Trot moorings... what do I need to know?

[miko]

I hope to take up a trot mooring soon. Can some one enlighten me about such things as the best way to set up my mooring lines, picking up/leaving the mooring single and short handed, and generally how do you do the trot mooring thing. Any tips and advice welcome.

 

[john_morris_uk]

We have strops on each mooring bouy that are the correct length for our mooring. ie the strops plus boat length = the correct distance between the mooring bouys.

We tie them together when we leave the mooring with a semi gash lenth of line with three old fenders tied to it. When we come back, we pick up the fenders and hook ourselves back on fore and aft.

Easy peasy.

Approach into the tide and wait to pick up near the strop is best.

 

[Searush]

Hee Hee, I just took up one in Caernarfon between chain tethered bouys with a line & pick-up bouy between them. Not quite sorted it yet. Ok to pick-up, just go for the pick-up gently & walk to uptide end to make off relevant strop then off to the other end to tie that off. I use 2 strops at either end. On the bow, one is slightly shorter to take all the strain, the second is a security back up. On the stern one goes to each stern cleat.

Casting off cleanly is a bit harder as I am generally on my own (SWMBO waits on quay to avoid dinghy ride & ladder climb) Casting off one each of fore & aft strops is easy. With engine running I then release strop at "slack" end and make sure NOTHING WILL SNAG (easier to say than to do!) then release final strop & motor against tide away from that awful line of ropes! So far so good, but its difficult to get good control from a standing start in varying current & wind conditions, especially if going astern - but no doubt I'll learn.

There is very little room between all the boats, so take your time and if it doesn't feel right - go round again - just as you would for any tricky mooring situation. Keep a boat hook handy in case you get snagged on a rope I reckon the rudder is probably the most at risk.

 

[pete]

I now use a heavily weighted line between the buoys as a couple of years ago when leaving early against a strong tide the wind caught the boat and took us over the line (in the very strong current it was not heavy enough) but the rope stripper made short work of it /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif fortunately.

Pete

 

[ShipsWoofy]

This is a reply I wrote to a similar question a while back, I hope you don't mind me repeating it here

First off, you need to know how long the mooring is, mine for example is 30 ft, my previous fore and aft (trots) was 50ft.

The general idea is that your strops should be a length that will maintain the length of the fore and aft, i.e. if yours is 30ft and the boat 21ft then the strops should make up the 9ft gap. But, before you build four 4.5ft strops remember the angles to the hull and distance to the cleats and a 'little bit' so they are not bar tight creating an almost impossible pick up during strong current flow.

I would guess in the above example of 30ft fore and aft, your strops should be around 6ft long. This is a guesstimate and the beam of your boat at the stern maybe wider than I suspect, thus longer aft strops may be needed. I have 10ft strops for a 26ft boat in a 30ft trot, but my beam is 14ft.

The strops should be tied together with a light line which is long enough to go from your fore cleat, around the outside of the boat to the aft cleat on the opposite side to which you are leaving. This line should tie the pairs of strops together while still on the cleats, so that when you throw the mooring strops they release free but are tied together. In the centre of this line you should attach a pick-up buoy, which on your return will have both your fore and aft strops attached ready, lift and pull in the end opposite to your direction or current. For example this is usually the aft end, thus you pull up the aft strops first and loop them over the aft cleat stopping the boat, you can then walk forward slipping the pick-up line through your hands and you should be at the bow with your fore strops ready to go over the forward cleat.

A handy reminder to your bow man with the boat hook, do not be too quick to grab the pick-up line, if they grab it before the centre buoy you will be stopped short and end up spinning the boat and needing to abort the run. Request they stay patient and wait almost until the bow reaches the fore strops, they pick-up the line and you then move to the side and with another hook or leaning over the side pull in the aft strops, this is very slick and the boat should be tethered in seconds with a little practice.

Once you have the the boat stopped and semi-secure, you can then split the aft strops across your stern and tidy the fore. Many people hang the pick up buoy on the guard wire to stop it banging against the hull which it tends to do.

I do the above method when going away from the mooring for long periods. For shorter sails / weekend breaks I do not use a pick-up buoy. Instead we have the pick-up line split in two and slightly shorter, this is used as an extension fore and aft to leave our hard dinghy in the centre of the mooring. When on the mooring we basically have the dinghy rafted against us, this makes for much easier loading and getting on board.

If you do go for this, it is much more imperative that your bow man does not pick up the aft line from the dinghy as you approach on your return. The helm gently nudges the dinghy out of the way and the bow man picks up the fore strop, the helm then pulls in the aft which is much easier as the dinghy holds the strops out of the water sort of.

The chain you have seen may have been put there to sink the ropes??

Personally I use floating lines including the pick-up to try to keep them away from the turny things - not always successfull with cat props.

Hope some of this is useful.

J

 

[TiggerToo]

Hi,
I am a few meters away from John Morris. All of this is sound advice. However, it does take a little practice - only then will it be "easy peasy". In addition to what has been said before, things to look out for are:

1) approach the line/trot from down-wind
2) check and check again before leaving that nothing is likely to snag

Both things have caught me out. Number (1) happened to me when I was very "Green": we had no rope cutter and it ended in a very heafty bill of repairs (got tangle around the saildrive in a heavy spring tide with a resulting "bend" in the leg /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

I suppose practicing when the tides are running gently is best.

Have fun!

 

[m1taylor]

This post is very interesting as I was needing similar information. I am considering moving from a very exposed swinging mooring, where access by dinghy can be a nightmare, to the river Dart where there is a trot mooring available, with more water and usable time. But there is a catch...the trot is in the a narrow creek (Mill Tale Totnes) where there is not much room to turn a boat, and the boats there always seem to be moored bow upstream regardless of tide. It would seem a nightmare of ropes, and other boats. Reversing out of the creek with an outboard into the tide? This might just be too challenging, as unlike most trot moorings you can go around and have second goes. Best avoided??

 

[Gin]

This will tell you all that you need to know

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/upnor.sailing/moorup.htm

My observations:-

1. Pick up on ebb tide- leave on flood or ebb

2. Allow the tide or the wind, whichever is dominant to carry you on to the marrying line ( this feels wrong but unless you lay against the line you will struggle to secure your mooring lines
3. Ferry glide so that you approach sideways and make sure a reliable crew member is stationed amidships to hoik up the centre of the marrying line
4. Pull the marrying line over the stanchions temporarily so that the boat lays against the marrying line and also to ensure the boat cannot ride over this line and hook the keel/rudder/prop

When doing #2 above take care not to engage engine thoughtlessly and thus wrap the prop/rudder if you fail to pick up the marrying line

4. Ensure your mooring ropes plus boat length equal the span of the trot otherwise the end boat will have trouble picking up.
5. When marrying line has been separated tie it up loosely to guardwires to keep it out of the water so it doesn't get mucky
6. When leaving mooring it is sometimes difficult to see whether tide or wind will be predominant, look at nearby swingers- rig marrying line on appropriate side and reverse the mooring up order of lines ( mooring lines to be secured to reconnected marrying line by a series of half hitches or a rolling hitch). Be positive in casting off- dithering raises the chances of cocking- up a clean departure even if you've chosen the least favoured side to leave
7. Do not use your own shackles to connect to the buoy shackle- this encourages corrosion and wear- it is usual to use a cow hitch (soft eye) for your own mooring lines

 

[john_morris_uk]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Pick up on ebb tide- leave on flood or ebb

[/ QUOTE ] Why? It would severely limit my sailing if I had to wait for the 'right tide'. We just moor which ever way round is appropriate for the conditions at that time. Its invariably into the tide as the tide is invariably the strongest element.

 

[TiggerToo]

[ QUOTE ]
2. Allow the tide or the wind, whichever is dominant to carry you on to the marrying line ( this feels wrong but unless you lay against the line you will struggle to secure your mooring lines

[/ QUOTE ]

I must say I'd disagree with this. Ferry glide from downwind (tide is presumably running parallel to the trot). It is true that depending on conditions you will not be able to pull the boat on by force. But come up parallel and hook on the lines to cleats (fore and aft or midway if you have one) temporarily. once on clear things up.

 

[TiggerToo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1. Pick up on ebb tide- leave on flood or ebb

[/ QUOTE ] Why? It would severely limit my sailing if I had to wait for the 'right tide'. We just moor which ever way round is appropriate for the conditions at that time. Its invariably into the tide as the tide is invariably the strongest element.

[/ QUOTE ]

yes absolutely... at least on the Tamar
But keep an eye on the gusts they can blow you off course and onto the lines if you don't

 

[Duncantaz]

I have used a trot mooring for several years and like you was new to it all when I first started. Over the years I have refined the process and found this system works for us:

Firstly make sure the marrying line can be split and used as mooring lines. When leaving the mooring single up and moor the dinghy fore and aft on the mooring strops, you need a longish painter and stern line to join to your mooring strops and strong points in the dinghy. The boat is now secured on the marrying lines and when these are let go they can simply be dropped into the dinghy to keep them out of the water. Rig a fender or two between boat and dinghy.

Choosing which line to let go first will be dictated by wind and tide but it's worth noting that with water flow from the tide over the rudder, putting the helm over will swing the stern out away from the tangly bits before you get any steerage way.

All this assumes you are leaving the dinghy, if you are taking it with you then you you will need to follow others advice re pick-up bouys etc.

Pick-up from the down-tide side, only practice will show which works best for your boat and location/conditions. We always moor facing upstream so with a flooding tide reversing in to pick up the stern line first can be a challenge but with judicious use of throttle and tide it's do-able. As other have said, just take it slowly and if in doubt go around again.

Good luck!

 

[Searush]

[ QUOTE ]
(cut).the trot is in the a narrow creek (Mill Tale Totnes) where there is not much room to turn a boat, and the boats there always seem to be moored bow upstream regardless of tide. It would seem a nightmare of ropes, and other boats. Reversing out of the creek with an outboard into the tide? This might just be too challenging, as unlike most trot moorings you can go around and have second goes. Best avoided??

[/ QUOTE ]

With care it should be possible to turn the boat on the trot by casting off down tide, then releasing other strops but keeping hold of the connecting rope and letting the tide turm the boat as you walk to the other end of it. If the tide is fierce, a warp looped thro the uptide bouy should allow you to control the rate of turn and still release the warp from the bouy once correctly orientated. In other words, warp her round before leaving, done carefully, she will turn in her own length under full control so you can motor away forwards rather than backwards. Practise it in your mind first & try to think of all the possible snags - and how to solve them. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif