Picking up a mooring

Stu Jackson · Sep 20, 2009

throttle friction adjustment

BobM said:
I figured that the idle adjustment is at the engine, but everything I have seen has sail I have to pull the compass to adjust the friction on the throttle. Is that untrue?

Bob, you might be right as I recall. The adjustment is a bear to get to, underneath a ss bolt in an AL body. That is to say: the adjustment screw is below that bolt, it is not the bolt itself. If it was my boat, I'd do the engine end first, and see if indeed you may not need to deal with the friction. Good luck.

Maine Sail · Sep 20, 2009

If my

With a little practice you can all learn to pick up your mooring, in most all conditions, without fancy tricks that involve blocks and fore to aft lines, or picking it up from the stern.

This is a video of my neighbor. She's a single mother who sails with her 5 year old daughter on board their CD-36.

I have seen her pick up a mooring in very heavy winds with no issues. All you change is the approach speed so you have the inertia to make the ball in higher winds.

If you watch the video you can see she has had the boat in neutral since well before I turned on the video camera. She knows her boats inertia for the given wind conditions and uses it to her advantage. The boat is nearly at a dead stop when she reaches out for the pendant. She waits until she knows she's dead on track for the ball before leaving the cockpit and then walks calmly to the bow where she grabs a boat hook and picks up the pendant.

If a single mom can do this, and do it with ease, you GUYS can too..

[ttyouyube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qZFnK9iN9c[/ttyouyube]

Gail R · Sep 21, 2009

We do what Dalliance does -- use a pick-up buoy. Surely we are not the only ones??

Look at how other boats in the area are lying. They may be pointing into the wind or into the current, depending on which is stronger. In some anchorages (like the one where we keep the boat) boats will be pointing every which way, so this can be a challenge.

Approach the mooring from down wind or current SLOWLY, but with enough speed to maintain steerage. Once you get to know your boat's characteristics w/r/t how long it "coasts" after being taken out of gear, you'll be able to grab a mooring without incident.

More often than not, we can pull off our mooring grab under sail. I used to HATE doing this (especially when I was first learning) but now it's part of the fun. We'll come in under main and have the halyard ready to go. I grab the pickup and get the pennant on the bow cleat; my husband, once he sees that we're on, comes to the mast and lowers the (now luffing) main. Good times.

Bob S · Sep 21, 2009

Bob,

20+ knots is a lot of wind. I hope that's the exception and not the rule. I've been using a pick up buoy. It eliminated the hook and it's easier to see as you approach. You have to be pretty quick with that kind of wind. There is no way you can hold it. Have enough inertia to go by a little to give you time to cleat it.

I have a bridle with a float on one side and the pick up buoy on the other and I criss cross to each cleat. It's tough when it's blowing. I'm just beginning to trust in my ability to single hand my boat. I haven't done it yet. I admire all you gents that do it. Especially folks like you Gail. Love seeing people sail on and off their mooring.

Stu Jackson · Sep 23, 2009

Bob S said:
I'm just beginning to trust in my ability to single hand my boat. I haven't done it yet. I admire all you gents that do it. Especially folks like you Gail. Love seeing people sail on and off their mooring.

Experience is what makes these people able to do what they do. Since they can do, so can you. How to get experience, DO IT, over and over again. Dedicate a day to stop doing yor usual sailing malarkey, and just practice mooring pickups. By the end of the fifteenth try you'll either decide you're an expert and can gho sailing or you need to come back tomorrow to get better. What a great ezxcuse to get on your boat more often.

C'mon...enough of this "Oh, I wish i was like those guys (or gals) crap!"

You built a great electrical system, wonder if they have...

Roger Long · Sep 23, 2009

BobM said:
One thing I absolutely have to do is pull my compass and adjust the throttle. The PO put on one of those nice heavy stainless Edson ones and I think it threw off the return spring.

Here's my simple solution to the creeping throttle problem. I haven't had to adjust the screw in two years.

Very simple to drill and tap the aluminum pedestal platform.

Roger Long · Sep 24, 2009

BobM;660582 Is it just the stainless or do you have a piece of rubber or similar under it Roger?[/quote said:
It's just one of those think s.s. shackles rebent although any s.s. thin stock will do. There is no liner, the metal against metal works just fine.

zeehag · Sep 25, 2009

buy a pick up buoy and attach to your lines whenye leave then pick them up easily every time--i do that on my 2 moorings in san diego--is easy and pick up buoys arent expensive....

zeehag · Sep 25, 2009

BobM said:
I have a pick up buoy and have had no problems picking it up except when it is blowing 20+ knots, and then have difficulty only because I am trying to avoid straining the tendons in my elbows any further than they already are. I have had tennis elbow since winter. Once you have it, you are prone to it and it flared up a few weeks ago after hauling luggage around on my numerous trips to FL to see my Mother through her surgery (she is back in the hospital by the way...yeesh).

It is easy to run forward and grab the buoy, but the problem is that in a high wind it is difficult to maintain the boat near enough to the mooring ball while I am forward to avoid having to haul the boat up to it using my arms.

i have bad arms also after working in icu and emergency rooms for 30+ yrs--i am still able to pick up my buoy despite pain--i make sure i can....is only way i can get my mooring done without help i am never able to find...LOL--i make sure i am upwind from mooring when i go to pick up buoy and i tug it up to my deck as fast as possible without having to lose it overboard or repeat my attempt.....then i hook it onto my cleat or samson post.

i hve bad shoulders and bad elbows from doing icu nurse work by myself for soooo long....but i donot allow anything to get in the way of my sailing my boats and landing them solo......

Seattle Scott · Sep 25, 2009

PNW park buoy method. I don't pull the ring up. I tie on a lead ball with 1/8 inch pendant onto the moring line with one end cleated on the deck. Then I get the buoy ring horizontal with the boat hook and drop the ball and moring line through the ring. the lead ball will pull a few feet of line through the ring. Then I snag the line with the boat hook, since it is "anchored" at the end with the lead ball, it will loop over the boat hook, and bring the line to the deck.

SanderO · Sep 25, 2009

The issue is when the winds are gusty it can blow the bow off. In the video there wasn't much wind and the boat pointed directly at the mooring. Often one needs to have the boat come to port or starboard of the mooring as one can't get to the bow so even picking a spot to aim at before heading to the bow can be iffy and the mooring or pick up buoy can be out of reach. This is especially true of gusty conditions or when there is a cross current or some sort of sea. My boat with it's high free board, fractional rig and deep fin keel is very easily blown off and then ending up beam to the wind and this meas she sails on a mooring or an anchor. Other boats will be much less effected by wind and sea at anchor or picking up a mooring.

So with my boat it's easier to anchor shorthanded and weigh anchor than moor.

zeehag · Sep 25, 2009

try approaching from upwind and upcurrent....then the bows will come to the ball rather than go from it. if you have to circle the mooring field more than one time to assess the approach is no big deal. the freeboard of your boat cannot be more than that of my formosa, nor can your fin keel be of greater draft than the 6'6" full keel draft of my formosa---fin keel boats spin on their keel so are easier to adjust than full keel boats-----our winds grow to 20 kts each afternoon. our current runs greater than 4 kts during tidal changes. just approach the ball from upwind and upcurrent and you will find there is no problem at all and the mooring is easier than you anticipated. if the current is opposing the wind, figure out which is stronger and adjust your approach accordingly--go against the stronger of the 2......

Quoddy · Sep 27, 2009

mooring pickup

No strain or temptation to give it that last tug to makeup for not being positioned exactly right. The cockpit line is simple and works in all conditions (upwind downwind current) and uses readily available materials to mechanically make things easier.

As many of you know modern design boats with wide bodies and high freeboard (for interior and cockpit space) coupled with light displacement and low draft, require considerable headway to maintain steerage in any wind. Your minimal inertia carries you up to the mooring and as speed is lost before you get there the gusty wind takes hold and blows you off quite quickly. In the case of the H260 you must climb over the cabin top (no side decks) which eats up time.

Of course mooring pickup can be done the traditional way, but for this type of boat especially, why risk grunting and missing when the cockpit pickup is so simple.

Maine Sail · Sep 27, 2009

Quoddy said:
Of course mooring pickup can be done the traditional way, but for this type of boat especially, why risk grunting and missing when the cockpit pickup is so simple.

Cockpit pick ups work fine for small light displacement boats but get a 42 footer beam to the wind, in 20+ knots, and the loads on the pendants and your arms while walking it forward are enough to rip you clean off the deck..

Maine Sail · Sep 27, 2009

zeehag said:
try approaching from upwind and upcurrent....then the bows will come to the ball rather than go from it.

zeehag said:
if the current is opposing the wind, figure out which is stronger and adjust your approach accordingly--go against the stronger of the 2......

This is a little confusing as the two statements are contradictory..?

In statement #1 it seems you are suggesting approaching the ball from the windward side or traveling in the direction of the current?

In statement #2 you say to go "against " the "stronger of the two" which would suggest coming at the ball from the leeward or down current side.

The reasoning for bringing the boat to a mooring ball from the leeward or down current side is so you are not yanked off the deck trying to get the pendants hooked to the cleat by the boats continued momentum.

Mooring a boat in higher winds takes practice but certainly can be done easily once you get a feel for you vessel..