Light weight stretchy mooring line for throwing.

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mocruising

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The crew nearly threw her toys out of her pram last season on more than one occsaion. We have a heavy boat 22 tonne so our mooring ropes are pretty hefty especially when wet as she always misses first throw. I have promised to buy her a throwing line that is light soft and manageable. We have braided dyneema halyards but they are not so soft and don't stretch like the nylon mooring lines we have. I am looking for a material that is soft and light with a bit of stretch about 12 mm +/- any ideas.
 
Why are you throwing lines? Who is catching them? Why not come along side so the crew can just step off?

If you have to throw a line suggest a light weight messenger with a monkey's fist on the end. Then haul the heavier mooring lines ashore.
 
throwing 12mm mooring l ine is not a normal option.

You need a messenger line of about 6 to 8 mm (standard heaving line) bent onto the mooring line. 5 to 8 metres will be enough to bridge theg ap to the pontoon. If you go for floating line, it should not get tangled in the prop if the person on the pontoon fails to catch it cleanly.
 
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Heaving Line

Still used on virtually all ships to pass a mooring line ashore, and IMHO a seamanlike addition to any yacht. Several uses, apart from passing your lines ashore, such as getting a tow line to another yacht or boat.

Ours is 8mm polypropylene 20 metres long. Polyprop. is very light and floats, thus less danger for prop. fouling. (note that ours is green as that is the only colour of polyprop. available here - Orange or White would be much better for visibility)

For a smaller yacht I would think that 6mm would be adequate.

It is important to practice throwing it as there is a tried and tested way. Assuming that you are right handed, a few coils of the rope with the monkey's fist in the right hand, and a few more in the left hand. A good swing, throw the right hand coil and then release the left hand one.

Oh yes - don't forget to make fast the inner end - preferably to the rope which you want to pass (ashore). :D

Cheers,

Michael.

ps good luck with retrieving the line from the neighbour's trees:)
 
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marklucas said:
Before blaming the tools - what technique is being used to throw the line?

No disrespect, but I very rarely people using the right technique.
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+1 . . . . Don't throw to much. I see plenty trying to throw the whole coil. Take a few loops of the coil that will reach the quay, easier, lighter and no tangles. And don't throw at the catcher but on to the quay side, it's quite painful to get lashed across the face with a 16mm docking line!!
 
emandvee44 said:
It is important to practice throwing it as there is a tried and tested way. Assuming that you are right handed, a few coils of the rope with the monkey's fist in the right hand, and a few more in the left hand. A good swing, throw the right hand coil and then release the left hand one.
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That is the technique I always used and threw underhand.

However, I remember one of the old Hobblers at Watchet used to throw overhand - anyone tried that? I did, and got into a right tangle.:D

Paul
 
One way of throwing a line that even the most unpractised can do successfully is to use a throwing bag. We have one as a lifesaving device but have used it more often for passing a line either ashore or to another boat. It's about 15 - 20 metres of light polyprop line (the type of stuff used for water ski tow ropes, couloured red and it floats) stuffed into a narrow canvas bag. A loop on the end og the line either goes round your wrist or is made fast to whatever, the bag is then thrown underhand to the target. A little bit of practice and you can easily throw if so as all the line comes out of the bag. We made the bag out of an offcut of the canvas we had for the new bimini.
 
2 sets of lines?

I had a similar issue; my lines were so heavy and long that my children couldn't really handle them and so got less involved in tying up etc than they wanted.

I made up a set of lighter lines (the usual 4 - 6 lines, all long enough, just smaller diameter), and it works a treat. The children can handle them, and in fact unless leaving the boat unattended or it's very windy even when sailing with adults we stay with the lighter set.

I think most lines on board are far too thick for their purpose: breaking strain of 14mm polyester is 3.6 Tonnes - about the windage in a force 11 - so fatter ones only advantage is more margin in the event of chafe.
 
Mocruising, your original idea is best. Years ago we tried the heaving line idea and abandoned it almost immediately as the usual non-boaty people on shore tried to tie up our yacht with the little heaving line. It takes too long to explain to them to pull it in until the main line comes through, especially in a foreign language. We ended up using 14mm 8 plait polyester which has masses of stretch and in most conditions could be used without the heavy weather 25mm nylon dock lines. These 8 plait lines we normally use in slip rope form when tying stern to in Med harbours. This was with a mobo of approaching 30 tons and I have repeated the excercise with our current 22 ton sailboat.

FWIW, towards the end of our mobo days we added two 16mm lines with hooks fitted at the shore end which enabled the "shore team" to attach us to terra firma very quickly. Really useful in any crosswind. Once attached you have time to sort out the best lines for the job.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Like JDC we use two sets of lines: lightweight 8mm 3-strand nylon for initial mooring, and 14mm nylon if we are leaving the boat for any length of time, or if heavy weather is anticipated.

Initially we went lightweight because SWMBO is the main rope handler. She has relatively small hands and finds 8mm lighter, easier to heave, and she can physically handle longer lengths.
 
Mocruising seems to have similar experiences to our own. Many of the responses here seem to asume that alongside mooring is being done but what about stern too Med mooring.
We have a 23 tonne boat with davits and a small RIB suspended from them so backing on to the the town quay/marina pontoon always end up with SWMBO sprinting from the bows having done the anchor then taking stern rope in hand she is still 8 to 10ft off the quay (we have a long pasarelle). Our mooring ropes are 12mm multiplat and heavy. We too are looking for a lighter solution. Last season in Patmos I took the lines from a 60ft boat and they were wonderfully pliable and didn't tend to kink or twist when thrown. I don't know the trechnical term for the 'weave' of these ropes but I have a picture in my head and will be looking out for them at the London Boat show next month.
We've all learned the proper way to throw a rope but in the heat of the moment discipline invariably disappears.
Colin
 
Yes we to have davits with a rib a long pasarelle and tie up stern too most of the time, so its a light weight stretchy throwing rope we are after.
 
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