Single Handed Mooring a Leader 805 vs Targa 29 vs Leader 30s

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I frequently take my Trader 47 out solo and usually manage both bow to and stern to without too much drama, unless there is a strong cross breeze blowing her off the pontoon. (She has a lot of windage with her height).
My approach has been to have two long mooring lines, one from the bow, one from the stern that meet by the cabin door and side steps off the boat.
I also have a 3rd mooring line from the amidships cleat hanging over the guardrail.

If I'm mooring bow to, I step off the side deck ladder, attach the amidships line to stop the boat drifting forwards, go to the stern and attach the stern line, then go forward, picking up the bowline as I go past and attach that.. Generally works fine..
I have a bow thruster (No stern thruster) and I later added a cheap remote control to the bow thruster which is one of the best 15 quids I've ever spent. So when I have attached the stern line and amidships line (or I've forgotten to attach the amidships line), if the bow is starting to blow off the pontoon, a quick stab of the remote and it brings the bow back in so I can put a decent bow line on.

Worst case scenario, if it starts getting squally (which it often does in NI) or things don't go to plan, I radio the marina and someone comes down to grab lines.

No major disasters yet, and I've had one occasion where one engine stalled and wouldn't restart and still managed to get in with just a bit of raised heart rate.
If you do it slowly and everything is planned and ready to go before you enter the marina, it's rarely too much drama.
 
Elessar said:
There is no such directive. I am an instructor (though my ticket has run out) and I don’t let anyone off the boat until we’re tied up. It’s how I teach it.
Leaping is a terrible way to stop a boat. Yet I see it taught that way all the time.
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Agree .
Leaping off is something I never advise or ask a crew to do .There’s no need , boat hooks mean you can recover existing lines and lasso .
Once one lines on , and the boats not moving appreciable, then the helm can instruct a person to go ashore to finish up .

The problem with self leapers the way i see it it will one day end up in disaster.Newbies or indeed experienced are not helming and there hands or more like minds not on the throttles .
Eg there’s a ledge often seen many Med ports , and the stern person shouts “ forwards a meter “ ( boats drifting back ) ….just a a self proclaimed leaped decides to jump off …..the jerk of the fwd unbalances them .
Not necessarily they go in , they smack there head , unbalanced remember from the jolt and render them self unconscious.
Terrible if they end up in .

Stern too at the Med , I don’t want “ self leapers “ Jumping off the passerelle or lining up a jump as I am try not to smack to stern .

Every one stays on board until the boats settled and ideally engines off or sat in N with nobody at the helm .

Additionally , most Med berths if Windy you VHF help a rib guy comes out and help turn if it’s bowing .Also assists with the bow lines .They get it ready to hand up to the bow person , or you if by yourself .

2D643AA3-22F4-46E5-9697-66BB62A007AB.jpeg
So theses are visiting berth s .The rib guys getting to bow ( lazy line ) ready , he is hand pulling it through.It’s sinks out of the way of the incoming boat .BTW
He will keep hold of it .
Newbie incoming guest will spin it and back in .Two other guys will stand at the dock cleats ready to receive the thrown
line from a person .Once that’s loosely attached by the dock guy , the person will go to the bow and grab the bow line off the waiting guy in the red rib , whose come back in to the bow .Tie it off , then go back to the stern to throw the second line .Done .
It will need a second bow line ( see my boat in the background) the person will use his boat hook and the dock guy will lift it a bit by hand so it can be hooked .This person will then walk this line to the bow .

Engines off.

Next stage is by loosening and tightening either end adjustment of the final set for the passerelle length ……Then STEP ashore .
No leaping.

If there’s no help .
Busy as it is the berth tends to be someone else’s ( they are away and notified there marina office ) so you hook there stern lines which will be on the dock and temporarily use them .After it’s secure , bow + stern switch the hosts for yours ….so you can slip them off next morning .It bad etiquette to use the host lines , but I think it s ok if you are single handed or what ever to temporarily hook one until you are secure .
Any one watching sees you swop them for you own later and neatly coil the hosts .
 
Portofino said:
Agree .
Leaping off is something I never advise or ask a crew to do .There’s no need , boat hooks mean you can recover existing lines and lasso .
Once one lines on , and the boats not moving appreciable, then the helm can instruct a person to go ashore to finish up .

The problem with self leapers the way i see it it will one day end up in disaster.Newbies or indeed experienced are not helming and there hands or more like minds not on the throttles .
Eg there’s a ledge often seen many Med ports , and the stern person shouts “ forwards a meter “ ( boats drifting back ) ….just a a self proclaimed leaped decides to jump off …..the jerk of the fwd unbalances them .
Not necessarily they go in , they smack there head , unbalanced remember from the jolt and render them self unconscious.
Terrible if they end up in .

Stern too at the Med , I don’t want “ self leapers “ Jumping off the passerelle or lining up a jump as I am try not to smack to stern .

Every one stays on board until the boats settled and ideally engines off or sat in N with nobody at the helm .

Additionally , most Med berths if Windy you VHF help a rib guy comes out and help turn if it’s bowing .Also assists with the bow lines .They get it ready to hand up to the bow person , or you if by yourself .

View attachment 142804
So theses are visiting berth s .The rib guys getting to bow ( lazy line ) ready , he is hand pulling it through.It’s sinks out of the way of the incoming boat .BTW
He will keep hold of it .
Newbie incoming guest will spin it and back in .Two other guys will stand at the dock cleats ready to receive the thrown
line from a person .Once that’s loosely attached by the dock guy , the person will go to the bow and grab the bow line off the waiting guy in the red rib , whose come back in to the bow .Tie it off , then go back to the stern to throw the second line .Done .
It will need a second bow line ( see my boat in the background) the person will use his boat hook and the dock guy will lift it a bit by hand so it can be hooked .This person will then walk this line to the bow .

Engines off.

Next stage is by loosening and tightening either end adjustment of the final set for the passerelle length ……Then STEP ashore .
No leaping.

If there’s no help .
Busy as it is the berth tends to be someone else’s ( they are away and notified there marina office ) so you hook there stern lines which will be on the dock and temporarily use them .After it’s secure , bow + stern switch the hosts for yours ….so you can slip them off next morning .It bad etiquette to use the host lines , but I think it s ok if you are single handed or what ever to temporarily hook one until you are secure .
Any one watching sees you swop them for you own later and neatly coil the hosts .
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I took Maia single handed into a mooring in Antibes. I had no help and I had forward gear on both engines and reverse only on one.

To add to the pressure it was only two berths away from JFMs boat and I didn’t want to hit that!

I simply took a line from a mid cleat and made fast to a mid cleat on one of the adjacent boats.

I then had as much time as I wanted to set the bow lines etc.

In all single handed mooring where ever it is the principle is the same - tie up temporarily then sort yourself out.

If being blown off a floating pontoon that may be temporarily alongside your neighbour rather than the pontoon. There is no shame or harm in this if properly fendered.
 
Raggie here - 42’ so quite high topsides. We’re quite new to the boat and don’t have the skills among us/crew for lassoing cleats (or maybe we need a new system for this?).

So instead I brief the crew that, as helm, I’ll aim to put amidships alongside the pontoon so that someone can step off with the lines. I make it clear that ‘no leaping’ is allowed/required. If I get it wrong, we go out try again or lay up alongside whatever’s next door and rope in.

Not speaking from experience, more to say that lassoing can seem equally sketchy (especially with a single engine, high topsides, unfamiliar crew). Not sure how we’d get on if the aim was to tie up fully before anyone stepped off?

Singlehanded I’d obviously aim to get a breast or stern line on before going anywhere.

Lots to learn and practice!
 
dankilb said:
Raggie here - 42’ so quite high topsides. We’re quite new to the boat and don’t have the skills among us/crew for lassoing cleats (or maybe we need a new system for this?).

So instead I brief the crew that, as helm, I’ll aim to put amidships alongside the pontoon so that someone can step off with the lines. I make it clear that ‘no leaping’ is allowed/required. If I get it wrong, we go out try again or lay up alongside whatever’s next door and rope in.

Not speaking from experience, more to say that lassoing can seem equally sketchy (especially with a single engine, high topsides, unfamiliar crew). Not sure how we’d get on if the aim was to tie up fully before anyone stepped off?

Singlehanded I’d obviously aim to get a breast or stern line on before going anywhere.

Lots to learn and practice!
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It takes less than five minutes to teach someone to lasso. It’s so easy. Just learn the skills.

The aim isn’t to tie up fully. It’s to get the boat under control so you can step away from the helm without her going anywhere. Then you tie up fully.
 
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Elessar said:
He’s wrong. See #24.
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Just for clarity, I do not advocate jumping off before the boat is secured,I have always tied up before allowing anyone off,but the Rya instructor my wife had ,insisted that it was best practise for one person to jump ashore and pass lines to another person on the boat.

Also, i'm not saying there is a directive etc,but this particular Rya instructor was very insistent that this was the way to do it,despite my wife questioning it a couple of times.
 
julians said:
Just for clarity, I do not advocate jumping off before the boat is secured,I have always tied up before allowing anyone off,but the Rya instructor my wife had ,insisted that it was best practise for one person to jump ashore and pass lines to another person on the boat.

Also, i'm not saying there is a directive etc,but this particular Rya instructor was very insistent that this was the way to do it,despite my wife questioning it a couple of times.
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I agree a lot of instructors, especially yacht instructors or those who learned in yachts first, teach leaping. The RYA don’t insist on it but they do teach that way.
I think the RYA should insist that they don’t.
 
Elessar said:
I agree a lot of instructors, especially yacht instructors or those who learned in yachts first, teach leaping. The RYA don’t insist on it but they do teach that way.
I think the RYA should insist that they don’t.
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Dodgy middle-aged knees combined with a leap onto a floating pontoon - possibly not entirely dry - is a recipe for an early trip to A&E.
 
My wife made a leap for the pontoon finger some years ago while I was struggling to get the boat in. Ended in the drink so two of us jumped off the boat and pulled her out. Life jacket went off and she was not hurt. Oldest daughter rolling around on the pontoon laughing her head off. However I later realised how badly it could have gone wrong.
Leaping should only be done when completely safe.
 
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