Mooring Fishtail

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Joel

Chalk this up to new owner's nerves. I have an 1987 H23 with the wing keel. Put her in the water for the first time a few weeks back but have been keeping her at my powerboat slip while doing the last bit of work (fixing those darn electrical problems, mast head light, VHF, etc.) This weekend, I moved her out to my mooring and was feeling very good. (On the mooring on the second approach.) Later that night, the wind picked up and I went back to look at the boat sitting pretty on the mooring with the sunset behind her. All the other sailboats moored close by were barely moving and just pointing nicely into the wind. My H23, however, was doing this odd fishtail dance. At first, I thought there was a problem with the mooring so I rowed back out just to recheck all the lines, etc. Everything was as it should be. I then notice that the powerboats were all doing the same dance. I'm chalking the dance up to a combination of the wind and tide movement with the small keel on the H23 compared to the huge keels on the other sailboats. Do other's with the wing keeled H23 see a similar dance on their moorings? Again, just beginner nerves at play here. Thanks.
 
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Michael Stuart

Dance Away

Moored boats all dance. The smaller and lighter the boat, the more they dance. I sailed a 41 and 36 foot boat, each for a week, in Tortola where there are hundreds of sailboats of all size, and at night, almost all of them are moored are mooring buoys. One boat can be pointing one way, when another boat 15 yards away is pointing another way. And none of them turned at the same time in the same breeze. Even in a light breeze, they all danced. When the wind picked up, Hoo-Haw. Minuets, tangoes, etc. And there was not even a current there! If you are in a river or a tidal flow area, the wind will push the boat one way, and the current another way. Boats w/o keels react less to the current, for obvious reasons. Don't worry. Just make sure that you are tied on good. Think about two lines, too.
 
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