Using moorings other than your own

[LONG_KEELER]

Post Deleted.

My poor choice of topic , on reflection I don't think it will go anywhere other than downwards.

 

[awol]

I know that there are quite a lot of moorings on the Clyde that, because their occupants have stayed on the hard for the last 2 years, have not been serviced. I do hope you contacted the owner of the mooring you broke and paid compensation.

 

[johnalison]

I wouldn’t describe myself as an inveterate picker-upper but it is something I will do for a lunch stop. Overnight stays are inhibited by the thought that I will be woken up at 2am when the owner returns.

The chances of being turned off are reduced by choosing a manky mooring with a rope encrusted by weed, but this carries the risk that the mooring hasn’t been checked. Obviously, one chooses a mooring that is man enough for the boat. I have only once been moaned at for choosing an undersized mooring, which was odd since it was marked at 5t and my boat at the time was only 2t.

 

[jdc]

I put a URL and QR on my mooring (when I suggested on this forum a few years ago that other owners might like to do something similar I was mostly insulted for it).

 

[cherod]

I am an habitual picker upper of other people's moorings both for luncheon and overnight .

I do of course pay the respect that is warranted in doing this as I'm sure others do too. I wonder if this is just a British thing i.e. fair play and all that.

In all this time , I have experienced only one occasion when I suddenly wondered why other moorings and boats were passing me by as I was dossing in the cockpit. Just wondering what other folks have experienced.

( just wondering ) apart from not damaging it or being prepared to move on if the owner shows up requiring it , what " respect is warranted " when doing so ?

 

[mainsail1]

I hate the idea of picking up someone else’s mooring. I never do it. Like camping in someone’s garden without permission.

 

[Aardee]

I'll pick up a vacant mooring for a lunch stop (ensuring I'm onboard to move along if needed) but not overnight.

 

[pyrojames]

I have a mooring on the East Coast and people are welcome to use it for lunch or overnight if I am away. I do expect a reasonably prompt departure when I return though! I have been told by someone that I should go and pick up another vacant mooring than kick them off my own. Wasn't very impressed at that point.

I used to use others' moorings in Australia, but generally don't here, as i have a heavy boat, and am more comfortable on the hook.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I'll pick up a vacant mooring for a lunch stop (ensuring I'm onboard to move along if needed) but not overnight.

What’s the difference between lunch stop and overnight? Your still using someone else’s property without their permission. Very likely you won’t have any information on whether you can use a mooring without damaging it or not. It’s like turning into my driveway to park up while you eat your packed lunch, is that an acceptable practise?

 

[LittleSister]

I rarely do it, but it is traditional custom and should be encouraged.

I hate the idea of picking up someone else’s mooring. I never do it. Like camping in someone’s garden without permission.

It's not at all like camping in someone's garden.

Someone will likely own the garden, and it is also the occupiers' private space. A mooring owner does not own the river in the vicinity of their mooring. They are clogging up a public navigation that everyone has the right to use, and the quid pro quo for that, by tradition, is that others may, with appropriate care and respect, avail themselves of the mooring when it is not in use.

Marina owners, and our increasingly atomised and individualistic culture, may wish us to forget about that. It should be resisted, and I would hope that mariners continue and sustain the brother(and sister)-hood of the sea, and the tradition of mutual assistance.

There will always be a few who, through ignorance or short-sightedness and an inflated sense of self-importance will resist such mutuality, but they should be treated with the same contempt as those who think they own the parking space on the public road outside their house.

 

[ctva]

...It's not at all like camping in someone's garden.

Someone will likely own the garden, and it is also the occupiers' private space. A mooring owner does not own the river in the vicinity of their mooring. They are clogging up a public navigation that everyone has the right to use, and the quid pro quo for that, by tradition, is that others may, with appropriate care and respect, avail themselves of the mooring when it is not in use.
...

But will have paid the Crown Estates for a license for that spot?

Even from a self preservation point of view, you do not know what is on the bottom.

 

[LittleSister]

But will have paid the Crown Estates for a license for that spot?

They will have paid the Crown Estate for permission to lay a mooring, and certainly not for exclusive use of part of the public navigation.

Public navigations can only be restricted through legislation: either directly, or indirectly through the by-laws and directions of a properly constituted harbour or navigation authority.

Even from a self preservation point of view, you do not know what is on the bottom.

Indeed. I would not suspend my normal application of care and caution when using someone else's mooring. Why would I?

 

[LONG_KEELER]

( just wondering ) apart from not damaging it or being prepared to move on if the owner shows up requiring it , what " respect is warranted " when doing so ?

Appropriate for size of boat, not leaving the boat unattended are a couple more .

Oh dear, I wish I had not started this thread now. I thought it may be a celebration of
give and take that is perhaps special in sailing, along with things like a wave to each other. All this is still alive and kicking on the East Coast but it looks as if it's not alive in other places. We can look forward to other people's property, no rafting , and no turning and the like.

 

[LittleSister]

To return to Mainsail1's fallacious analogy of camping in someone's garden, I would suggest it is more like someone putting a bench for their own use in a public park, on a common, or on a public road, and then getting upset when other members of the public sit on it when they're not there.

 

[Aardee]

What’s the difference between lunch stop and overnight? Your still using someone else’s property without their permission. Very likely you won’t have any information on whether you can use a mooring without damaging it or not. It’s like turning into my driveway to park up while you eat your packed lunch, is that an acceptable practise?

I never moor in people's gardens or driveways.

Why lunch and not overnight? - If someone arrives back at their mooring at midnight and I'm tucked up fast asleep that's really inconvenient for us both, if I'm sitting in the cockpit eating lunch I can move in a matter of moments.

Not really applicable now as I moor at the end of my garden in a locked marina, but when I was on a swinging mooring I couldn't give a monkeys if someone took advantage of it while I was away.

 

[johnalison]

They are clogging up a public navigation that everyone has the right to use, and the quid pro quo for that, by tradition, is that others may, with appropriate care and respect, avail themselves of the mooring when it is not in use.

That is how it has traditionally been seen, and with which I also agree. The difficulty comes when a long-established anchorage, such as the Pyefleet, gets taken over and charges are made.

 

[awol]

Appropriate for size of boat, not leaving the boat unattended are a couple more .

Oh dear, I wish I had not started this thread now. I thought it may be a celebration of
give and take that is perhaps special in sailing, along with things like a wave to each other. All this is still alive and kicking on the East Coast but it looks as if it's not alive in other places. We can look forward to other people's property, no rafting , and no turning and the like.

Am I correct in my interpretation of your OP that you dragged or broke a mooring to which you attached your boat ?

 

[cherod]

Appropriate for size of boat, not leaving the boat unattended are a couple more .

Oh dear, I wish I had not started this thread now. I thought it may be a celebration of
give and take that is perhaps special in sailing, along with things like a wave to each other. All this is still alive and kicking on the East Coast but it looks as if it's not alive in other places. We can look forward to other people's property, no rafting , and no turning and the like.

so basically just do not abuse the convenience ,,, seems perfectly reasonable .
i assume that your mention of other moorings sailing on by you was intended in humour ?

 

[Mark-1]

I put a URL and QR on my mooring

Wonderful thing to do. ?

 

[Mark-1]

To return to Mainsail1's fallacious analogy of camping in someone's garden, I would suggest it is more like someone putting a bench for their own use in a public park, on a common, or on a public road, and then getting upset when other members of the public sit on it when they're not there.

I would offer the analogy of someone parking in my car park space at work, but remaining in the car to drive away if I turn up.

Of course, my mooring is taking up a spot that could otherwise be used to anchor, so it's not cut and dried that he is the selfish one, IYSWIM.