Tie up your boat - MBY video

If you want to be ready for a quick getaway, use separate lines from each boat cleat and thread them through the pontoon cleats and secure them back to the boat cleats.
 
rafiki_ said:
With 15 boats rafted up, there are several potential situations when a rapid release might be needed.
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Ah, unusual circumstances do call for unusual tactics. At least, I assume that is not the norm for you and justifies the skipper's insistence.
 
With modern rope materials I always use locking turns. It has nothing to with securing the boat at that moment, for which Oxxo is fine. It is to stop the thing being interfered with. There might be people cleaning the boat all week or whatever, and the locked hitch tends to make them not touch the thing whereas the last O in oxxo, which will always be very loose, might get moved by a cleaner or child who thinks the rope is just wound around ( which it is)'and would look tidier put away, etc. So I'm oxx-lock, generally. I totally don't buy the quick getaway angle.

BYW, I wouldn't accept being failed by an RYA yacht master examiner on this point if, theoretically, that were to happen. Examiners are not gods and do not have that level of discretion. Entirely theoretical point I think.
 
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Leighb said:
...you have obviously not encountered the very shiny and elegant looking cleats that Storebro fitted in the late 70s. Almost any type of fastening will slip on these under load especially if it is variable.
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I'm struggling to get head around this but if I did encounter such booby trap cleats I'd chuck them out. That very nice/knowledgeable/ experienced guy saying oxxo in the video, Jon Mendez- his boat is a storebro like the one in your avatar, isn't it?
 
jfm said:
With modern rope materials I always use locking turns. It has nothing to with securing the boat at that moment, for which Oxxo is fine. It is to stop the thing being interfered with. There might be people cleaning the boat all week or whatever, and the locked hitch tends to make them not touch the thing whereas the last O in oxxo, which will always be very loose, might get moved by a cleaner or child who thinks the rope is just wound around ( which it is)'and would look tidier put away, etc. So I'm oxx-lock, generally. I totally don't buy the quick getaway angle.

BYW, I wouldn't accept being failed by an RYA yacht master examiner on this point if, theoretically, that were to happen. Examiners are not gods and do not have that level of discretion. Entirely theoretical point I think.
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I don't think you read my post properly? I said whilst I would NEVER fail someone merely for using locking turns but I don't think its best practice and not the best example of seamanship. How many boats have you heard of 'being let go' by the fiddling fingers of a passing person? In my few years at sea and in smallish boats, the number (compared to the number left alone) tiny. I've been let go (while I'm asleep) by french fishermen but the times that I've heard of lines being let go are vanishingly small.

YM Examiners are certainly not gods and I merely have to make a judgement about whether something is safe and seamanlike and competent enough to the standard required. The way I would do things on my own boat is almost irrelevant.

I still think that locking turns on big boats are the work of the devil and unnecessary, but if you think otherwise, we will have to agree to differ.
 
Why would you say the work of the devil? Personally when I have used a locking turn I have not ever felt thwarted in loosening it, quickly too. I sometimes wonder if too much store is placed on tradition and past practise without full comprehension. Despite being into the 3rd page of this topic there has only been one credible answer as to why not and that would prove the modern practise redundant
 
ari said:
Do you know why you think this?
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Because they can lock up when a large boat jiggles against the mooring warp. I've ended up having to cut a mooring line off a cleat. You only do it once...

I suppose you could just add more figure of eights first, but people get lulled into a sense of security.

99.9% of the time I guess that people get away with it, but no locking turns on big boats was drilled into me a long time ago.

Edit - perhaps I was over egging it a bit when I say they're the work of the devil. I still don't like their use on big boats though...
 
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Ok, big is a relative term. I'm just little at 8 tons dry and boy does my boat jiggle in the Conwy estuary. 4+knt currents that cause the mooring warps to sing, winds, and wakes from the wake boarders and marina crowds who cant see sense, and when the North wind blows we can get standing waves. Still never had a problem and at 99% of the time getting away with it you'd think I'd have had to cut a rope by now on sheer statistics. By big I presume much bigger than the vessel in the video. By inference that would then be classed as a dingy :D
 
I generally go with oxx-lock.
It can get a bit blowy, so I'd rather run the risk of cutting a line off (which has never happened).

.
 
Talk of quick getaways reminds me of an afternoon when I was fixing things on the foredeck, from which vantage point I was privileged to watch a group of youngsters run down the pontoon, sling their bags on board, slip lines and get underway all at lightning speed. They really were 'driving it like they stole it'. Sadly they forgot the orange power cable, which somewhat checked their progress before parting. Laugh? I nearly dropped another spanner in the briny... :encouragement:
 
To be honest I do OOXXlock. The extra zero is to prevent slipping. I will be sure to report back if the locking turn needs cutting off. By the way, the proper way to moor up is to return the lines to the boat. This is the prevent the (very real) possibility that a crew person slips while trying to reboard after releasing the lines.
 
Bouba said:
By the way, the proper way to moor up is to return the lines to the boat. This is the prevent the (very real) possibility that a crew person slips while trying to reboard after releasing the lines.
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I may have misunderstood this but, whilst I'd rig slip lines when preparing to leave i wouldn't leave then set up like I think you are describing for a longer term as I feel that it is encouraging wear on a mid-point in the line, each to their own of course.

Or was 'The proper way' intended as ironically pompous?
 
john_morris_uk said:
Because they can lock up when a large boat jiggles against the mooring warp. I've ended up having to cut a mooring line off a cleat. You only do it once...
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How was the line otherwise secured other than the locking turn? If the boat jiggles against the warp and the locking turn gets tighter it seems that there must be undue force reaching that turn that you'd otherwise expect to have been taken by the other turns (OXX or OOXX etc), as it must still be slipping. If the line was otherwise secured well it may be the case that the locking turn saved the boat
 
sorabain said:
How was the line otherwise secured other than the locking turn? If the boat jiggles against the warp and the locking turn gets tighter it seems that there must be undue force reaching that turn that you'd otherwise expect to have been taken by the other turns (OXX or OOXX etc), as it must still be slipping. If the line was otherwise secured well it may be the case that the locking turn saved the boat
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I think you're right that the locking turn may have saved the boat, but that\'s a poor excuse for not using the cleat properly in the first place.

088 or 08880 doesn't move. If the line is tending to slip, then might I respectfully suggest that you are using the wrong sort of mooring lines? The strain SHOULD be taken by the first turn round the cleat and by the first or second figure of eights.

If people wish to use locking turns, then its a free world, but please don't try and sell them as 'best practice seamanship' on large boats.
 
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