How to hook up to Mooring Buoy

[Jeff and Julie]

Okay, I feel that I am asking a ridiculous question but I have no idea how you hook up to a mooring buoy? Do you use a rope, a chain? Do you use your anchor set up or something else?? TIA for any help!

Julie

[Guest]

Don't feel alone. We have asked the same question of each other but too embarrassed to ask others. We too would like to know.

[sailor-d]

I think preparation is the key to successful most things. I secured one end of a line (a shorter dockline) to the centre bow cleat and led it through the stbd chock. Approached slowly and the deckhand hooked the ring with a boathook, pulled it up and threaded the line through and then led it back through the port chock and secured the end to the cleat - give slack as necessary. That was on the buoys at Sucia - the only problem I had was with the damned ring on the end of the buoy chain whacking on the hull in the calm - is there a solution for that?
I eventuallly abandoned the buoy (it cost money) and anchored a short distance away (for free).

Cheers - Dave

[Sea Wolf]

I'm sure Chapman's "Piloting" will give you the official best available answer, but Ill tell you what I did when faced with this last summer.

Approach the buoy 45 degrees off the wind slowly so that you will come up to the buoy with it on the windward side of the boat and next to the middle of the cockpit right off the gunnel.

Drop 'er into neutral and go out and immediately reach down and put one end of 30 foot or longer line 1/2" or so in diameter through the buoy.

The boat will start to drift away downwind. As it does, lead the line with both ends in your hand to the front of the boat.

Tie off both ends of the line independently. Be sure they will not be cut by the anchor, etc. One end can go to the center cleat and be dead ended there, the other lead through that cleat and then tied there or elsewhere.

You want the loop and the front tying arrangment so that you can simply drop one end of the line and pull it through the buoy's loop without untying any knot on the bouy (akward).

Tie the ends so that you can quickly untie them in an emergency and remove the whole line so you don't catch it in the prop. (This is a good idea for your bow lines in general-keep them short enough they cannot reach the prop if left overboard accidentally.)

If your anchor is in the way, you may have to feed the lines through the bow eye used for trailering to get a lower purchase.

A nylon rope is more elastic and therefore better than a dacron one for shock absorbtion when anchoring.

They make a tricky slicky pole with a clever hooker-dooker deal on the end that will pass a line through the eye from a little distance away, but if you can pull up close as described above, why bother? Also, my guess is that the eye on the buoy would have to be fairly large for this cutesie contraption to work (?).

Here's a look at the babe itself:

http://www.boatus-store.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product/20002/-1/20002/629/20002/136/31/5

Now go read Chapman's and see how to do it right!!! (?)

Joe.

[C-Hawk]

Here's a good page on tieing up to a mooring bouy

We tie up to these every time we go to Two Harbors, Catalina Island.

[Jeff and Julie]

Roger,
Thanks. That looks very interesting. I guess I won't know what kind of set up the mooring buoy has until I get there.

Joe,
Have you ever had any problems with the ring wearing through the rope? So, would you have about 15 feet or so of rope between you and the buoy?
I think I may have to pick up one of those Chapman books. I see that Amazon has used ones for under $30.

Thanks,
Julie

[Sea Wolf]

Julie-

I have only used this set up overnight, 1 night at a time!

And yes, the 30 ft. rope gives you 1/2 that (minus the tying knots).

Double pass the line through the loop to spread out the chafe on more rope.

If you're going to really MOOR on the bouy 24/7, you may want a more secure procedure.

I use large fireman's snaps on my boat that's moored in a slip (8 of them), but most people wouldn't t trust a single snap on fitting for permanent open mooring, fearing that it could be opened when twisted sideways.

My old copy of Chapman's doesn't discuss this, as far as I can determine, in the anchoring and mooring section (might be hidden under types of knots).

I'd probably figure out a double/redundant system if mooring 24/7 to be absolutely sure the boat couldn't drift off for any reason (simple peace of mind).

What do you guys do that do the 24/7 deal do in practice?

The system Roger links to makes a lot of sense if the mooring bouy is equipped that way.

Joe.

[Sea Wolf]

Here are some answers we're looking for: (about 1/2 way through the article)

http://www.sailtrain.co.uk/anchoring/buoy.htm

Joe.

[JamesTXSD]

Disclaimer: we won't be picking up our CD-25 until this summer, but this is how we pick up a mooring with our trailerable sailboat: we use a heavy duty locking caribeaner on the end of a dock line tied through the bow eye (not the bow cleat); this puts the pressure lower on the bow, making the boat ride better. If we are just overnighting and not expecting a blow, this is all we do. To leave the mooring, pull alongside the ball and unclip the caribeaner from the safety of the cockpit. If you're going to be leaving the boat, we put a second line with a bit more slack from the mooring pennant to the bow cleat - just for backup.

Best wishes,
Jim B.

[ffheap]

Hi Folks,

In windy Nantucket, I had to devise a way to catch the mooring because, the windage is so great, that when I put the controls in neutral after coming along side, the boat would immediately blow away from the mooring ball. I also have the problem that the mooring ball is in a tight mooring field.

I attached a ten foot pickup line with a loop on the end to the mooring ball. Before I come up to the mooring ball, I put my boat hook ready to use on the side I am coming up on. I also put a line running outside the bow rails attached to the bow cleat. The free end I run to the cockpit.

I then come up to the mooring ball at the side, put the boat in neutral, run out into the cockpit, grab the boat hook, and grab the ten foot pickup line that is attached to the mooring ball, and secure the loop on my stern cleat. The boat will spin around. I then secure the free end of the line attached to the bow cleat to the loop of the ten foot pickup line that is attached to the mooring ball, I then put the loop half on the stern cleat so when I go forward, a slight pull releases it from the cleat, When it releases, I pull like hell until the mooring ball is at the bow. I then secure the mooring line to the towing ring on the bow. After uniting the line that is attached from the bow cleat to the pickup ten foot line, I secure the ten foot pickup line to the bow cleat as extra security.

Sounds like a lot of work, but our boats carry a lot of windage, and in a 15 to 20 knot wind that is common on Nantucket, this is the only way I can secure the boat to the mooring on the first pass.

Good Luck,

Fred Heap

[Sea Wolf]

Fred-



Sounds great to me for your permanent set up!!! A+++

Well thought out and workable.

Good exercise too!

Who needs to belong to a gym when you've got the boat to moor!

Joe.

[Jeff and Julie]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. We will only be moorng for a night at a time kind of thing. Sounds like a rope should be just fine for that. We may attach some type of a clip once we get more experienced.

Jeff and Julie

[starcrafttom]

for peace of mind at a bouy or anchored check your gps for a anchor alarm. Many of the new gps's have a setting called " anchor alarm" You just set it for a given distance, say 40 feet and if your boat leaves that area during the night then the alarm sounds to let yu know you are dragging anchor or untied. Its the only way I can get susan to sleep on the hook. Dont make the setting to small of a area or when the tide changes and you swing around the alarm will sound. On the c-80you will find it under "alarm set up" in the main menu.

[Jeff and Julie]

Thanks Tom. That sounds like a great feature. We have the C-80 sitting in our garage right now waiting for the boat.

Jeff and Julie

[C-Hawk]

Anchor alarm---- yea - right!!

HA

We spent a bumpy night in Little Scorpian last year. I had both anchors out. The main and one off the stern. Set the anchor alarm and went to bed. The alarm sounded and I got up to check.................... We were still good, both anchors holding great.
Reset alarm and before I could get back in the berth it sounded again!! Looked around, both anchors holding, checked with the other boats in the harbor--- yep, still in place.
Got my blanket and pillow and half set/laid on the sofa. Again the alarm sounded.
Ok, time to see what was alarming----------- wasn't the anchor alarm at all!
I forgot to turn off the fish alarm!!! We had a large school of Bonito in the harbor!!

Lesson learned------ make sure all other alarms are off