Mooring to a buoy

[RupertW]

I don't think you understand that with the type of mooring buoys being discussed here is that they are of a soft polyethylene or pvc type that are not meant for attaching too rather than solely providing support for the riser. From the riser there is a substantial junk spliced to the riser a foot or so below the main buoy, the junk is retrieved by a line attached to the junk and supported by a pick up buoy.

To see many thousands of mooring like this, please visit west coast of Scotland where the vast majority of moorings are of this type, but please leave the lasso technique down south. It does ruin the buoy.

Donald

Now that's an explanation even I can understand. I still don't quite understand why a proper solid larger bouy would not be preferable to the fragile arrangement of float and riser, but with the system you describe it sounds pollsible to lift a bouy to deck level without having the strength of Hercules - lifting a bouy out of the water is just not possible with with short chains and heavy bouys so a boathook has to take the full weight of an almost stopped boat whilst your arms are being stretched to the limit attempting to get a rope through the top.

 

[pyrojames]

The anti-lassoo mob feel like a set of people designing cars with no footbrake because a proper driver changes down the gears, then wonders why their cars get damaged all the time. Surely it will eventually sink in that sailing schools teach lassooing as the most versatile and most seamanlike way of attaching temporarily to a buoy whilst getting the main lines on.

Until then the rest of us have a duty to take these badly designed bouys out of the system until they are replaced by real bouys. My advice to help this long overdue change is to moor at speed more often as a lassoo will stop a 12m boat at 4 knots in just 2 metres.

No. It is more like you borrowing a manual car when you have only driven an automatic, and then not using the clutch because "It should have been designed properly".

 

[Kukri]

No. It is more like you borrowing a manual car when you have only driven an automatic, and then not using the clutch because "It should have been designed properly".

+1.

I have read this thread with horrified disbelief.

The “proper way to make fast to a mooring” that has a buoy with an eye, but no strop going to a pick up buoy, is to take your intended mooring line through the bow fairlead, and back outside the rigging and the guard wires to the cockpit. Bring the boat to a standstill relative to the buoy, with the buoy alongside the cockpit, so that you don’t have to leave the helm, you can keep it in sight all the time, and it’s where the freeboard is least, then make fast to it using the Mark One bowline, and shorten up as she drops back.

If the mooring has a strop and a pick up buoy, pick up the buoy with your boathook (people do have boathooks?) and walk the strop forward.

The mooring belongs to someone and should be treated with care.

 

[dom]

The mooring belongs to someone and should be treated with care.

+1. Leaving the buoy-catching bit aside for a moment; it’s a bit like not smoking in someone’s house, their house, their preferences.

 

[RichardS]

+1.

I have read this thread with horrified disbelief.

The “proper way to make fast to a mooring” that has a buoy with an eye, but no strop going to a pick up buoy, is to take your intended mooring line through the bow fairlead, and back outside the rigging and the guard wires to the cockpit. Bring the boat to a standstill relative to the buoy, make fast to it and shorten up as she drops back.

If the mooring has a strop and a pick up buoy, pick up the buoy with your boathook (people do have boathooks?) and walk the strop forward.

The mooring belongs to someone and should be treated with care.

I know that I've said this a zillion times in this one thread alone ..... but whoever suggested that lassoing the buoy is "the proper way to make fast to a mooring"?

Richard

 

[RupertW]

+1. Leaving the buoy-catching bit aside for a moment; it’s a bit like not smoking in someone’s house, their house, their preferences.

That's going too far - it's like being told you can't sit on a chair because it's too weak to be sat on.

 

[lw395]

That's going too far - it's like being told you can't sit on a chair because it's too weak to be sat on.

As it happens, we have a couple of antique dining chairs we would not let my Dad sit on, because he was awkward fat sod....

 

[NormanS]

Now that's an explanation even I can understand. I still don't quite understand why a proper solid larger bouy would not be preferable to the fragile arrangement of float and riser, but with the system you describe it sounds pollsible to lift a bouy to deck level without having the strength of Hercules - lifting a bouy out of the water is just not possible with with short chains and heavy bouys so a boathook has to take the full weight of an almost stopped boat whilst your arms are being stretched to the limit attempting to get a rope through the top.

If you would just read the thread, you would see that this type of set up has already been described in #18. But I still don't think you understand it. Good luck trying to lift my buoy out of the water with your boathook, since in 14m at LW, and a 22mm riser chain, I think you might be struggling. But why would you? Why not just use your boathook to pick up the pick-up buoy on the end of the mooring pennant, and then make fast with it in the normal way?

 

[NormanS]

As a result of threads on here I stopped the lasooing practice. If I can use my Moorfast I will use that to thread my line. If I can’t use my Moorfast then it is a windward pickup, from forward of the quarter, lying down, to thread the prepared line aided by boat hook if I have the crew members. I will not do a leeward pick up because I risk snagging keel, skeg or fixed blade propellor as I drift on top and the higher bow blows off.

My mooring rope ends up being a long bowline secured by the standing part, with a backup line doubled up as a slip but with no tension. If a blow is forecast I would use my anchor chain. I don’t use a rope with chain anymore as a slip as contrary to popular opinion, one can push a piece of rope but not with a chain span in the middle.

I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this but why do you want to "push a piece of rope"? And how would you?
I seldom use visitor's moorings, but for the odd occasions that I do, I have a length of good line with an eye splice at each end, and a metre of chain in the middle, made up for the purpose. It works very well.

I am old enough to remember JDS of blessed memory, describing one of his boaty "characters", as Percy, a pusher up of ropes.

 

[RupertW]

If you would just read the thread, you would see that this type of set up has already been described in #18. But I still don't think you understand it. Good luck trying to lift my buoy out of the water with your boathook, since in 14m at LW, and a 22mm riser chain, I think you might be struggling. But why would you? Why not just use your boathook to pick up the pick-up buoy on the end of the mooring pennant, and then make fast with it in the normal way?

Sorry, you are saying there are two bouys - a big and a little one?

 

[oldmanofthehills]

The only time I tried to lasoo a buoy because it had no pickup float or a hoop on top, after 10 minutes of struggle in f6 in Mumbles bay we discovered that it had no ground chain on either and was merely resting stationary in an eddy so lasoo availed us nothing. An odd technique and I'm surprised anyone teaches it, even for use on sound moorings

 

[Kukri]

Sorry, you are saying there are two bouys - a big and a little one?

Yes. Absolutely commonplace on the East coast of England. The big one takes the weight of the riser chain. The small one is attached to the spliced loop on the strop and you catch that with your boathook and bring it aboard and drop it over whatever you secure to - bits, Samson post, mooring cleats, etc. The

Also common for smaller boats are buoys with a pipe through the centre through which the mooring strop passes.

 

[capnsensible]

The only time I tried to lasoo a buoy because it had no pickup float or a hoop on top, after 10 minutes of struggle in f6 in Mumbles bay we discovered that it had no ground chain on either and was merely resting stationary in an eddy so lasoo availed us nothing. An odd technique and I'm surprised anyone teaches it, even for use on sound moorings

Its taught because with minimum practice, on a suitable mooring, its easy. The long term line can then be rigged simply too.

Now our company mooring in 7m off a beach is just an old fender to carry the weight of the riser (rope) and an even older fender with the pick up line. I just motor up to it -was 20 something knots this afternoon- and my just 5 foot tall excellent Spanish lady crew lifts the old fender with a boathook, slips a pre rigged line through it, secures it and Roberts yer fathers sibling.

Engines off, kayaks and paddleboards in the water, 5 minutes tops. Actually if we got two charters, after the morning one we leave the toys on the mooring and its still easy to pick up.

So basically all this stuff as usual, can be simplified with practice and be aware there are a number of ways to skin this particular cat and all you have to do is pick the appropriate one.

Happy mooring! :encouragement:

 

[NormanS]

Sorry, you are saying there are two bouys - a big and a little one?

Of course there are. How else would the owner of the mooring make fast to it? Lasso it maybe?

 

[photodog]

+1.

I have read this thread with horrified disbelief.

The “proper way to make fast to a mooring” that has a buoy with an eye, but no strop going to a pick up buoy, is to take your intended mooring line through the bow fairlead, and back outside the rigging and the guard wires to the cockpit. Bring the boat to a standstill relative to the buoy, with the buoy alongside the cockpit, so that you don’t have to leave the helm, you can keep it in sight all the time, and it’s where the freeboard is least, then make fast to it using the Mark One bowline, and shorten up as she drops back.

If the mooring has a strop and a pick up buoy, pick up the buoy with your boathook (people do have boathooks?) and walk the strop forward.

The mooring belongs to someone and should be treated with care.

You make it sound so easy.....

How come whenever I do it that way the wind is blowing, or the tide is running, The boat doesn’t seem to want to stop alongside the bouy, and if I do get it alongside the cockpit I need to lean over the dodgers and then somehow reach down to the waterline.....

Clearly I’m not a gentleman, which I acknowledge... but still. I must be doing something wrong.

 

[Sybarite]

I remember reading many decades ago of a d-i-y mooring arrangement which involved a plastic dustbin pierced from top to bottom by a 4" drainpipe. All was sealed and a bit of concrete was added as ballast to keep it upright. Afloat the drainpipe stood about 6' in the air. The chain was fed through the drain pipe and attached to a pick-up buoy at a height where it was easy to grab from the pulpit.

Eminently sensible imho.

 

[photodog]

Anyways my recommended technique for getting a line through one of those stupid east coast floppy roapy bouy things is this...

1) send missus to the bow with suitable line...
2) get her to lie down on deck with said line leaning out under the lower guard line...
3) Park boat alongside bouy... (well not so much park as slow down).
4) Shout encouraging words from helm.
5) Shout motivational words from helm.
6) dash forward (being carefull not to trip and fall overboard on foresail sheet or other detritus..) grasp missus by back of life jacket harness thus enabling a greater reach. Shout more motivation.
7) haul missus and line (which by now has been passed through hoop..) back inboard.
8) dash back to helm as engine has magically been left in gear.
9) shout more motivational words to encourage missus to wrap line around cleat versus attempting to hold boat.
10) repeat above from step 3 and or return to marina.

If solo, Substitute missus for self, delete encouraging shouting from helm.

 

[[163233]]

Similar to MOB technique, but for mob you attach a barrel obvs..

 

[chewi]

That's another type of mooring buoy that I've never heard of!

All the mooring buoys I've ever seen have been hard plastic or metal with a metal eye on the bottom and usually, a metal eye on the top. The bottom eye and the top eye on the plastic buoys are usually joined together through the middle of the buoy with a metal rod.

Lassoing any of these buoys is not going to cause the slightest problem at all as it would only be for a few minutes until a proper attachment is made. As far as I'm aware, no-one has suggested using a lasso as a permanent attachment so there will never be any damage done on departure as the lasso would have been removed hours/days before then.

Richard

you need to see more moorings then Richard
mine is designed for me to use for my boat. .I can't spec it for unknown boats. who can?.
no rod. no eye.. a pickup buoy on a chain.
most of my neighbours have inflatables.

 

[RichardS]

you need to see more moorings then Richard
mine is designed for me to use for my boat. .I can't spec it for unknown boats. who can?.
no rod. no eye.. a pickup buoy on a chain.
most of my neighbours have inflatables.

Au contraire. I've come to the conclusion that most UK sailors have never seen a proper manly mooring buoy like this.

Richard