Next Controversy over Bouys and Moorings

[Old Bumbulum]

Well, here I am swanning around in my 10 ton boat, lassoo in hand and looking for a mooring to borrow. How can I tell if a bouy is attached to anything large enough to hold the weight? In my local area I may have some idea of what usually lives on it but often not, and in unfamiliar waters not a clue. It isn't a valid assumption to think that a big bouy means a big sinker - so what is the answer?
Granted, for those with average sized boats this is less of a problm, but even so putting a 32 ft Moody on a Folkboat's mooring isn't going to add to it's life, is it?
Sems to me that this 'borrowing' of moorings needs to be done with some care, and only in familiar circumstances and in benign weather.

Mr Manson is my best friend...

 

[Biggles Wader]

Communication is the key here. Before "borrowing" the mooring best to check with the local harbour master, club or pilotage information/guide to see what is what. Just picking up any old mooring is akin to parking a car on someone elses drive really

 

[RupertW]

Well, here I am swanning around in my 10 ton boat, lassoo in hand and looking for a mooring to borrow. How can I tell if a bouy is attached to anything large enough to hold the weight? In my local area I may have some idea of what usually lives on it but often not, and in unfamiliar waters not a clue. It isn't a valid assumption to think that a big bouy means a big sinker - so what is the answer?
Granted, for those with average sized boats this is less of a problm, but even so putting a 32 ft Moody on a Folkboat's mooring isn't going to add to it's life, is it?
Sems to me that this 'borrowing' of moorings needs to be done with some care, and only in familiar circumstances and in benign weather.

Mr Manson is my best friend...

Maybe, and the problem you are trying to avoid is the mooring breaking so making your boat insecure. I think it’s a problem that happens very very rarely though.

 

[Kukri]

I have completely stopped borrowing moorings. The chances of anyone else’s boat displacing 22 tons are slight. The problem then becomes ‘where to anchor?’

This is not easy, as anywhere near a hard is infested with moorings...

 

[Trop Cher]

The simple answer is not to borrow moorings!

 

[lw395]

You can get clues from nearby boats.
If a mooring is one of a line, and the others have 40ft cruisers on, it tells you a different clue than if the other boats are 20ft X-Boats.
If you want to borrow moorings, a small boat is an advantage.
It's not necessarily about actually breaking anything, many smaller moorings are laid as a 'trot' along a ground chain, which can be pulled out of line by a big boat. Still a £500 bill to put right, so the marina may work out cheaper after all.

 

[Minchsailor]

You can get clues from nearby boats.

I agree. A couple of years ago I was looking to spend the night in Cromarty Firth - well outside my 'normal' area. The local club has a couple of buoys for visitors, but looking at the local yachts they were all considerably lighter than me - <30ft, against my (heavy) 36ft. I decided to anchor.

 

[coveman]

I agree with Biggles Wader - most moorings- at least at our club, are designed around the size of boat that uses it and all the moorings are owned by the individual boat owners, and hence are not available for "borrowing". Most harbours or marinas have visitor moorings that are normally clearly marked as such, and a call to the appropriate harbour master,sailing club or marina will mean they can guide you to the correct one for your boat .

I don't think it is good practice to go around picking up moorings that you know nothing about, both from the mooring owners point of view as it may be damaged, or from your point of view as you run the risk of losing your boat or facing a claim from the mooring owner.

 

[PlankWalker]

By laying a mooring in a perfectly good anchorage, you have been deprived of anchoring.
I can therefore see no harm in the age old tradition of picking up that mooring,
providing you are prepared to vacate it immediately when requested.

Plank

 

[Kukri]

By laying a mooring in a perfectly good anchorage, you have been deprived of anchoring.
I can therefore see no harm in the age old tradition of picking up that mooring,
providing you are prepared to vacate it immediately when requested.

Plank

That’s what I have been doing for the last 50 years. Always obeying the “rule” of being prepared to scarper at once if the mooring’s owner came back.

I honestly think that I have dropped a mooring and moved no more than a couple of times in the last half century, but I have spent endless hours worrying if the boat coming up river might be the one that the mooring belongs to...

It would be awfully nice if there were often room to anchor within regular dinghy range of a landing place. However..

 

[[70521]]

How can I tell if a bouy is attached to anything large enough to

You might find it easier if you were looking for a buoy. Ouasim Bouy, a Dutch footballer, might not be impressed if you wanted to lasso him from your 10 tonne boat.

 

[lw395]

That’s what I have been doing for the last 50 years. Always obeying the “rule” of being prepared to scarper at once if the mooring’s owner came back.

I honestly think that I have dropped a mooring and moved no more than a couple of times in the last half century, but I have spent endless hours worrying if the boat coming up river might be the one that the mooring belongs to...

It would be awfully nice if there were often room to anchor within regular dinghy range of a landing place. However..

Same here.
But there are a great many places with plenty of harbour authority etc. visitors buoys within dinghy range of landing places.
The simple fact is that boats need a lot more room to anchor than to moor to a buoy. We've got about 10 moorings in the space on boat would swing to an anchor.
No doubt the ratio is similar between swinging moorings and marina pontoons.
Most of the moorings I've borrowed have been somewhat away from the landing places.
An up river mooring with no dinghy on it, on a Tuesday night, chances are fairly good you're OK. It's 'likely' the owner is either away for the week or not using the mooring.

Of course some people just don't want to pay for the mooring, and would moan if charged harbour dues to anchor anyway.
Some people however just want to be away from the noise of the town quay and rafting up and all that, or they just want the simplicity of picking up a swinging mooring which is quick and easy to leave.

 

[coveman]

By laying a mooring in a perfectly good anchorage, you have been deprived of anchoring.
I can therefore see no harm in the age old tradition of picking up that mooring,
providing you are prepared to vacate it immediately when requested.

Plank

Maybe in your area, but ours are subject to bylaws and harbour authority rules and regulations, which dictate that the moorings can only be used by the owners. I guess different rules apply depending on area.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I don't think it is good practice to go around picking up moorings that you know nothing about, both from the mooring owners point of view as it may be damaged, or from your point of view as you run the risk of losing your boat or facing a claim from the mooring owner.

The only moorings (other than my own) which I pick up are those which are explicitly for visitors and which I know are rated for my boat, or those which I have been invited to use by their owners. I don't ever lassoo them because I know how to do the job properly. - and that includes making a second pass if I cock up the first time.

 

[coveman]

The only moorings (other than my own) which I pick up are those which are explicitly for visitors and which I know are rated for my boat, or those which I have been invited to use by their owners. I don't ever lassoo them because I know how to do the job properly. - and that includes making a second pass if I cock up the first time.

Agreed - a good policy

 

[Kukri]

I have never lassoed anything, nor would I, and since I now have a boat heavier than most, I no longer pick up moorings unless it be a visitor’s mooring with the safe tonnage painted on it.

 

[Iliade]

Quote: It would be awfully nice if there were often room to anchor within regular dinghy range of a landing place. However..

There always is. You just may need a more seaworthy tender...
Rigid Raider - UKSF Gear


I have one of these: Rigiflex NewMatic 360 Safety & Rescue Boat | MarinePower but I find it doesn't like a short chop, hence the semi-rib gets more use than it should.

 

[LittleSister]

The tradition is, if your mooring (whether private, club or whatever) in a public navigation, you have effectively deprived the public of navigating in that space, and the payback is it's available for considerate temporary borrowing, but the borrower must clear off promptly on your return.

Trouble is, our society has become so atomised and consumer orientated, people have forgotten how to share, and that their 'private' mooring is in a public space.

(They probably even think they own the road, too!)

 

[fredrussell]

Last year I was ‘borrowing’ a mooring at Wrabness on the Stour when the owner of the mooring turned up in his boat. I apologised and made ready to depart but he said “no problem, I’ll just grab another for the night”. As long as you stay on the boat and ready to move on if requested I see no reason why picking up a mooring is such an affront to decency. Is this an east coast vs south coast thing? I’m pretty sure it’s considered ok round here, very commonly done.

 

[Kelpie]

We occasionally will pick up an unknown/random mooring if stopping for lunch etc, but as others have said we remain aboard and ready to leave at a moment's notice- and would only be doing this in benign conditions.
You simply have no idea what is underneath that buoy. A couple of weeks ago a buoy near me came ashore in a gale. There was no boat on it, but the riser had weakened until the links were about as thin as paperclips. The buoy was still nice shiny orange and had been in use this summer.

Probably the worst case of mooring borrowing I encountered was when a large pilot house boat picked up my friend's buoy. There was ample space alongside the pier right beside it, the borrower was just too tight to pay for that. I had been offered the mooring for the season myself, but rejected it because the pins were falling out of the shackles and it generally in a very dodgy condition. I tried to explain to the borrower that his boat was about five times the weight of the owner's, and that it was in very poor condition, but he just shrugged and said that it had held OK under full astern. I wonder what he would have done if he'd dragged or damaged it?