Mooring Buoys - How to Find / Best Practice - Can I just use any?

[tom3987]

Hi,

We have finally got our boat sorted and we have left Liverpool heading down south. We are in the early stages of boating and we went over to Puffin Island yesterday to anchor for a few hours to ensure everything was in good order and to get myself and partner used to it (The first time she's been on anchor). I was looking at heading up to Moelfre to anchor overnight in a couple of days but she wants to go on a mooring ball first as we have seen these in the River in Conwy.

Also, there seem to be many in Bangor. I have tried to look these up in the books, but I can't find anything relating to mooring buoys in the pilot books.

What's the best practice? Can we just use them? Someone told me to use them and put your phone number in the window in case you need to move. Im not fussed about moving etc but I don't want to annoy people if im using their mooring.

Any advice on where to look or what to do would be great thank you!

 

[wingcommander]

I will usually just pick up if staying onboard , be prepared to move if asked . I have found that some have a telephone number attached, problem is you don't know the condition. So if going ashore I prefer the hook . Moelfre has really really good holding.

 

[Thresher]

I don't pick up other's buoys anymore. You don't know what's at the other end. The last time I did in my home port, it belonged to someone I knew, when I told her what I had done she sounded quite unhappy, I don't know why, it might be that her boat is much smaller than mine and she thought that I might drag it.

 

[NormanS]

Just because there is a buoy there, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's safe for your boat. Following best practice, by this time of year, I always dropped my riser chain, and left a buoy on a messenger line, so that I could pull it up again in the Spring. No way would it be suitable to moor a boat. You don't know what size of boat the mooring is designed for, or anything about its condition. Much better to use your own inspected anchor equipment.

 

[johnalison]

Anchoring isn’t always an option. There are rivers on the East Coast where the desirable spots are fully occupied with buoys, such as Ramsholt. On the one occasion I anchored there in the fairway with the agreement of the harbourmaster my anchor fouled something and had to be cut off.

Practice varies a lot from place to place, so it is hard to generalise. In the Yealm, if I recall correctly, you may pick up any buoy that has no dinghy on it and await the HM’s permission to stay for the night, but this doesn’t work everywhere. Visitors’ buoys may be uniform in colour, as at Helford or Dittisham, or completely random, so it leaves the options of finding out in advance or bluffing it out when you get there.

 

[vyv_cox]

In the Menai Strait at this time of year it is fairly safe to pick up a buoy as many boats are now hauled out for winter. Most moorings will be safe, as they are professionally laid and sized for the typical conditions there. Be careful on the Bangor side as many dry at low water.

 

[dunedin]

In the Menai Strait at this time of year it is fairly safe to pick up a buoy as many boats are now hauled out for winter. Most moorings will be safe, as they are professionally laid and sized for the typical conditions there. Be careful on the Bangor side as many dry at low water.

We have no idea of the size and weight of the OPs boat - so how can you say it is “fairly safe”?

I have watched a heavy yacht pick up a mooring intended for a lightweight RIB, drag it 200m out of station then cast off and depart rapidly, leaving the private mooring owner to sort the mess.

 

[vyv_cox]

We have no idea of the size and weight of the OPs boat - so how can you say it is “fairly safe”?

I have watched a heavy yacht pick up a mooring intended for a lightweight RIB, drag it 200m out of station then cast off and depart rapidly, leaving the private mooring owner to sort the mess.

By 'fairly safe' I meant, as my post clearly implied, that the owner is unlikely to be returning. I was assuming that the OP had sufficient sense to assure himself that the mooring was strong enough for the boat. The size of buoy on the Strait gives a good guide as to the size of chain it is carrying.

 

[FairweatherDave]

WHen anchoring once we fouled a mooring chain in an area where moorings must previously have been. Needed to go in the water to release, quite a hassle but no problem in the summer in that location. For that reason I would always pick up a mooring bouy if they look well maintained and big enough, but obviously if no bouys around anchoring is great. Just practice with an anchor alarm for peace of mind.....and I mean practice so that when you get the alarm going off by poor setting (eg setting a too tight a circle) you don't get stressed.....
Leaving your phone number is only if you were going ashore.... which you should not be.

 

[Jules W]

The funniest example I had was picking up a Mediterranean mooring in Ceuta in the straits of Gibraltar. We were directed to a mooring and started to pull the lazy line in. It kept coming until the concrete weight ( about the size of a breeze block) was raised to the bow roller of my boat. Since then I have always erred on the side of caution when picking up an unknown mooring... you just don't know what it's attached to.

 

[Frayed Knot]

A marine contractor operates from my harbour who, among many other things, services many of the local moorings - many on an annual basis.
One look in the skip into which he puts the replaced gear was enough to deter me from overnighting on an unknown mooring ever again.