Rafting without landlines

[Wansworth]

Rafting is pretty much the norm for any away regatta. So we do a lot of it. Dartmouth sees the biggest rafts, but as they're at the end of a marina aisle shorelines are easy as they're just run to the finger pontoon behind you and the rafts then joined together.

With modern racing boats having chainplates pretty much at max beam, and full width spreaders, one thing you learn bloody quickly is that you have to counter the crew's natural tendancy to gather on the side of the boat that you are going to come alongside to help. 2 crews doing that and you will clash rigs. You need to gather everyone not actively engaged in handling a rope and make them stand on the other side of the boat!

Proper boats don’t tip over

 

[flaming]

Proper boats don’t tip over

I din't take you for a multihull man.

 

[seayou]

Sorry for the confusion, I got lost in translation My question is about rafting at anchor, without landline/shoreline.
Like, let's suppose to anchoring in a bay, and we don't have the possibility to get a line ashore, is it safe to raft? In my mind I was thinking at something like I'm the this pic.

I thought about anchoring in. V shape to avoid moving to around if the wind change

 

[seayou]

Or if the "someone" asking the question isn't actually a real person. The post looks suspicious on a number of counts however I'll accept that my post may well be deleted by the mods perhaps after I've been damned for impugning the authenticity of our friend seayou.

I’m wondering if it’s feasible to do this without using landlines.

Landlines? I'm not sure what they are if not shore lines but in any event, of course it's feasible. whether it's necessary or advisable is a different matter.

Has anyone tried this?

Yes, thousands of people, sometimes it's perfectly fine, at other times and in different circumstances then perhaps "landlines" are useful.

I look forward to reading what you've learned from the "advice and experiences!" that forum member have been kind enough to post here. Perhaps post again when you're looking for help when you're considering anchoring on another upcoming trip. That should generate even more responses.

Hi Baltika,

Yes I'm a real person, just that English is not my mother language, and as you know sailing terms differ from a language to another

I just post another reply where I hope i've been able to explain myself better.

I used to raft quite often, with anchor and shore line from the stern, but in my next trip I saw bays with sandy beaches were having a shore line won't be possible, that's why my question

Anyway thanks to all for the support,I didn't expect so many reply! Amazing community

 

[lustyd]

Perhaps with the proliferation of marina berths, there is not much use now for traditional seamanship, such as rafting. I'm lucky to have been taught how to do it properly and used it a lot. Including leaving from a berth in the middle. But many tides ago...

I think the biggest raft I was in was during a racing weekend on the Clyde. Tarbert, before they put pontoons in. 12 deep. The socials were legend. The shorelines.....not. but all around the Solent and close by it was normal to be 3 or 4 deep on places like Poole or Lymington Town Quays on a Saturday.

That training was useful when on reception docks in other places like the Azores as it seemed like only Brits knew how to do it properly.

However, for all that, not needed to raft myself for loooong time.

Those days are mostly gone, even harbour walls are turning into pontoons. Set Peter port and St Helier are notable exceptions where extreme rafting tetris is still required. We had to exit sideways into the wind in St Helier from a position 4 deep via a fairway inches wider than our boat. We managed without incident but there was quite an audience waiting to applaud our failure just in case!

 

[johnalison]

Sorry for the confusion, I got lost in translation My question is about rafting at anchor, without landline/shoreline.
Like, let's suppose to anchoring in a bay, and we don't have the possibility to get a line ashore, is it safe to raft? In my mind I was thinking at something like I'm the this pic.

I thought about anchoring in. V shape to avoid moving to around if the wind change

Yes, I’ve often done it. Our usual system was that the largest boat arrives first and deploys its best ground tackle. The remaining boats raft both sides and spring themselves to the mother-boat as if it were a harbour wall. I have seen photos of circular rafts but I think that is for show rather than any practical reason. Bows-in is fairly common with a shared mooring, such as in Salcombe where three may have to share a buoy.

 

[Wansworth]

I wouldn’t raft up outside a harbour,connect by dinghy,maybe on a continuous line

 

[Mark-1]

I wouldn’t raft up outside a harbour,connect by dinghy,maybe on a continuous line

I doubt the OP is planning to do this in a choppy sea. "Lavery's Law" applies to this, too. If it's a bad idea it will be very apparent at the time.

 

[[194224]]

Sorry for the confusion, I got lost in translation My question is about rafting at anchor, without landline/shoreline.
Like, let's suppose to anchoring in a bay, and we don't have the possibility to get a line ashore, is it safe to raft? In my mind I was thinking at something like I'm the this pic.

I thought about anchoring in. V shape to avoid moving to around if the wind change

Hi Baltika,

Yes I'm a real person, just that English is not my mother language, and as you know sailing terms differ from a language to another

I just post another reply where I hope i've been able to explain myself better.

I used to raft quite often, with anchor and shore line from the stern, but in my next trip I saw bays with sandy beaches were having a shore line won't be possible, that's why my question

Anyway thanks to all for the support,I didn't expect so many reply! Amazing community

Then you have my sincerest apologies. I should and will learn not to jump to conclusions.

 

[Wansworth]

I doubt the OP is planning to do this in a choppy sea. "Lavery's Law" applies to this, too. If it's a bad idea it will be very apparent at the time.

Yes……it’s when everybody’s sat down with a glass…confusion could reign……..I have done it once but not again

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Those days are mostly gone, even harbour walls are turning into pontoons. Set Peter port and St Helier are notable exceptions where extreme rafting tetris is still required. We had to exit sideways into the wind in St Helier from a position 4 deep via a fairway inches wider than our boat. We managed without incident but there was quite an audience waiting to applaud our failure just in case!

The Clyde Cruising Club did a MASSIVE raft in Loch Drumbuie for their centenary celebrations! And I think this is more like what the OP was interested in.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

if you raft outside me say in Fowey, Teignmouth or similar tidal pressed pontoons (or sometimes even the Yealm) and dont consider outside lines, I will tell you to F off or do it properly. Maybe in some Marina, you might be Ok.

And even in still waters I want you to ask if I am leaving at silly oclock before omitting the shore line. Fearing an oncoming storm we tied up to a fishing boat in I think Kilkenny - they sneaked away from inside us without disturbing our slumber - with some shore support. Professionalism !

Otherwise tie up using as few warps as needed, and you are welcome

 

[The Q]

We've had about 30 boats mixed motorboats and sailing rafted up on a broad in a circle like the Clyde cruising club did.
All boats nose in, the motorboats dropped their bow mudweights, just used normal bow and stern lines to tie up.

On The tidal rivers however normally only raft up in pairs and to the bank due to narrow rivers. Mudweighting in a navigable channel is not permitted.

 

[john_morris_uk]

if you raft outside me say in Fowey, Teignmouth or similar tidal pressed pontoons (or sometimes even the Yealm) and dont consider outside lines, I will tell you to F off or do it properly. Maybe in some Marina, you might be Ok.

And even in still waters I want you to ask if I am leaving at silly oclock before omitting the shore line. Fearing an oncoming storm we tied up to a fishing boat in I think Kilkenny - they sneaked away from inside us without disturbing our slumber - with some shore support. Professionalism !

Otherwise tie up using as few warps as needed, and you are welcome

Unlike my experience many years ago. Rafted up outside a French fishing boat with full friendly agreement of the said boat and under the direction of the harbour master. 0330 we woke to find ourselves drifting across the harbour. They’d just upped and gone and let us go. They also nicked a fender and a nice mooring line.

 

[johnalison]

Unlike my experience many years ago. Rafted up outside a French fishing boat with full friendly agreement of the said boat and under the direction of the harbour master. 0330 we woke to find ourselves drifting across the harbour. They’d just upped and gone and let us go. They also nicked a fender and a nice mooring line.

That’s because your lot were so hung over from the evening before that you didn’t respond to their repeated efforts to wake you and they had a tide to catch. Perhaps.

 

[john_morris_uk]

That’s because your lot were so hung over from the evening before that you didn’t respond to their repeated efforts to wake you and they had a tide to catch. Perhaps.

A possibility, but sadly not true in this episode.

 

[Wansworth]

Locking through a London dock that I don’t recall the lock worker handed us a really long 15 mm line to act as a spring as we entered the lock.We where destined to a near continenta port as the lock opened…….I shouted”let go” and the port staff took the rope off the bollard and threw it aboard!aswe motored away in to the Thames…….Unfortunately it was really too light a line for a coaster and several weeks later it sprang back and broke my wrist

 

[LittleSister]

Unlike my experience many years ago. Rafted up outside a French fishing boat with full friendly agreement of the said boat and under the direction of the harbour master. 0330 we woke to find ourselves drifting across the harbour. They’d just upped and gone and let us go. They also nicked a fender and a nice mooring line.

I've had sort of the reverse of that, as I've recounted here before. Only place we could find on one visit to Calais (on the way back from the Netherlands with adverse strong winds for days on end) was on the outside of a fishing boat. Turned out to be the filthiest, smelliest fishing boat in Christendom. I stayed up until the early hours planning the next day's nav to Brighton and getting the shipping forecast.

4.30am we are woken by the fishing boat's engine starting, and its radio comes on blaring pop music. We leap on deck, skipper's girlfriend in her nightie, to swiftly let them out, intending to go on the dock wall in their place until our intended departure a few hours later. The fishing boat crew ignore us, say nothing, get off the boat and walk up the quay. We assume they will be back immediately, but no. Ten or fifteen minutes later we are still standing there ropes at the ready, now very cold, bathed in engine fumes in addition to the stench of putrid fish, and our nerves frayed by the mismatch between our bleary state and the loud upbeat Europop. We retreat below to sit and wait, a bit quieter and warmer, but just as smelly. At long last the fishing boat's engine revs up. The crew have returned, we dash on deck again, let them out, they continue to avoid eye contact or any other acknowledgement of our existence.

I can't now remember for sure, but I think we may have by that time given up on going back to bed, had some breakfast and set off early for Brighton. Our tiredness made even tougher a nerve-wracking trip. Despite the harbourmaster having cleared our departure, we had to 'breathe in' when we alarmingly encountered an incoming ferry at a narrow section of our route out of the harbour; the forecast 'occasional fog patches' turned into thick fog all the way across the shipping lanes (we had no radar - scary!) and to a within a few hundred metres off Brighton; and to cap it all discovered that, despite one of the remaining three of us's sole responsibility aboard being provisions, we had left just some chicken, a tin of beans, and insufficient water for drinking and tea, let alone washing or cooking. That crossing was one of my least pleasant trips ever (though we had had a magical time on the trip previously), and it was a blessed relief to get into Brighton, relax at last, quench our thirst and catch up on some sleep.

 

[benjenbav]

I've had sort of the reverse of that, as I've recounted here before. Only place we could find on one visit to Calais (on the way back from the Netherlands with adverse strong winds for days on end) was on the outside of a fishing boat. Turned out to be the filthiest, smelliest fishing boat in Christendom. I stayed up until the early hours planning the next day's nav to Brighton and getting the shipping forecast.

4.30am we are woken by the fishing boat's engine starting, and its radio comes on blaring pop music. We leap on deck, skipper's girlfriend in her nightie, to swiftly let them out, intending to go on the dock wall in their place until our intended departure a few hours later. The fishing boat crew ignore us, say nothing, get off the boat and walk up the quay. We assume they will be back immediately, but no. Ten or fifteen minutes later we are still standing there ropes at the ready, now very cold, bathed in engine fumes in addition to the stench of putrid fish, and our nerves frayed by the mismatch between our bleary state and the loud upbeat Europop. We retreat below to sit and wait, a bit quieter and warmer, but just as smelly. At long last the fishing boat's engine revs up. The crew have returned, we dash on deck again, let them out, they continue to avoid eye contact or any other acknowledgement of our existence.

I can't now remember for sure, but I think we may have by that time given up on going back to bed, had some breakfast and set off early for Brighton. Our tiredness made even tougher a nerve-wracking trip. Despite the harbourmaster having cleared our departure, we had to 'breathe in' when we alarmingly encountered an incoming ferry at a narrow section of our route out of the harbour; the forecast 'occasional fog patches' turned into thick fog all the way across the shipping lanes (we had no radar - scary!) and to a within a few hundred metres off Brighton; and to cap it all discovered that, despite one of the remaining three of us's sole responsibility aboard being provisions, we had left just some chicken, a tin of beans, and insufficient water for drinking and tea, let alone washing or cooking. That crossing was one of my least pleasant trips ever (though we had had a magical time on the trip previously), and it was a blessed relief to get into Brighton, relax at last, quench our thirst and catch up on some sleep.

Goodness …and we all do this sort of thing for pleasure?