Picking up a mooring buoy

Elessar said:
always, and it's the way I teach people to do it too.

Come up into the wind/tide and let the crew lasso from the bow.

Can be done from the stern if you're single handed. Come down onto the bouy from upwind like you're picking up a MOB, and lasoo it from the safety of the cockpit. Run a long line from the buoy to the bow, release the lasso and pull the bow line is as the boat floats past the buoy.

Some get so excercised about this, I will do damage or whatever. I've not been conviced that this is anything other than nonsense.

The safest and easist way to pick up a buoy bar none in my experience.
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+1 for the approach, in light winds though, but definitely and aways lasso the bloody thing. Been doing it for over 20 years, and once the loops over you know your secure. Can then pull up at your leisure to thread the line through the eye, or fish for the bridal line.
 
Elessar said:
No, but if I did, I'd make sure it was fit for purpose. I don't know which one is yours of course, but it probably is fit for purpose already. So don't stress too much if I come your way.....
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I didn't think that you would have a mooring.
Yes, my mooring is fit for its purpose, when used correctly.
 
When I did the French " permit du Mer" kinda boat driving test french have to do .One of the tests in the 30- 40 min practice is mooring ,approaching a bouy ,Just like UK old driving test reversing round a corner if you touched the curb you failed -remember that?
With this one -we were taught to approach the buoy bow first pointing into the wind and had to guess when to hover within 1M of the bow .
If you touched it = fail or too fr away ,
Also pararel parking ( mooring) agiast the fuel pontoon, MOB drill , and more .
MoBo training in the UK falls outside of legislation it's still voluntary , although a wider debate I think the French idea of compulsory minimum traing is a good thing for all over 6 hp or so
 
We have a very high freeboard and so attach a rope to the buoy from the bathing platform then drift backwards walking the line forwards. The rope needs to be attached to a bow clear first before walking it back to the bathing platform (remember to pass it through the rails from the outside).


Once attached we like to rig a safety line slightly slacker than the main mooring line through one of the fairleads.

In this image you can just see the blue safety rope on the starboard cleat / fairlead.

In this instance we initially rafted against another boat so tied up to them then put the dinghy in and secured our bow line using the dinghy.



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Henry :)
 
NormanS said:
I didn't think that you would have a mooring.
Yes, my mooring is fit for its purpose, when used correctly.
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Pissing into the wind mate. Correctly = the safest way, and the enlightened will continue to lasso.

I would not knowingly damage anyones property though, and simply don't accept that lassoing does. There is no way it would damage a correctly moused shackle.
 
henryf said:
We have a very high freeboard and so attach a rope to the buoy from the bathing platform then drift backwards walking the line forwards. The rope needs to be attached to a bow clear first before walking it back to the bathing platform (remember to pass it through the rails from the outside).


Once attached we like to rig a safety line slightly slacker than the main mooring line through one of the fairleads.

In this image you can just see the blue safety rope on the starboard cleat / fairlead.

In this instance we initially rafted against another boat so tied up to them then put the dinghy in and secured our bow line using the dinghy.



15p50solo_zps0954c099.jpg


Henry :)
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H - Looks an excellent set up. Can't quite tell from the res but do you need something to protect the edge of the foredeck from chafe? I don't because my fairleads are further outboard and the angle between the deck and topsides is squarer. You probably use lines made from angora so it isn't an issue but maybe worth thinking about. :D
 
Elessar said:
Pissing into the wind mate. Correctly = the safest way, and the enlightened will continue to lasso.

I would not knowingly damage anyones property though, and simply don't accept that lassoing does. There is no way it would damage a correctly moused shackle.
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When ignorance is bliss......

OK, you don't have a mooring, and you may not be familiar with the way they are constructed. In many cases, the riser chain is supported by the buoy, and the mooring pennant comes off the chain or shackle immediately under the buoy. The plastic buoy is only holding the static weight of the riser chain.
Along come you, or another mistaught by the RYA, and lassoos the buoy. The eye on the plastic buoy is now holding the boat. If any undue force is exerted, for example on a windy day, it is quite possible that the plastic eye on the buoy will fail. Your boat will then drift off, but that's alright, because you'll just go and lasso another buoy.
But what about the mooring? It's now lying on the bottom, and the unfortunate owner is faced with having to retrieve it.
No, the RYA is wrong in advocating, an unseamanlike method, which may well damage other peoples property.
 
NormanS said:
If any undue force is exerted, for example on a windy day, it is quite possible that the plastic eye on the buoy will fail.
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I've also heard of them ripping only partially, in a way that's not obvious to the visitor unless he goes poking about in the weed under the buoy, but means that the buoy is no longer watertight and sinks shortly after the visitor departs the next morning.

As far as I'm concerned the situation is simple. Even if the idea of lassooing causing damage were a complete myth, it is still the wish of many mooring owners that people not do it. If I borrow their property, it behooves me to comply with their wishes whether based in fact or not. If you borrowed somebody's petrol lawnmower and they asked you not to run it at full revs because they believed it would cause damage, would you think to yourself "silly sod, it's designed to run at max chat" and proceed to do so anyway? I think that would be inconsiderate.

Borrowing private moorings is not a right, and it's something we abuse at our peril.

EDIT: To be clear, last two paragraphs addressed to Elessar, not Norman!

Pete
 
I think the "lasso" method is only a means to capture a light inflatable buoy temporarily so that a mooring line can then be fixed to a proper ring or shackle BEFORE any load comes on it. If there is a small pickup bouy attached via a short nylon line then a standard boat hook will suffice.

However most of the serviced free visitor mooring buoys you will find around the south and west coast of Ireland are the heavy rigid yellow types with a ring on top of them. They are far too heavy to pull up out of the water, so one has to thread a line through the ring on top. Over the past decade these free visitor mooring buoys have been placed in many natural harbours, anchorages and secluded bays off the Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway and Mayo coastlines. These have been installed by local authorities to promote boat tourism and facilitate visits to some incredible remote beauty spots. They are checked and serviced every winter.
 
NormanS said:
When ignorance is bliss......

OK, you don't have a mooring, and you may not be familiar with the way they are constructed. In many cases, the riser chain is supported by the buoy, and the mooring pennant comes off the chain or shackle immediately under the buoy. The plastic buoy is only holding the static weight of the riser chain.
Along come you, or another mistaught by the RYA, and lassoos the buoy. The eye on the plastic buoy is now holding the boat. If any undue force is exerted, for example on a windy day, it is quite possible that the plastic eye on the buoy will fail. Your boat will then drift off, but that's alright, because you'll just go and lasso another buoy.
But what about the mooring? It's now lying on the bottom, and the unfortunate owner is faced with having to retrieve it.
No, the RYA is wrong in advocating, an unseamanlike method, which may well damage other peoples property.
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A minute ago I was damaging the mousing. WHich is it?
I remain unconviced that it creates undue force. The chain doubles over and the force on the buoy if anything reduces. A lasso would need to slide up a chain to increase the force as you suggest and this it does not do.
I am as unconvinced by your argument as all previous attenpts to convince me and I will continue to lasso buoys.
 
prv said:
I've also heard of them ripping only partially, in a way that's not obvious to the visitor unless he goes poking about in the weed under the buoy, but means that the buoy is no longer watertight and sinks shortly after the visitor departs the next morning.

As far as I'm concerned the situation is simple. Even if the idea of lassooing causing damage were a complete myth, it is still the wish of many mooring owners that people not do it. If I borrow their property, it behooves me to comply with their wishes whether based in fact or not. If you borrowed somebody's petrol lawnmower and they asked you not to run it at full revs because they believed it would cause damage, would you think to yourself "silly sod, it's designed to run at max chat" and proceed to do so anyway? I think that would be inconsiderate.

Borrowing private moorings is not a right, and it's something we abuse at our peril.

EDIT: To be clear, last two paragraphs addressed to Elessar, not Norman!

Pete
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They should be worried about people putting oversized boats on their ground tackle which can obviously do damage. The argument that a lasoo does damage is ficticious.


The controversy is always the same, the arguments always the same, and as I said, I will continue to use, and teach the safest way to pick up a buoy.
 
Elessar said:
A minute ago I was damaging the mousing. WHich is it?
I remain unconviced that it creates undue force. The chain doubles over and the force on the buoy if anything reduces. A lasso would need to slide up a chain to increase the force as you suggest and this it does not do.
I am as unconvinced by your argument as all previous attenpts to convince me and I will continue to lasso buoys.
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As I said, Ignorance is bliss.
 
Two cruisers rafted form a bridle so they swing evenly off the mooring buoy. Note the additional safety line. These yellow buoys are rated for over 25 tons so they are not going anywhere nor will they break.
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Zoomed out shot. The must practical way to pick these from high free board vessels is from a bathing platform. Just thread the ring and walk it back up to the bow for securing.
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Carrigaholt
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NormanS said:
As I said, Ignorance is bliss.
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Well, here are some more views...

Lassoing buoys is one of those arcane skills
taught by sailing schools a lot more than it
is ever necessary in real life. It dates back
to the post war yachting boom when plucky
adventurers would need to secure to all sorts
of massive dirty, damaging metal buoys that no
sane person would wish to put a sailing boat’s
bows anywhere near. Nowadays it is sadly often
practiced on moorings with a perfectly good
pickup buoy or line and most inflatable balloon
type mooring buoys will pop their top buoy off
as soon as the boat falls back on a lasso. Spare
a thought for the poor bugger who’s mooring
is left as a pile of chain on the seabed before
you lasso an inappropriate buoy. It is however
sometimes a necessary skill. We found a likely
looking recipient of the lasso technique: The eye
was too low to reach by the belly crawl method.
The buoy itself was of heavy construction with
square bottom shoulders that a lasso would be
unlikely to pop off.
 
Elessar said:
Well this statement is nonsense and your history is a fairy tale.
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Not my history...
As regards the first half, I really have no idea whether a rope round the base of the bouy can snap it off the main chain, but seems others think it can, or could. Not knowing any mooring bouy manufacturers myself, I dont have anyone to ask.
Personally, if those designing and laying the bouy have a pick up chain or a ring, I assume those are there for a purpose, and they expect me to use them. Of course, it could all be totally pointless and should be ignored, I suppose. Still, I think I will continue to use the design provided.
 
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