Sailing at Anchor
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I've never noticed any of the O'DAY 25s that I've ever been moored near sailing around on their moorings. A few recommendations, first is to keep the CB most if not all of the way up. That will prevent the chance of the boat getting hooked on the mooring by the CB, it also should greatly reduce the wear & tear on both the pivot pin and the CB. I have also found that our boats have laid better to their mooring is we remove the rudder, fairly easy to do and greatly reduces sailing on the mooring, plus that reduces wear & tear on the rudder/tiller as well as the pintles and gudgeons. The rudder can hold the boat from turning easily with windshifts, and causing her to ride up against the mooring ball. Our neighbor always stowed his boat's rudder in the cabin when he had a 25 and has done the same on his present 272 (could be he kept the rudder in the cockpit? hard to tell from a distance). If you have any current flowing by your mooring removing the rudder helps the boat to better point into the wind, and also cuts down on the tendency of boats to ride up on their moorings when wind and current act differently on the boat.
I don't think a riding sail is needed, and it might even make things worse.
I don't think a riding sail is needed, and it might even make things worse.
I don't think you'll need to worry about that. The O'Day 25 is a heavy boat with plenty of gripe below the waterline to make her behave.
Years ago I owned a Sturdee Catboat and that thing would bob and weave and sail all over her anchor. These boats are light and they draw almost nothing. I found out later that a big wind could capsize them at a mooring pretty easy.
I would just keep the tiller tied off and the centerboard in the up position when she's at the mooring and she should be OK.
There will be days when you may encounter fluky winds while at the anchor that will cause her to move around more than usual. A stay sail at the back stay would help but you could also put out a second anchor Bahamian Moor style and that should take care of most of it. I used to do this quite a bit years back when we anchored in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. The local harbor Master insisted that I use two anchors Bahamian Moor, if I wanted to anchor for the night near the town beach and we always complied. The reason for this being that the wind changes quite a bit in the harbor all night long.
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Our biggest problem on the river are the tidal currents. Pendant lines can get slack at mid tides and sink. The current changes, and the pendant line wraps around the mooring chain. I solved that problem by threading Styrofoam fish trap floats on the pendant line to keep it afloat.
I don't believe in using more than one pendant line. One pendant line tied to my Starboard bow cleat is enough.
Actually, my pendant line has an eye splice on it that fit over my cleat. I use a thinner diameter braid line to close up the eye splice and secure it to the bow cleat. This way, it can never accidentally pop off the bow cleat.
You may want to use a 5/8" or 3/4" pendant line with an eye splice on it. This line is really too large to tie to your bow cleat without the eye splice.
Securing the eye splice to your bow cleat will keep it from moving and chafing through as well as keeping it from popping off when the boat is rocking up and down with the waves on a stormy day.
The blue braid line in the pics is one of my 24' dock lines. I used to use a 1/2" nylon three strand line for my pendant line and tie it to my Starboard bow cleat. I now use a 5/8" Nylon three strand line with an eye splice to go over my bow cleat. I don't like pick up sticks. I pick up my mooring line with a 12' telescopic boat hook and having those fish floats on the pendant line makes grabbing the line pretty easy with the boat hook. I practice picking up my pendant line under sail just about every chance I get.
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Just a quick addition. I use 2 mooring pendants. Both 3 strand 1/2 inch nylon for my 25. One pendant is holding the boat. The second is on the opposite bow cleat but has slack and gets no wear. If the primary breaks for any reason, there is a brand new pendant on the opposite side waiting to take the load. Ernie
A few of the guys in my club have their pendant lines set up that way Ernie.
I do all the free pendant line splicing for the club and I splice them up for them this way if they request it. What they have me do is make a splice into the pendant a few feet from the end with another three strand nylon line, and put an eye splice at the end which comes even with the other eye splice on the main pendant line. It seems to work out OK for them.
My late pal and fellow YC member Walter had a different set up altogether.
He made up a detachable pendant line out of three strand nylon. On one end he had a stainless steel thimble spliced in with a SS swivel, and a SS snap hook. He then made a regular eye splice on the other end.
After he moored his boat with the regular pendant line, he'd get into his pram and take the eye splice and pass it through the mooring line shackle on the ball and run the other end through the eye splice to secure it with a "Cow Hitch." Then he'd clip the other end into the bow eye on his boat.
Whenever he paddled out to retrieve his boat, he first unclipped the hook and removed the detachable line from the mooring ball shackle and take this line with him.
I had taken a ride one day with Walter to a factory named "Suncor" in Plymouth Ma to buy this stainless steel hardware. They sold him what he needed and gave him a catalog. One thing I liked about Walter was that if he wanted something, he'd go right out and buy it. Our club will never be the same without Walter. We miss him dearly.
Joe
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I was planning on doing this, picture is from Defender's Website.
City is supplying the mooring and buoy, I will be doing the bridle and pendants. Was figuring on two with a bridle plate under the ball as in the picture. Adding floats to the pendants and anti-chaffe of course as well.
City is supplying the mooring and buoy, I will be doing the bridle and pendants. Was figuring on two with a bridle plate under the ball as in the picture. Adding floats to the pendants and anti-chaffe of course as well.
CB,I was planning on doing this, picture is from Defender's Website.
City is supplying the mooring and buoy, I will be doing the bridle and pendants. Was figuring on two with a bridle plate under the ball as in the picture. Adding floats to the pendants and anti-chaffe of course as well.
There are over 200 boats in our mooring field. Boats 20' up to 45'.
Following our mooring instructions there are very few problems.
I have been through several severe hurricanes and nor'esters without a problem. Of the couple of boats that did break loose it was determined by our fleet captain that the boat owner did not properly maintain his pennants.
If you have a severe storm approaching you can add an additional pennant (1") to your boat just as a safety measure. I always do this.
I would add to that mooring pic a pick-up buoy attached to your pennants.
Being that your on a mooring, make certain that you have a bilge pump aboard w/a automatic float.
My yacht club has some very strict rules on the mooring set-up.
PENNANTS
Boats using mooring balls must have a flotation on the lower part of the pennants to prevent wrap around the ball.
All boats shall use double braid polyester/dacron pennants.
No pennant cannot be used more than two seasons.
Double pennants shall be used for all moorings.
Both pennants should be of the same length.
Proper chafe gear around the pennants on the chock.
Pennant length from surface to chocks should equal two and one half the hight above the water and not to exceed three times.
PENNANT SIZE
BOAT
20 - 25 ft - 5/8"
30 - 35 ft - 3/4"
40 - 60 ft - 1"
Hope this helps you.
Any questions..... be glad to help
Bill
Smooth - Thanks for that info, I was planning on having floatation on the pendants. I have yet to hear from the city on what their requirements are, and we are on a smallish inland lake as well but, severe storms obviously can come through our area. Good "budgeting" info. Thanks again.
Last year during a Summer storm I was at work checking the webcam at our club and noticed an O'day 272 in a spot that just looked wrong, bow out and very close to the bridge between the shore and the docks. I reloaded and the boat was in an even worse position, up against the floats and I could see three people standing on the bridge looking at it.
Turns out the boat cut free from its mooring ball as the summer storm came through with 50mph winds. They had only one pendent attached. It drifted into the bridge, ending up with two gaping holes in the starboard side. Very sad- a beautiful boat.
I'll bet you get some nasty storms there on your lake. Best to be safe, but as long as your boat is well secured, being on a mooring ball can be real nice. Nothing to rub up against, far less likely that someone will run into your boat, etc. I hardly worried about mine when it was on a ball.
Turns out the boat cut free from its mooring ball as the summer storm came through with 50mph winds. They had only one pendent attached. It drifted into the bridge, ending up with two gaping holes in the starboard side. Very sad- a beautiful boat.
I'll bet you get some nasty storms there on your lake. Best to be safe, but as long as your boat is well secured, being on a mooring ball can be real nice. Nothing to rub up against, far less likely that someone will run into your boat, etc. I hardly worried about mine when it was on a ball.
Last year during the hurricane we had a Hunter 27, a Bristol 27 and a Bristol 22 laying over on the shore. Each of these boats picked up their mooring blocks and walked them to shore. The mooring lines never chafed through.
I've never had chafing problems on my boat but some of the guys in my club have. It was probably due to the chocks on their bow. Most of the O'Days don't have chocks, mine included. I think that the number of pendant lines is up to the individual.
We had a guy with a 23' BayLiner in the club who had three to four pendant lines on that boat. One day they chafed through and his boat was on the rocks near the club. Another day, the ropes chafe through again and his boat landed on the other side of the river. The pendant lines were sinking and getting wrapped around the chain. Then they would chafe right through. His boat broke loose at least three times and I retrieved it twice and tie it up to our club dock.
Finally, I told him to get a new pendant line and I'd splice it up for him and he put some floats on it. His boat never broke loose again after that.
If I know that there is a serious storm brewing I'll remove my boom with the Mainsail on it and my Gennie from the furler luff, and stow them in the cabin. A lot of wind resistance is reduced by doing this I think.
I've never had chafing problems on my boat but some of the guys in my club have. It was probably due to the chocks on their bow. Most of the O'Days don't have chocks, mine included. I think that the number of pendant lines is up to the individual.
We had a guy with a 23' BayLiner in the club who had three to four pendant lines on that boat. One day they chafed through and his boat was on the rocks near the club. Another day, the ropes chafe through again and his boat landed on the other side of the river. The pendant lines were sinking and getting wrapped around the chain. Then they would chafe right through. His boat broke loose at least three times and I retrieved it twice and tie it up to our club dock.
Finally, I told him to get a new pendant line and I'd splice it up for him and he put some floats on it. His boat never broke loose again after that.
If I know that there is a serious storm brewing I'll remove my boom with the Mainsail on it and my Gennie from the furler luff, and stow them in the cabin. A lot of wind resistance is reduced by doing this I think.
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