Lost sailing skills

[Mike_02]

In Braye last week we had the usual sw w-sw wind with the swell (small) coming in via the end of the breakwater. I was amazed by the number of boats ( sail and power) who just sat head to wind and rolled all night....i learnt a while ago from an article in PBO about how to swing the head into the waves and stop all rolling.

Wheni did this i could sit and watch all of the other boats rolling so much that it must have been unbearable..where i was just pitching gently up and down with almost no rolling.

I saw this on at least 20-25 baots....i was not taught this on any coursevand i have never seen anybody else do it anywhere else ( but i am sure they do ).

So what i draw from this is that people are going to see and not learning and drawing from as many sources as possible to get as much knowledge as possible to help in any given situation. I am by no means perfect but i do try to look wherever i go and see how and what and why things are used.

Too many people get a boat..a day skippers ticket...a marina berth and off they go...very dangerous....IMHO

 

[Guest]

ah but it surely better in a close mooring situation like Braye for all the boats to swing in the same direction?

 

[Mike_02]

Depends upon the size of your boat...for me there is more than enough room

 

[Miker]

So what did you do?

I'm a marina using novice, so please tell me your technique.

 

[Mike_02]

Re: So what did you do?

It's very simple...what you need to do is to swing the bows into the swell. if the wind is against the swell the it works well..but if you have no wind then it's not so good.

All you do is to tie up to a buoy from the bow in the normal fashion but leave lots a lots of slack. Next take another line from the stern to the buoy and back to a winch in the cokpit. The side to use depends upon direction of swell and wind.

All you then do is to winch in on the stern warp and hey presto the mooring buoy should be lying alongside your beam ..The wind will now be on your beam and will with a little warp work be pushing the bow into the swell..


Easy isn't it..and you will sleep very well indeed

 

[SloopJohnB]

Re: So what did you do?

Would it work in principle if you were at anchor?

 

[tcm]

Re: So what did you do?

EXcellent. Any tips for fixing gelcoat, paint damage and grinding marks in the hull caused rubbing up against an old mooring buoy all night?

 

[RupertW]

Re: So what did you do?

I was taught this as an anchoring technique on my Coastal Skipper course. It's usual name is the "Bahamanian moor" as the Bahamas often have a swell across the wind.

You won't have a mooring buoy or anchor chain rubbing on the hull as you lie to a triangular bridle with the point a few feet away from the side of the boat.

The only technique guaranteed to work better at anchor is to be on a catamaran.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Ask for your money back

A Bahamian moor is lying by a single rode to two anchors - usually one upstream and one down, by joining the anchor chains and lowering them to the sea bed, using just one of the chains (usually the one from the heavier anchor) to make fast to. Its benefit is that it reduces your swinging circle to virtually a boat's length.

If your sailing school told you that 'springing an anchor" (taking a spring to the anchor chain and using it to change the way the boat's head lies) was a Bahamian moor, what else did they tell you that was BS?

 

[RupertW]

Re: Ask for your money back

Ah..I think it's my memory at fault.

Springing an anchor might have been described to me as "Bermudan style". It goes back to a conversation with the instructor at 3am after a lot of beers and Pastis in a Canarian harbour. I remember the techniques but it seems that the proper names just drifted away in an alcoholic mist.

 

[chuns]

I think the verbal picture has not been sufficient ... the boat swings in the same arc, and is always wind-rode, but the line from the stern simply turns the boat so that the bows point into the swell, which in this case not the same direction as the wind.

It works. Honest. I've done it on several occasions.

 

[Guest]

Chuns so have I but my point was simply where the moorings are separated by ciggy paper isn't it better that they all swing in the same direction together!!!!!

Pete

 

[chuns]

Peter, you are absolutely correct, of course. I've never been to Braye - not sure I want to now I'm learning about its crowded nature!

 

[Guest]

I must confess that we have not been their for a few years, we stopped going after we had to fend(er) off a large power boat that was swinging differently to us (NOT his fault) and we were damaged by a French boat thats rafting technique consisted of hooking on to the bouy and oh dear swinging hard against us with no fenders... Unfortunately we did not notice the gelcoat damage until after they left casting off in the same manner!!!! Plus the entry recently of someone who had his cleats removed leads us to think that it is to be avoided. !!!!!!!!!!

Pete

 

[AndrewB]

Depends where you do it

True. Using a spring-line is only advisable if there is no current, or if what current there is, is steady. Otherwise the yacht is likely to start to surge around when the tide changes. Also it is unsuitable with a lightweight, high windage yacht, since the wind partly on the beam will cause it to surge forward - as Peter Gough found.

Braye harbour is a suitable for this trick. I've seen yachts try it in Dover, another open harbour where the direction of prevailing wind is also across the entering swell, but there it can be a problem as in some parts of the harbour the tidal current varies.

 

[AndrewB]

Well spent after all.

Isn't it odd that a Bahamian moor is not commonly used in England, since we suffer exactly the same problem, i.e. strong and reversing tidal currents in the best anchorages, which here are in narrow rivers, and in the Bahamas, passes between islands. It is a technique particularly well suited for large tide ranges.

However, care must be taken not to lay your anchor line over someone else's, or you will surely be getting a visit from them in the night. All is chaos in a tight anchorage if some yachts use a Bahamian moor while others lie to a single anchor, so perhaps it is just as well we all do the same thing.