Mooring Advice Please??

alexrunic

alexrunic

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any tips for leaving the outside of a 3 deep raft with 2 knots for tide up your bum oh and a yacht in front. I know i made a mess a few weeks ago and just wondered if there were any tips out there? maybe the best way was get up earlyer and leave at HW lol.
 
alexrunic said:
any tips for leaving the outside of a 3 deep raft with 2 knots for tide up your bum oh and a yacht in front. I know i made a mess a few weeks ago and just wondered if there were any tips out there? maybe the best way was get up earlyer and leave at HW lol.
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Was this on the outside of the visitors pontoon up the Yealm? If so, you'd need to put a spring to the bow, and motor forwards in order to get the stern out. Might not even work as the tide runs slightly across you there, pushing you back in. Not quite directly up the bum.

EDIT: Seen your profile now, so not the Yealm I guess :)
 
CaptainBob said:
Was this on the outside of the visitors pontoon up the Yealm? If so, you'd need to put a spring to the bow, and motor forwards in order to get the stern out. Might not even work as the tide runs slightly across you there, pushing you back in. Not quite directly up the bum.

EDIT: Seen your profile now, so not the Yealm I guess :)
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The Yealm pontoon with a strong ebb tide
How many people underestimate that one ;)

Your suggestion sounds about right though, perhaps add in a big round fender at the bow to bounce off.
 
The running forward spring will work. Put a few fenders forward, steer into the adjoining boat, the tide will also take your stern out a long way. Centralise the steering, put some throttle on astern to stem the current and away you go. The tide will carry you away too. Just make sure the spring will slip freely.
 
Assuming you're not on your own, as above, with a crew member holding a roving fender near the bow and someone on the inside boat to cast off the spring when the tide has taken the stern out. You can then motor as slowly as you like into the stream and change to ahead when there's lots of room.
 
I'm always on my own or with 1 crew. i tried motoring astern this brought my bows out but because of the strong flow i nearly hit the boat in front after i had set off. by the way its at wells next to sea norfork on the pontoon. might try the spring idea next time any more ideas welcome
 
Surely if you have 2 kts of tide then you have steerage way without even using the engine so there should be no problem getting the stern out with the bows still attached to the raft - then motor astern until the bows are clear?

In theory with that stream you should also be able to do a sort of reverse ferry glide - using the engine in reverse to hold the boat against the stream and then slowly glide out sidewards - but I'm not sure I'd like to try it!
 
bedouin said:
Surely if you have 2 kts of tide then you have steerage way without even using the engine so there should be no problem getting the stern out with the bows still attached to the raft - then motor astern until the bows are clear?

In theory with that stream you should also be able to do a sort of reverse ferry glide - using the engine in reverse to hold the boat against the stream and then slowly glide out sidewards - but I'm not sure I'd like to try it!
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yeah but the tide is behind you therefore no steerage if it was the other way round then you would.
 
alexrunic said:
yeah but the tide is behind you therefore no steerage if it was the other way round then you would.
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Does your boat not steer too well in reverse? 2 knots would be more than enough for me. I seem to get steerage in reverse from just under 1 knot. And when reversing into a current, you'll tend to "windvane" downwind also which would help the reverse ferry glide idea. Presumably would help reduce the effect of prop walk - though if your walk pulled you off the other boats that would help also.

You could have gone into reverse with ropes still attached to check it out first.
 
alexrunic said:
yeah but the tide is behind you therefore no steerage if it was the other way round then you would.
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The moral being "know your boat"

With mine, once I have 1kt speed relative to the water I have pretty good control in reverse (particularly if the engine is not) but others of course may vary.

However the beauty of this is that it is very easy to tell. While you are still secured it is simple to put the tiller over in either direction and see if/how the boat responds
 
alexrunic said:
maybe the best way was get up earlyer and leave at HW lol.
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With my long keel and singlehanded I expect the only safe option would be to leave earlier or at least turn boat around by slack water.

As you mention you are often single or shorthanded springing off can be difficult as there is a risk of lines catching / in the water when you need to be on the helm.
 
I got in a similar mess at Queensboro and an instructor on a nearby charter yacht taught me to ALWAYS go out into the tidal stream - wheter this from ahead or astern. Then with judicious use of the throttle, you can 'fery glide' away from the pontoon.

This tip had stood me in good stead.
 
My yacht will reverse but only in a straight line. when I tried to reverse out off the raft my stern got forced over towards my neighbors boat and my bow went out. not sure if I have explained this very well. Think I need to have another play around at the weekend have had the boat a few years now and not had any problems until this one weekend. this would not of been a problem either if it was not for the yacht in front of me. I just could not get out of the space far enough and fast enough. Oh and have a good powerfull engine.

Thanks to every one for there ideas so far
 
It's hard to see why your stern should have been pushed against your neighbour, unless the tide was coming diagonally from astern. It might only have needed a few degrees of springing out to get the tide inside the stern. Putting the helm well across might have done the same thing. I suspect your error was in in thinking there was some reason to hurry the job - a common mistake when there is always all the time in the world.
 
bedouin said:
Surely if you have 2 kts of tide then you have steerage way without even using the engine so there should be no problem getting the stern out with the bows still attached to the raft - then motor astern until the bows are clear?

In theory with that stream you should also be able to do a sort of reverse ferry glide - using the engine in reverse to hold the boat against the stream and then slowly glide out sidewards - but I'm not sure I'd like to try it!
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Exackerly .... balance engine and tide to glide out ...
 
alexrunic said:
My yacht will reverse but only in a straight line. when I tried to reverse out off the raft my stern got forced over towards my neighbors boat and my bow went out. not sure if I have explained this very well. Think I need to have another play around at the weekend have had the boat a few years now and not had any problems until this one weekend. this would not of been a problem either if it was not for the yacht in front of me. I just could not get out of the space far enough and fast enough. Oh and have a good powerfull engine.

Thanks to every one for there ideas so far
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You may well have problems peculiar to your boat. On mine I would stem the tide with reverse and ferry glide out using the tide flow over the rudder. I would avoid trying to go backwards until well clear.
 
Turn your boat around.

Dead easy to do, tho' more difficult to describe.

Rig lines (a long one for the stern) as bow and stern lines on the wrong side of the boat. Lead both these lines around the forestay and back onto your neighbour's boat. Fender the other side of your boat.

Let go all springs and existing stern line. Pull in your bow, take the 'new bow line and stern line in hand, then let go the old bow line. Push out your stern, working from the alongside boat. The tide will take your stern out and downstream.

Once your boat is at about 45 degs to the neighbour, start walking your bow upstream (I do this by holding the pulpit - avoids boat to boat contact). Your boat will revolve 180 degs around the bow, so the bow ends up upstream, and the stern downstream. You have new bow and stern lines rigged to make her fast temporarily, while you hop aboard and tidy up before departing.

(written by someone who avoids going astern for fear of the unknown)
 
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