swinging mooring

matelot said:
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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Various reasons for not wanting UNINVITED guests on my mooring, I have to maintain it, it's tight for space from neighbours and, it's in an area near the airport where people are looking to leave boats while they return to their home country.

Not unusual for people to grab any unattended one and either disappear ashore or go home. If I won't be using it for a while and someone asks and their boat is a suitable weight and length then I'm happy to let them use it.
 
matelot said:
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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Oh if only life was so simple. My thought for the day is to imagine that you can't get on to your own mooring, a force 6 wind blows and, in trying your best to get moored, you damage someone's boat in front of witnesses and you end up in my office asking why all this happened. Real consideratiuon is not using other people's property unless you're in danger of losing life. 'Get your own mooring and pay for it' is my thought for the day. This is a capitalist world. We can - and should - be considerate and even generous, but we can't be if we're not there in the first place and someone else just jumps in. That's what leads to court cases.
 
Searush said:
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.
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I like your style Searush. You sound like a gentleman to me. I'll raise a glass to you after I finish work on my Colvic 20 which is now in the eastern Med.
 
In Chichester it's a byelaw that one should not leave a boat unattended on someone elses' mooring.

I occasionally pick up a mooring in deep water waiting for the tide at my mooring or at another part of the harbour; if looking for a 'spare' mooring I'd definitely go for one without a tender, never ever one with; better still, if no pickup buoy in a place they are standard that's a good clue one is not going to inconvenience anyone, or indeed be disturbed.

It's always worth a look at the chain and shackles on such a mooring, I've picked up ones in popular expensive areas and found the gear worn / rusted to the size of a watch chain !

If I found a boat left on my mooring I'd put fenders and lines out, swap the chain to my boat ( and padlock it as usual ) and probably feel I had to stay even if work in the morning; if no-one turned up on the Monday I'd move the offending boat, securing it well, then I luckily know spare and visitors moorings nearby.

It would have to be a matter of judgement whether to call the Coastguard if no-one turned up by late Sunday night, pretty sure I would; there is always the chance some poor skipper has nipped ashore for a pint and turned their dinghy over...

In 34 years with swinging moorings in various harbours I have never had this problem.
 
We had a swing mooring for a while and there was never anyone on it when we came back. If ever we picked up a mooring we never left the boat.
 
we only have swinging moorings here

spare ones are like hens teeth

and prob non existent now the crown have had their purge

no pontoons or anywhere to go alongside

even anchoring is a bit of a problem

bottom drops away really sharply

i'm fairly new to this and just wasnt sure of the etty ket :)
 
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Used to have a swinging mooring in Southampton. Never found anyone on it at the end of the day, but occasionally there would be a small mobo or dinghy using it for fishing during the day. They always moved off when asked - but I would caution you to be friendly and polite when asking them to move! We always started by asking them if they'd caught anything and then "sorry, got to ask you to move". Always mindful that once you leave the boat it is vulnerable, particularly if you were offhand with the locals.

Rob.

P.S. I found it helped to stop them coming back if I pointed out that the yard next door was a sewage farm!
 
We found a Cornish Crabber on our mooring once after a day sail. They started to move but told us they were waiting for the tide to get over the sill at the marina. So we said they could wait there. We tidied up and left them hanging on our boat - it seemed the neighbouly thing to do.

Next time we visited our boat, there were large dark scuffs along the boat where they'd been - looked like their rubbing strake had rubbed. Took the shine off our being friendly as well as our recently repainted hull!

I can't say I was vastly pleased.
 
Robwhelton said:
Blimey, next thing you'll be telling me you lock your front door, and take the keys out of the ignition of your car :O
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Maybe it's me, but it always struck me as daft to leave ones' pride and joy secured by just a looped chain over a cleat, so I've always padlocked her, obviously it's very easy to do and should deter casual yobs, if the deep soft mud and fair distance out doesn't get them first.

A couple of years ago a boat on moorings fairly near ( but a lot more accessible, also a scruffy boat, which seems to attract vermin ) was broken into, vandalised then set adrift; she went into a concrete bridge and was lucky not to be dismasted or sunk...
 
VicMallows said:
What is? ..... leaving your dinghy on your own mooring?.
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the original post was:

claymore said:
Doesn't leaving your tender on the mooring prevent people mooring to your buoy?
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to which the reply was:

GrahamM376 said:
That's the general idea
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and whilst you may have no alternative but to leave a dinghy I think that doing so just to prevent someone using your mooring is a miserable idea. Ranks with tying your dinghy alongside when on a pontoon to try and avoid rafting.

And oddly enough that sort of mean minded behaviour is far more common in the UK and particularly the south coast that it is in europe. With a bit of an exemption for sailors on the east coast
 
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Matelot,

I've been on the South Coast a fair while, and I can't remember anyone using a rigid dinghy 'just to reserve their mooring', it's not the sort of thing one keeps handy about ones' person !

I leave my rigid dinghy on the mooring, as I sure ain't gonna tow it, a mugs' game and I have an inflatable stowed away.

In fact if off on holiday I get a lift out and leave my rigid tender ashore, so it's less vulnerable and knowing my holiday timing won't get filled with rain !

The only time I've seen a dinghy used as a reservation device is prats rafted out who deliberately put their inflatable alongside to prevent people going there.

I think this is despicable, and have been known to barge such dinghies out of the way; not just a South Coast thing though, I've seen this occasionally in the Channel Isles & France.
 
Isn't amazing what one can learn on this forum? In all my years of having (various) boats on swinging moorings, I can honestly say that it has never occurred to me to padlock the boat to the mooring. And I'm not going to start now.:D
 
NormanS said:
Isn't amazing what one can learn on this forum? In all my years of having (various) boats on swinging moorings, I can honestly say that it has never occurred to me to padlock the boat to the mooring. And I'm not going to start now.:D
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I certainly lock my dinghy during summer months, both to the mooring and the local pontoon. It's not a case of theft (near zero value) .... but the 'messing-around' by local youth. Not nice when tide going out fast and 'borrowed' dinghy not where you were expecting it to be.
 
Isn't amazing what one can learn on this forum? In all my years of having (various) boats on swinging moorings, I can honestly say that it has never occurred to me to padlock the boat to the mooring. And I'm not going to start now.
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+1 and thats in 25+ years nor are any of the any around us padlocked.Seems a futile gesture as anyone who is intent on stealing your boat will likely come with equipment and its not but a minute to cut through lock/chain .

We have the max weight( exaggerated) and length written on the buoy as well as our mobile number.
 
akyaka said:
+1 and thats in 25+ years nor are any of the any around us padlocked.Seems a futile gesture as anyone who is intent on stealing your boat will likely come with equipment and its not but a minute to cut through lock/chain .

We have the max weight( exaggerated) and length written on the buoy as well as our mobile number.
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I wouldn't exaggerate the maximum weight and length! You might come back and find something huge on your mooring
 
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