind approach is better as the bow blows off as soon as the way comes off her if you're across the wind.

 

[fireball]

[ QUOTE ]
Normally when approaching a mooring you'll come up-tide - the dinghy lies to the tide. In a blow it can make more sense to approach it up-wind as you need to slow right down and typically can get blown over your own tender / lines etc.

[/ QUOTE ]
With the outboard off our tender the tender can swing to the wind if it is stronger than the tide ... Eitherway - with all the lines laying in the tender you can get blown over as much as you like - you're not tangling anything around the keel or prop ....