sailing on the mooring

[oldsaltyfish]

Just enquiring if anyone has any ideas to reduce sailing about on the mooring. I have a yacht with a lot of windage, which does not help and in winds especially above 45knots it can be pretty spectacular to watch her sailing up onto the mooring then drop back broadside to the wind then start the prccess again. It has been sugested that lowering the mooring line closer to the water line may help and also attaching the lines midships and then leading them through the bow cleats may help. Does anyone have any practical experience with thes ideas

 

[bristoljim]

Try mooring by the stern,I have found it stops sailing about at anchor.

Cheers jim

 

[Poignard]

A bucket on a line over the stern sometimes helps

 

[alteredoutlook]

Try a riding sail - a very small sail pulled up the back stay. You often sea fishing boats with a solid sail/flag mounted on the aft end of the boat. This helps keep the boat facing into the wind. (You of course may have tidal flows which may mean the boat hangs to the tide rather than the wind......)

 

[charles_reed]

Just enquiring if anyone has any ideas to reduce sailing about on the mooring. I have a yacht with a lot of windage, which does not help and in winds especially above 45knots it can be pretty spectacular to watch her sailing up onto the mooring then drop back broadside to the wind then start the prccess again. It has been sugested that lowering the mooring line closer to the water line may help and also attaching the lines midships and then leading them through the bow cleats may help. Does anyone have any practical experience with thes ideas

My boat had exactly the same problem, but at anchor. The result was that she frequently moved the anchor resulting in a drag.

The answer was to use a length (between 3 -10m) of textile rode on a chain link, from this hang a bight of anchor chain up to the depth of water (so that the bight touches the bottom).
The result has been that in about 600 anchorings in the past 5 years I've had two drags, one with a towel on the anchor-point, the other and old bight of rope. Additionally the boat lies quietly at anchor an never comes up short in any wind.
The benefits are numerous and I would hesitate to pick out any one that is the most important:- the angle of chain from anchor to mooring point is reduced - the nylon rode gives far more hysteresis, than that provided by the chain catenary - the bight trailing on the bottom damps the boat movement.

 

[Ric]

How are you attaching to the mooring? If you have the line going over the bow roller then you will slew about as described. Best to have two lines, one attached to each cleat and lead through the bow fairleads.

I found also that the problem was reduced when I fitted a Rutland on a pole at the stern.

 

[sarabande]

some previous discussion on the forum about V-twin sails, which are found to be very effective.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?341833-Anchoring-In-the-21st-century&highlight=riding

 

[johnalison]

Quite a lot of windage can come from a furled genoa. Removing the sail should help.

 

[alant]

Just enquiring if anyone has any ideas to reduce sailing about on the mooring. I have a yacht with a lot of windage, which does not help and in winds especially above 45knots it can be pretty spectacular to watch her sailing up onto the mooring then drop back broadside to the wind then start the prccess again. It has been sugested that lowering the mooring line closer to the water line may help and also attaching the lines midships and then leading them through the bow cleats may help. Does anyone have any practical experience with thes ideas

How much room, between you & other boats/moorings?

If enough, to swing easily, then the tip about stern to mooring by Bristoljim, will make it easier (if you are sure it weathercocks away from the wind). Any tide/current, will normally have a much greater effect of course, but stern to does work. You can have a line from the bow (outside) to the stern, so that when attached to your mooring, you can swing back on it. The trick, is not to allow the mooring to run under the boat.
Stern to, I used effectively on a commercial job in the Baltic, when it was much to dodgy to allow a crewman to climb forward onto a small foredeck, with chance that he could get pulled in. Our stern deck (open back workboat), made it much safer + allowed me to assist.