Singlehanded Mooring

[alant]

My wife has broken her leg which leaves me & the kids (9 & 11) grabbing a few weekends with no "Mummy" to take the lines ashore when we get into a marina berth.
I can always ask the marina staff if someone is available to help with lines, but any working tips from old hands would be appreciated.
The kids are excellent as well, but probably not strong enough to hold the boat against any sort of breeze.

If the wind is moving you sideways & you get pushed off 'your' pontoon, don't fight it, moor onto the boat/pontoon alongside your berth (same slot of course) that your getting pushed onto & then pass your lines onto the cleats of your pontoon & pull over/alongside. If your fendered OK, everyone should be happy.

 

[YachtAllegro]

Involving the kids is great, but you do need to be confident that you can actually handle the manouver yourself for this not to be stressful. I'm not sure its sounds as if the OP is.

I'd go along with everything that's been said above - but, I'd take the boat out myself, on my own, for an afternoon first and just practice mooring singlehanded until I was confident. If you've always had someone jumping off with your mooring lines you might be suprised at how unneccesary they are once you've tried it on your own a few times. Stop the boat with the engine in the right place. Unless there's a really strong wind or current, its not going to go anywhere significant in the 30 seconds it will take you to step off and pop two lines onto cleats.

Once you've the confidence that you can actually do it yourself, come back and enjoy involving the kids in it, safe in the knowledge that you can do it without them if necessary.

Cheers
Patrick

 

[ffiill]

If it does go wrong dont worry because it happens to the best.
Someone I know in his youth in the Royal Navy crewed on a Royal Navy Auxiliary which was heading for Rothesay Pier.
He was up in the bow ready to do the bow warp as the boat swung round to come along side BUT the boat didnt turn as the chain operated steering jammed.
He ran for it leaving the boat to shorten its bow and put a dent in Rothesay pier!

 

[hawkesbaynz]

Tip I picked up from (I think)Tom Cunliffes article in YM was, after the crew has made fast from the midsheet cleet, to pass a bowlined stern warp over to the crew member on the pontoon who will place it over the pontoon cleat. Then pull the warp tight using a winch. Works for me my wife. Then shecan go forward and OXO the bow line which will be set on the guardrail forward.

Depends on tide and wind etc of course. Some good tips here.

 

[snowleopard]

On a related matter, you will probably want to moor to a buoy from time to time. The main problem, as with marina berthing is to avoid the sprint to the foredeck as the boat drifts off. My method is to put a warp on the bow cleat and run it back to the cockpit outside everything. Bring the buoy alongside the cockpit and thread the warp through the ring or strop using your choice of threading device. Then walk forward pulling in the free end of the warp as you go, ending with the buoy secured on a short loop at the bow.

When mooring alongside I don't allow anyone to jump off the boat until it is secured and I would never ever do so myself when solo.

 

[YachtAllegro]

When mooring alongside I don't allow anyone to jump off the boat until it is secured and I would never ever do so myself when solo.

I'm intrigued. Do you mean you don't get off the boat at all until she's secured? I'd be interested to hear more about your technique - do you rely on lassooing cleats, or one of the boathook attachments... or have I misunderstood you?

Cheers
Patrick

 

[haydude]

If you have an open stern or a stern you can walk off from easily just reverse into and walk off with stern and mid warps in your hands, tie and grab the bow warp which you will have prepared hanging partially on the guard wires.

That is the procedure that I use with my Bavaria 42 Cruiser all the time, even on those rare occasions when I have crew.

 

[benjenbav]

I have used a few different techniques as most of my boating is either literally single-handed or effectively so.

In my home berth I am one of two boats between pontoon fingers and so, provided I can hit the slot, there won't be too much lateral movement even if the wind is blowing off my side. If the other boat isn't there I would normally aim to get a stern line on to the end of finger cleat or use the centre cleat and a warp with a loop at both ends (warning - remember that lines stretch under load so allow for that). Worst case I would use the downwind finger and warp across. Fender both sides always and have lines set on both sides in heavy conditions.

On an alongside pontoon I would generally aim to get the stern in close to drop a line onto a cleat, secure it and then worry about the bow. This means I can work from the cockpit until all is under control.

On a buoy, again I would work from the cockpit to pick up the marker, and walk it forwards. EDIT As mentioned above - too slow!

 

[benjenbav]

When mooring alongside I don't allow anyone to jump off the boat until it is secured and I would never ever do so myself when solo.

Hear, hear. I hate seeing dockside gymnastics. When young and foolish I thought they were a good idea until once I did one step off, a triple salko and crunch onto my collar-bone. I was left with plenty of time to reflect on my stupidity.

 

[ChattingLil]

I erected fence post on our permanent berth pontoon, next to a cleat to line up with my midships. I fixed a permanent warp here with the tail draped loosely over a hook at deck hand height. So I bring the boat in and stop - son just leans over and grabs the warp and puts it around the midships cleat. Done. then we are fixed enough to then worry about the bow and stern at our leisure. This was the only way we could manage it when he was younger at our berth because the tide can really race through and I found to be tricky at times to hold the boat still long enough for little hands to help. Twas also helpful with 'older' members of the family, or anyone less confident in moving around the deck.

 

[Tranona]

I'm intrigued. Do you mean you don't get off the boat at all until she's secured? I'd be interested to hear more about your technique - do you rely on lassooing cleats, or one of the boathook attachments... or have I misunderstood you?

Cheers
Patrick

I do the same and moor my 37 footer singlehanded. High topsides means jumping off is a bit of a lottery and trying to control 7 tons of boat standing on a pontoon tricky in anything but calm.

In home berth, always have the lines ready made up attached to the correct cleats on the pontoon. With a smaller boat such as the OPs it is quite easy to pick up the lines with a boat hook or something like a moorfast. I have my lines hanging on a pole at the end of the finger, so just walk forward, dropping the centre cleat line on first, hooking the stern line on a winch and then going forward to pick up the bow lines from the pontoon. When all secure, step off.

Entering another berth the method suggested by others of getting a line ashore from the mid cleat is the ideal strategy, but you have to suss out the order of other lines beforehand depending on wind and tide. Hooking a line over a cleat is usually reliable, rings can be a bit more tricky, but again something like a moorfast helps.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

I do the bowline big loop trick with the middle cleat as well ... a very big loop but if I'm not able to get close enough or there's tide I have a little plastic clip which fits on my extending boathook and holds the loop wide open ... big help. - Force Four about a tenner.

edit: looked it up ... it's called a Dock-a-Reni clip (yes really) ... and they now charge £11.95 for it ... last year it was a tenner but I've noticed that they regularly 'reprice' old stock!

 

[duartemarine]

Single Handed Mooring System

We offer a patented single handed mooring system. You can see videos as to how it works at http://www.duartemarine.com

It will work on any existing mooring without retro fitting and allows you to moor without leaving the cockpit.

Cheers

 

[Sybarite]

My wife has broken her leg which leaves me & the kids (9 & 11) grabbing a few weekends with no "Mummy" to take the lines ashore when we get into a marina berth.
I can always ask the marina staff if someone is available to help with lines, but any working tips from old hands would be appreciated.
The kids are excellent as well, but probably not strong enough to hold the boat against any sort of breeze.

It's when you have to do it under sail that it becomes a bit more tricky!

PS I once watched the crew of a Requin (a bit like a Dragon) tack up to the inside berth in a marina at La Trinité sur Mer, ie. a tack every 10/15m.

 

[jonjo]

I have reversed up to a mooring buoy when single handled, tied up stern-to for a few minutes, then pivoted the hull around on a long bow to buoy line. It works at 35ft 6 tons with no current running. Not exactly the mooring situation in the OP.

 

[eastlaked]

Loop on a stick variation

I use the mid ship fairlead / cleat to a primary winch trick too. But I was hopeless at throwing the loop over the cleat, and my finger pontoon is very short, so I only get one attempt, my solution is:

The warp goes though a 4 foot length of plastic pipe and has a bowline loop. This means I can pull the knot of the bowline tight to the far end of the pipe and it becomes a loop on a stick. The other end goes through the midship fairlead and back to the primary winch.

The pipe is long enough to reach low pontoons and easily hook the loop over the cleat, but short enough it doesn't get in the way.

More importantly when I take the slack out by pulling on the primary winch, the pipe is "right" length so the distance from midships fairlead to pontoon cleat (the length of the pipe) means the bow is about 1 foot off the main pontoon.

I further refined it by putting 18 inches of hose on the loop bit of the bowline to keep the loop open.

It works for leaving the berth too, hold until ready, power off so its not loaded, then unhook. No risk of a doubled up rope jamming or the end dropping in the water and catching the prop.

All from the DIY store / marina skip / garage. As its all plastic no damage to top sides. I used 18mm (aprox) wiring conduit plastic pipe as it was stiffer than plumbing plastic pipe.

David.

 

[Me_has_a_Boat]

As kid I used to be principal foredeck crew, started younger than your 11 yo mind - and took me a few years to train the idjut behind the wheel .

Really the secret is what you do behind the wheel, whether the foredeck crew is 11 or 50 if you need to use brute force and ignorance (useful though that is sometimes! to compensate for helmsman error) then all you need to do is try again. a Decent fender or two also helps, for confidence if nothing else. The kid is as able as anyone else to either step ashore with a line (no leaps should be needed) or pick up a line from the dock as anyone else, albeit IMO most use of foredeck crew is as eyes to give you (hand signal) indication of distances and suggestions on speed / helming, or at least confirmation of what you already think (plus early warning / confirmation that things are going badly!).

What might be worth doing (when fully crewed) is to practice being foredeck crew yourself so you understand first hand what can and can't be done - and what would be useful (to you) to be communicated back to the Skipper (doesn't always need to shouted between foredeck and cockpit - often plenty of time to simply walk back from the foredeck for a conflab! before returning).

But the real secret is simply practice, practice, practice - and having Skipper and Crew having confidence in each other (and a good understanding of each others capabilities and likely actions).

 

[VicS]

My wife has broken her leg which leaves me & the kids (9 & 11) grabbing a few weekends with no "Mummy" to take the lines ashore when we get into a marina berth.

Dont get caught by someone like the old fool I moored alongside some years ago when my son was quite young.

We got everything ready as we approached. Warps on cleats, fenders dangling over the side etc.

It was actually a club rally so were berthing with people I knew and there were plenty about to take lines etc.

I sent my son onto the foredeck with instructions to hand the warp across as soon as he could without reaching.

Perfect approach, came along side nicely. My son tried to hand the warp across as instructed.

Silly old bugger on the other boat would not take it because he had not heard me give the instruction to my son to pass it across!

 

[NigelCraig]

Looks like an old thread but really useful stuff. The one thing that I really dread single handed is coming onto a harbour wall especially at low tide where the rings are a long way above! Thinking of Poole town quay or Lyme Regis harbour.

 

[Viking]

I let my young kids, Boy & girl, handle the boat ayacht, when they were 10 & 11. Years laster (20 or so) my son thanked me for trusting him, at that age, with 'my pride and joy'!