Nice gadget - dear

[roger]

Getting a rope onto a buoy is a pain. I dont think the buoy threading gadgets at all easy to use and neither are the detachable hooks.
The Scandinavian mooring hook I bought this year is excellent.
It is in essence an oval tube with a welded on hook at one end and a loop at the other. You attach a warp to the loop (and the boat) and catch the buoy with the hook.
Theres a cunning catch system that means you can get the hook onto the buoy and it wont slip out until you release it with a trigger.
Mine is solid, made of stainless steel, very easy to use for either bow or stern mooring. It cost 99 euros in Neimeyers at Kiel and we've used it all summer in the Baltic for stern mooring. I reckon it would be equally good for bow mooring in the UK.
Mine is 75 cms. long but different lengths are available.

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[Alexis]

Dear Roger,

As far as getting a rope to a buoy, be it from the stern or bow, may be done without any other kit than a warp or line.
Lets say you are approching a buoy on which you wish to tie the boat. in advance, take a 10 or 15 ft long line, secure one end to cleat, go outboard everything (pulpit, forestay) and secure the other end to another or same cleat, thus forming a large loop. Put this loopdown on the deck. Go back to tiller, and approah the buoy, and stopon it. Walk casually to your foredck and drop the loop over the buoy. When the boats sits back on the warp, the tension will tuck the warp under the buoy against the buoy's chain: your boat is stopped. Once this is done, you can easily secure her in a more civilised way.

This trick was told to me by the excellent Terry Rowe from Cowes based sailing school "Go Sail", during an RYA course in the Solent, about 5 years ago. We used it many times, and I still do, without ever missing to stop the boat, even in strong tidal conditions.

As Terry said then, KISS (Keep It Simple and Stupid)

Cheers,
Alexis

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