Picking up a trot mooring single-handed

[Vid]

There's a lot of advice around on picking up a swinging mooring single-handed but I've not seen anything about trot moorings.

My 24ft Achilles is moored on inner trots on the side of a large-ish river, with some strong currents running at different states of the tide. It is moored with a pair of lines fore and aft and there's a bridle line between the buoys.

When I leave the mooring I bring the fore and aft lines together and attach my own float to them before ferry-gliding off if I can. When I return I always moor into the tide.

If I have crew with me, I send one to the foredeck with the boathook to pick up one of the lines (doesn't matter which) and attach that to the cleat there. From the cockpit I then pick up one of the aft lines and get that on board. We then set the lines properly once attached.

I've not yet tried this single-handedly. There's quite a lot to do as it is, what with helming and adjusting the revs/gears on the outboard engine in the cockpit well and picking up the aft lines. It's also an inner trot so I'm aware of other boats around me.

If I just pick up the aft lines from the cockpit then I'm concerned the bow will be pushed out by the tide and turn us around by the time I've reached the foredeck and am picking up the forelines.

I thought about attaching a temporary line to one of the trot buoys but there's nothing on them above the water to attach to. I don't think I can run a line from the foredeck aft as although I might be able to hook the lines in the water up and loop this around there's nothing for them to hang onto so we'd be pushed back onto the boat on the trot behind by the time I've attended to the engine and gone to the foredeck to pull us forward.

How would you suggest I can attach the forelines whilst remaining in the cockpit to helm and deal with the outboard? Fortunately it is a relatively light boat but the tidal flow can be upto 4kts at times.

 

[oldfatgit]

How about a long line, secured at the bow with a bight led outside everything to the stern and the other end led back inside the rail to the cockpit. Motor into the tide until the buoy is alongside the cockpit and drop the bight over it. Then drop back on the tide whilst taking in on the long end until you are able to reach the stern mooring lines with your boat hook. Secure the long line, reach for the stern line and make it fast. Then go forward and substitute the long line with the bow mooring lines. For this to work will require that the bow buoy has no tight lines which would stop the long loop from sinking beneath the buoy.

 

[grafozz]

For years my cat lived on a trot mooring in Southampton Water . and I rigged 2 strops on each bouy fore and aft . these were tied together with a sinking messenger line . in the centre of this was a small hand buoy . when returning to the mooring I would side up to the handbuoy ,have a crew pick it up withy a boat hook then he would collect forward strops and cleat them and I would take the messenger from him and collect the aft strops to cleat . very simple and strong mooring as we had 2x strops each end of the boat . For a mono even simpler , 1 x strop each end .

 

[Gin]

There's a lot of advice around on picking up a swinging mooring single-handed but I've not seen anything about trot moorings.

My 24ft Achilles is moored on inner trots on the side of a large-ish river, with some strong currents running at different states of the tide. It is moored with a pair of lines fore and aft and there's a bridle line between the buoys.

When I leave the mooring I bring the fore and aft lines together and attach my own float to them before ferry-gliding off if I can. When I return I always moor into the tide.

If I have crew with me, I send one to the foredeck with the boathook to pick up one of the lines (doesn't matter which) and attach that to the cleat there. From the cockpit I then pick up one of the aft lines and get that on board. We then set the lines properly once attached.

I've not yet tried this single-handedly. There's quite a lot to do as it is, what with helming and adjusting the revs/gears on the outboard engine in the cockpit well and picking up the aft lines. It's also an inner trot so I'm aware of other boats around me.

If I just pick up the aft lines from the cockpit then I'm concerned the bow will be pushed out by the tide and turn us around by the time I've reached the foredeck and am picking up the forelines.

I thought about attaching a temporary line to one of the trot buoys but there's nothing on them above the water to attach to. I don't think I can run a line from the foredeck aft as although I might be able to hook the lines in the water up and loop this around there's nothing for them to hang onto so we'd be pushed back onto the boat on the trot behind by the time I've attended to the engine and gone to the foredeck to pull us forward.

How would you suggest I can attach the forelines whilst remaining in the cockpit to helm and deal with the outboard? Fortunately it is a relatively light boat but the tidal flow can be upto 4kts at times.

I too am on fore-and-aft trots and got into the very devil of a fix a couple of times by not following the wise counsel of others on picking up the marrying line. Now I follow a well practised method which once one accepts it is the simplest method and I do this single-handed too.

Rather long-winded to explain so if you send me your e-mail address by PM I'll forward a paper to you which I've just prepared for our club's new users of our trots

 

[Searush]

I'm in a river on a trot so the current tends to always be the same way.

However, head into tide & aim to stop in the centre of the slot alongside the pick-up which is also attached to the linking bridle. As the boat slows, I walk amidships & pick up the bouy & hook it over the siderails. If you include 3-4 stanchions in the hook-over that should hold the boat in place long enough for you to collect the upstream line(s) & fasten them off as you wish, then you can do the downstream one(s). Finally, unhook the bridle line & set it up as you wish to leave it.

I almost always come & go singlehanded as the family wait on the quay with all the gear & we can load directly & easily.

 

[Bosun Higgs]

I had a similar river mooring to yours and I found it difficult to single hand. The key issue for me was that I needed to keep on power to stem the current and this risked getting the nelson ( the line between the two ends) round the prop.

So I devised a slightly different system. At each end of the mooring I attached a mooring buoy _ I used the Hippo marine ones. Below each buoy was 6 ft of chain. Where this chain joined the mooring ropes there was a weighted line holding the two halves or the mooring together. This allowed me to nose up to the up tide buoy with the engine going confident that the nelson line was 6 ft below me and nowhere near the prop.

Worked like a dream. Approaching the mooring single handed I would move forward to the point where I could reach the uptide buoy from the cockpit. Rope attached to this buoy and then kill the engine so I dropped back towards the down tide mooring buoy and could attach a rope to that one.

Leaving the mooring was even easier. I would always put a slip rope through the buoy attached to the stern and then let the bow rope go. Depending on the tide direction I would either lie where I was or weathercock round the stern buoy until I was facing downtide. Then I slipped the stern buoy happily sat in the cockpit with the engine controls to hand. Easy peasy.

By the time I left those moorings all but the mooring officer had adopted this system. He is just a bit conservative!

 

[Binman]

Regardless of tide we all moor facing the same way, pointing up river, we all use two strops bow and stern, tied to cleats not over tight and trot line just loosely tied to fore and aft pull and push pits, not stanchions The strops are to hold steady not the trot line.

 

[southseaian]

A challenge picking up fore and aft single handed.
Have you tried approaching into the tide in reverse?
Some boats would do this quite easily and with practice you can ferry glide in reverse and present the up tide buoy to the side of the cockpit.
Try this on a buoy away from other boats to start with.

 

[Binman]

Southesaian, our buoy's are 45 feet apart, when we prepare to leave we tie the trot line leaving it draped over 2or3 stanchions then release the mooring lines and tie these to the trot line, then drop trot line in water, move away under engine then with room hoist either main or Genoa. When mooring sails down motor slowly to the centre between buoy's, kill engine reach down and pull trot line up and over stanchions, then untie mooring lines and attach to cleats, undo trot line and secure fore and aft. Really simple manoeuvre.

 

[southseaian]

Southesaian, our buoy's are 45 feet apart, when we prepare to leave we tie the trot line leaving it draped over 2or3 stanchions then release the mooring lines and tie these to the trot line, then drop trot line in water, move away under engine then with room hoist either main or Genoa. When mooring sails down motor slowly to the centre between buoy's, kill engine reach down and pull trot line up and over stanchions, then untie mooring lines and attach to cleats, undo trot line and secure fore and aft. Really simple manoeuvre.

Sounds like you do what the OP does when he has a CREW
He was asking for suggestions about how to do it single handed.
You are lucky you find it a really simple manoeuvre. Some people have less experience, more difficult boats or situations where the tide may run at an angle to the trots.

 

[doug748]

As you say, moor into the tide.

You have to do the crews job and get forward to secure to the uptide strop/fore and aft line. It does not matter how, often flicking it over the bow roller is enough or you can secure a bight of the fore line. Once the boat is secured by the bow it cannot go places even with a gale up the chuff and you can rein it in. The Achilles will give you time to do this, a high windage, lightweight flier would be more of a handful.

One thing that may not have been mentioned. I would always split the fore and aft line in the middle with a knot (not a clip which will sooner or later savage your topsides) so that I could get off either side regardless of tide and 90deg wind.