Boat sails on the mooring

[ShawnL]

I know I've seen a discussion about this before, but can't for the life of me find it.

I have a '22 swing keel that will spend the summer on a mooring. After bring it out to the ball this weekend, I drove by the marina a couple of days later to check on it and noticed that it was trying to sail while on the ball -- swinging from side to side, etc. much more than a lot of the other boats out there, though it was fairly breezy. The mooring field is pretty protected (very small bay) so there wasn't anything to speak of for current or wave action.

I have a standard hank-on jib (not attached) and the main is in a sail-bag on the boom. Nothing else on deck, etc. to catch the wind. I'm attached to the mooring ball (the anchor chain, not the ball itself) with a y-yolk with one leg going to each bow cleat. I also have a safety line attached to the d-ring on top of the ball going to the trailer winch eye with enough slack in it that it doesn't have any tension. Rudder is in the water, and lashed so that it stays centered and the keel is fully down.

I was thinking the yolk might be a little too short -- I'm pretty close to the ball, but when we attached we adjusted the scope to be about the same as the other boats in the field. Other than letting out some line, I'm not sure how to calm down the swinging.

 

[sail sfbay]

I am sure the forum will have good recommendations. In the meantime same issue came up on this thread with options to mitigate swinging on a mooring: How to stop swing on mooring | Sailboat Owners Forums like:

1. Riding Sail
2. Anchor spring line: Anchor Spring Lines - Cruisers & Sailing Forums (cruisersforum.com)
3. Stern anchor.........drop a small anchor over the stern when she is lined up with the wind and taking most of the slack out

You might find this article helpful: Good-Mooring-Practice.pdf (queenborough-harbour.co.uk)

 

[jon hansen]

i'd try hanging a metal pail about 5' under the water. from the taff rail... never done it, but i'd try it just to see what happens.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Why are you concerned about the boat moving around? Is it because of chafe on the mooring lines? Have you tried making them shorter?

 

[ShawnL]

They are very short already. I was thinking they should be longer actually.

 

[Jacktar]

If your keel is fully down and the tiller lashed with rudder down it may be wind on boat side fighting subsurface current direction. Try letting the rudder free and raise the keel to see if changes things.