Pick up mooring buoy with grab handle

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Adrian62

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When returning to the mooring we saw a pick up buoy on another mooring that had a long handle that was about the height of the bow so could be picked up by hand .Which would save bending over the bow to grab the buoy in the water . Looked on line but can’t find one anywhere .Does anybody know who might sell one of these .
 
Er um, why are you going to the bow to pick up the pick up buoy? Much easier from the cockpit.

I prefer one like this as they don't stab you in the eye and are much easier to hook with a hand or a boat hook


buoy.png

I got my last one from Westward Rope and Wire in Exeter.
 
Sandy said:
Er um, why are you going to the bow to pick up the pick up buoy? Much easier from the cockpit.

I prefer one like this as they don't stab you in the eye and are much easier to hook with a hand or a boat hook


View attachment 135143

I got my last one from Westward Rope and Wire in Exeter.
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Exactly ...... ease on up to buoy - connect, Let boat drop back while walking foward with connected line ... at bow lift and make fast, remove line.
 
Sometimes side decks are quite high.. and if you've got crew with a boat hook trying to pick up a buoy, there's always the worry of them getting the buoy but then proceeding to drop the boat hook over the side..

When I had a fore and aft mooring (where you can't really ease up and go past), it was nice to have the anchor marine pick up buoy (with integral pole) on the pickup line. I'm sure the pole on ours was only just over a metre long but it was the perfect height to just reach from either the side deck or from the bow. Having it visible also meant the helm could see the top of the pole at all times and know where the line was.

Anyway - Seems like Anchor marine still have one showing on the Marathon leisure website but I've no idea where it might be stocked.

Marathon Leisure - Anchor pick-up buoy signal orange

Anchor marine pickup buoy.JPG
 
Chiara’s slave said:
I take it the tide doesnt run at 3kn on springs, all you cockpit buoy pickers. We’d drag the sinker along the ground chain and crash into the next boat if I tried that.
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If only it had run that slowly! I'm moving to the Tamer and am hoping for the spring ebb to be a tad slower than five knots.
 
So, Sandy, are you superman then? How the hell do you hold the buoy, casually strolling forwards with it? We have just a few seconds before it’s wrenched from your grasp if it’s not on the mooring cleat, unless it’s exactly wind with tide I’m intrigued, I really am. What am I doing wrong?
 
Chiara’s slave said:
So, Sandy, are you superman then? How the hell do you hold the buoy, casually strolling forwards with it? We have just a few seconds before it’s wrenched from your grasp if it’s not on the mooring cleat, unless it’s exactly wind with tide I’m intrigued, I really am. What am I doing wrong?
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I wish I had that strength!

This is particular to the setup on my old mooring:
  • Set up a line on a bow cleat, led through the fairlead back to the cockpit;
  • Motor into the tide, as the cockpit comes alongside the buoy you should not be making any way through the water;
  • Lift the pickup buoy and attach the line to the chain/line - I used a carabiner spliced onto the line;
  • Drop the revs just a touch and the boat will slowly fall back with the tide as you walk up the deck with the line in your hand; then
  • With a bit of practice you will get to the bow before the buoy and you are then ready to attach the mooring chain/line over the bow roller.
When I finally get onto my new trott mooring on the Tamar I'll have a whole new skill set to learn.
 
Ah. The fatal flaw then is that we have to pick up the mooring under sail, having no engine. Sometimes 2 sails, sometimes one, sometimes the suicide option of dropping both on the approach.
 
Sandy said:
  • Drop the revs just a touch and the boat will slowly fall back with the tide as you walk up the deck with the line in your hand; then
  • With a bit of practice you will get to the bow before the buoy and you are then ready to attach the mooring chain/line over the bow roller.
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On Jissel, there's a bit that goes in between those two:
  • Watch the bow blow off, swear and go round again
Jazzcat seems not to blow off the same way, but on Jissel, I kept a line rigged from a cleat on the pushpit, forward outside everything, through a block at the bow and back to the cockpit. It shared duty as a preventer and for clipping to the mooring if it was too windy to get to the bow. Once it was on, I didn't have to worry, I could just let go and the boat would sit one length away from the mooring until I pulled it in, though that was hard work sometimes.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
I take it the tide doesnt run at 3kn on springs, all you cockpit buoy pickers. We’d drag the sinker along the ground chain and crash into the next boat if I tried that.
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So having had moorings in Langstone and Chichester harbours is not enough tidal flow ??

Its the age old matter of 'in the know' and those not ..... so often you see people straining their guts out against forces on boats ... which with a little thought - is totally unnecessary.

As Stemar amply illustrated - if you have a 'wayward boat' or a tidal stream - then you rig a preventer line ... led from cockpit to stem and back from stem to cockpit - you can clip on and while still in cockpit use the sheet winch if necessary.

We’d drag the sinker along the ground chain and crash into the next boat if I tried that.
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I love that one !! So your sinker is not up to the job then ? Does HM / others around you know about that ??
 
Chiara’s slave said:
Ah. The fatal flaw then is that we have to pick up the mooring under sail, having no engine. Sometimes 2 sails, sometimes one, sometimes the suicide option of dropping both on the approach.
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Looks like a little more thought while sitting on mooring could pay dividends for you ... sip a sundowner while imagining how to overcome 'your' situation .... ;)
 
The moorings are professionally laid, though well outside the remit of any harbour master. As I said, I now know that the nonchalant ease that you guys ate talking about is under power. Sailing onto your mooring, out in the solent, is a different ball game.
 
Refueler said:
Looks like a little more thought while sitting on mooring could pay dividends for you ... sip a sundowner while imagining how to overcome 'your' situation .... ;)
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Sure. Everyone on the moorings thinks about it regularly, but theres no good, clean, easy way when the spring ebb is towing your pickup buoy under, and the 20kn SW wind on the quarter is blowing up a wind over tide chop, plus the powerboat wash. I’ve not tried a swinging mooring in sheltered water for 25 years or more.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
The moorings are professionally laid, though well outside the remit of any harbour master. As I said, I now know that the nonchalant ease that you guys ate talking about is under power. Sailing onto your mooring, out in the solent, is a different ball game.
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With great respect : I sailed the Solent for over 50years ... on Fathers boats and then my own, from dinghys to race boats. My present boat - all 4 tons of Motor sailer was Solent based from 1973 till 2007 .....

The moorings are professionally laid, though well outside the remit of any harbour master
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Actually the HM sets the rules regarding moorings and format in their jurisdiction. Any person or company laying a mooring has to conform to that as a minimum. If not - wish you luck if mooring fails and Insurance Co find out !!
This similar 'argument' was in Tudor Sailing Club years ago when they decided to change moorings in Langstone ...

As to sailing onto a mooring, once you get to know your boat - I don't see the problem ...

Sorry but I think you may be conjuring up arguments against just to justify your position .....
 
Chiara’s slave said:
Sure. Everyone on the moorings thinks about it regularly, but theres no good, clean, easy way when the spring ebb is towing your pickup buoy under, and the 20kn SW wind on the quarter is blowing up a wind over tide chop, plus the powerboat wash. I’ve not tried a swinging mooring in sheltered water for 25 years or more.
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Cowes ...... think you are over-reaching there .... well to remember how many such as myself know Cowes .....
 
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