Med Laid Moorings

[Nickel]

Never having sailed in the Med until two weeks time, I see I'm planning to call in to a Turkish 'Marina' which has laid moorings tailed to the wall so as to avoid the need to use your anchor.

How does that work then? Any help appreciated.

 

[TonyD]

Firstly, there are small variations depending on which marina you are going to. However, for the majority, it goes like this:

Prepare fenders on both sides plus two stern lines. Position the fenders further toward the stern than usual - its your arse you are wedging in first. Have a boat hook ready.

There will be marina staff there to help you in. They will usually indicate where they want you to berth. Reverse into the space (make sure you know your boat and which way the prop wash kicks the stern). As you enter the berth, one of the shore staff will pull on the lazy line so that it comes out of the water near your stern. One of your crew should pick it up with the boat hook, take it to the bow and start pulling it tight. Meanwhile reverse to within about a couple of feet of where you want to be and throw the windward stern line first. The shore crew will loop it through a cleat or ring and throw it back to you. Temporarily cleat it off and repeat with the other stern line.

Once the windward stern line is cleated off, you have control over the bow. If there is no boat alongside you and a crosswind blowing the bow will blow off very fast, leaving your crew pulling madly on the bow line. If the windward line is cleated off you can use it as a spring and power forward against it to bring the bow back upwind. Once the bow line is pulled fairly tight, cleat it off.

Now power astern putting more tension on the bow line until you can re-cleat the stern lines with the boat in its final position.

The final and most important step is to open cold beers and relax! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

A variation on this in some marinas (e.g. Gocek) is that there is a guy in a rib waiting with the bow line. You hand him the free end of a warp which is cleated at the bow. He will pass it through an eye on the riser rope from the ground tackle and pass it back to you. You pull and make fast as before.

You will generally find that Turkish marinas are better than anything you will find in the UK by a country mile. There are always loads of staff to help, but beware, they are not always knowledgeable.

Tony

 

[Nickel]

Thanks for the info Tony. I'll take all your advice to heart - especially the cold beer one! /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif