swinging mooring

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spycatcher

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Kyles of Bute
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Hi, I just bought swinging mooring and wondered what others do when they go out for the day and come back to find a strange and deserted boat on their mooring.

Its never happened to me but i just wondered what others would do in the situation

cheers
 
not many solutions

I think with swinging moorings it’s a good idea to mark your mooring with your boat name and private on the pickup buoy also if the occupants are on the boat politely ask them to find another mooring, it would be tempting to relieve their boat of the line that is holding it in place, but that can bring its own problems.
 
Anybody who leaves their boat unattended on a borrowed mooring is taking a big risk. The visitor would have no idea of the state of the mooring, whether it could hold their boat, or when its owner was likely to return.

For that reason I don't think it's a big problem.

I suppose in the short term you could raft up to the visitor, if your mooring could handle it, and then make enquiries to find the owner.
 
It's bad form to borrow a mooring & leave the boat & shouldn't happen that often. In places where it may, people often leave the dinghy on the mooring to indicate that they will be back. If planning to be away for a few days, most people will want the dink with them, altho there is no reason why you might not have 2 dinks, a hard one to get to the mooring & a folded inflatable for when cruising.

Anyway, you come back & there is an unmanned boat on your mooring; go alongside with fenders & set up springs & warps. Then set up a temporary strop while you transfer the mooring strop to your boat & remove the temporary one. Make sure it is easy for the visitor to cast off your lines & throw them aboard as he leaves. You can then safely leave your own boat & the visitor will have no problems when he returns.

If the visitor returns before you leave, he should be suitably apologetic & embarrassed, a gentleman will open a bottle & offer you a glass or two.
 
spycatcher said:
Hi, I just bought swinging mooring and wondered what others do when they go out for the day and come back to find a strange and deserted boat on their mooring.

Its never happened to me but i just wondered what others would do in the situation

cheers
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I put my boat elsewhere, and when the intruder was still there a few days later, and my boat was in someone's way, I towed the worm away and left him across the Straits on someone else's mooring.
I am not suggesting this is a good thing to do, but I never saw the boat again.
 
spycatcher said:
Hi, I just bought swinging mooring and wondered what others do when they go out for the day and come back to find a strange and deserted boat on their mooring.

Its never happened to me but i just wondered what others would do in the situation

cheers
Click to expand...


Its never happened to me but I do usually leave my tender on the mooring.

As its a yard mooring, if it did happen, I would pick up another nearby ( with luck I'd know or be able to identify one one not being used) and phone the yard owner next day
 
Robwhelton said:
Anybody who leaves their boat unattended on a borrowed mooring is taking a big risk. The visitor would have no idea of the state of the mooring, whether it could hold their boat, or when its owner was likely to return.

For that reason I don't think it's a big problem.

I suppose in the short term you could raft up to the visitor, if your mooring could handle it, and then make enquiries to find the owner.
Click to expand...

Well said and good points.

I have never known this to happen where I am. Interesting points.
 
Swing mooring interlopers

Well around here it is against the law to just pick up a vacant mooring although I guess we all do it for a picnic. I came back to my mooring a few years back to find a mobo attached and a party on board in progress. (despite dinghy attached) a bit of yelling and a bombing run under sail and they got the idea and moved.
If the boat had been abandoned on my mooring I would call the authorities to tow it away to one of their emergency moorings. Thats what I pay 300 squid a year for. The rights to my spot in the water.
Just this week a friend had a mobo left on his mooring which he doesn't actually use. During the night a wild storm and the rope chafed through and the mobo ended up on the beach. Turned out the owner had got permission form the son in law of the owner without telling the owner. So lots of miss communication.
olewill
 
Thanks for all the suggestions

they just had purge on unregistered moorings in my neck of the woods and i have a feeling there may be a bit of a scramble at the beginning of next season :)
 
spycatcher said:
Hi, I just bought swinging mooring and wondered what others do when they go out for the day and come back to find a strange and deserted boat on their mooring.

Its never happened to me but i just wondered what others would do in the situation

cheers
Click to expand...

Under UK maritime law - and I believe EU law - you have the right to recover your property; just as on land. That means you can untie the stranger's boat and tie yours up to your mooring. BUT you don't have the right to set an abandoned boat adrift. So that means you must tie the stranger's boat to something. And that something is probably your boat. I hope that helps. Besides getting my hands dirty on boats I have also practised law for more years than I care to remember.
 
claymore said:
Doesn't leaving your tender on the mooring prevent people mooring to your buoy?
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Or if you are away for a while, take it with you?
IMG_0391.jpg
 
GrahamM376 said:
That's the general idea
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And its a bit of a miserable idea. I dont mind people using my mooring whilst I'm away. I did the same in France once, the chap came back whilst we were having dinner, stopped momentarily alongside to tell us it was his mooring and he would be happy to pick up another til morning when we would have finished our meal and had a nights sleep. He was French.

We are here on this planet to help each other and be pleasant not to be a mean minded old scrote ( not the quoted Graham) like many on here. Thats my thought for the day. :)
 
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