I would like to move off the slip and onto a mooring in a very crowded mooring field. How do you pick up a mooring safely while single handed?
- Status
- Jan 22, 2008
- 519
protocol
You will have previously led your painter back to the cockpit outside all lines and shrouds, and clipped it on to a fitting or lifeline adjacent the cockpit. Do this at the same time that you douse your sails, and deploy your fenders upon readying to enter the harbor. Protocol has it that you motor downwind below the mooring buoy the appropriate number of boat lengths that you would normaly coast to dead slow at your given speed through the field. Do some trial and error runs up to a bouy in a quiet bay to determine your coasting characteristics. When you are dead down wind to the ball, turn upwind towards the ball, and put the motor into neutral, coasting up to the ball. If you are right handed you want the ball to come up on the starboard side of the boat. Now allow the ball to coast back to you, retrieve the pennant with your boathook, and attach it to the end of the painter. If you have not stopped forward motion, you can put the engine in reverse, or if you are not going fast, allow the boat to be snubbed on the mooring pennant. Watch your swing if you are in a really tight field. Now that your are secure, you can move forward to the bow, pull the painter in, and attach the mooring pennant to your boweye, anchor cleat, or sampson post, depending on how your boat is equipped.
You will have previously led your painter back to the cockpit outside all lines and shrouds, and clipped it on to a fitting or lifeline adjacent the cockpit. Do this at the same time that you douse your sails, and deploy your fenders upon readying to enter the harbor. Protocol has it that you motor downwind below the mooring buoy the appropriate number of boat lengths that you would normaly coast to dead slow at your given speed through the field. Do some trial and error runs up to a bouy in a quiet bay to determine your coasting characteristics. When you are dead down wind to the ball, turn upwind towards the ball, and put the motor into neutral, coasting up to the ball. If you are right handed you want the ball to come up on the starboard side of the boat. Now allow the ball to coast back to you, retrieve the pennant with your boathook, and attach it to the end of the painter. If you have not stopped forward motion, you can put the engine in reverse, or if you are not going fast, allow the boat to be snubbed on the mooring pennant. Watch your swing if you are in a really tight field. Now that your are secure, you can move forward to the bow, pull the painter in, and attach the mooring pennant to your boweye, anchor cleat, or sampson post, depending on how your boat is equipped.
mooring
I sometimes run a line from the cockpit forward along the outside of the lifelines thru the bow chock and back to the cockpit on the inside and tie off to a cleat. I also have a large snap hook on the end of the outside line. You can then sail up alongside the mooring and grab the mooring line with a boat hook and snap your grab line on to it. Let the boat drift back to the mooring while you haul in the grab line. You can even whip it around a winch if needed. When the bow gets even with the mooring, tie off the grab line and go forward and make the mooring. Pardon the pun but, it's a snap.
I sometimes run a line from the cockpit forward along the outside of the lifelines thru the bow chock and back to the cockpit on the inside and tie off to a cleat. I also have a large snap hook on the end of the outside line. You can then sail up alongside the mooring and grab the mooring line with a boat hook and snap your grab line on to it. Let the boat drift back to the mooring while you haul in the grab line. You can even whip it around a winch if needed. When the bow gets even with the mooring, tie off the grab line and go forward and make the mooring. Pardon the pun but, it's a snap.
CAUTION
Charles. Before you get yourself in a pack of trouble, think about gettins somebody with a power boat to drag your block to your new location. Do you know how much your block weights? Think about it . If you can lift your block, does it weight enought to hold your boat? I have an Oday 25 and i'am putting in a # 3500 block. I could get away with a #1500 but i like the security. Buck...
Charles. Before you get yourself in a pack of trouble, think about gettins somebody with a power boat to drag your block to your new location. Do you know how much your block weights? Think about it . If you can lift your block, does it weight enought to hold your boat? I have an Oday 25 and i'am putting in a # 3500 block. I could get away with a #1500 but i like the security. Buck...
Or .....
…. . get the mooring line ready, running outside of everything from bow to cockpit. Get the boat downwind of the ball, drop the motor in to REVERSE and backup to the ball. See, you have no problem with windage this way. No matter how windy, you don’t get blown off and coming to a stop is much easier. With a little practice, you can even “hover” the boat stern into the wind. If you have an open transom, you can even step right down to the ball. After the boat swings around, shorten the line as you need it. Ferg
…. . get the mooring line ready, running outside of everything from bow to cockpit. Get the boat downwind of the ball, drop the motor in to REVERSE and backup to the ball. See, you have no problem with windage this way. No matter how windy, you don’t get blown off and coming to a stop is much easier. With a little practice, you can even “hover” the boat stern into the wind. If you have an open transom, you can even step right down to the ball. After the boat swings around, shorten the line as you need it. Ferg
Slowly
Approach from downwind and slowly come up on your pennant(fiberglass mast).Standing on the bow is prefered but even grabbing it from your cockpit will do. No matter where you grab it from, just be sure to grab it. It'll hold you. Best thing to do is to go out with someone else and see how they do it. Or just sit on your boat enjoying a brew and watch how everyone does it. Then on a calm day practice. Thats all it takes, is time ,and practice. Good luck. I've sailed out of Clinton harbor many times. Some good sailing. Enjoy and always Keep it up, Ctskip
Approach from downwind and slowly come up on your pennant(fiberglass mast).Standing on the bow is prefered but even grabbing it from your cockpit will do. No matter where you grab it from, just be sure to grab it. It'll hold you. Best thing to do is to go out with someone else and see how they do it. Or just sit on your boat enjoying a brew and watch how everyone does it. Then on a calm day practice. Thats all it takes, is time ,and practice. Good luck. I've sailed out of Clinton harbor many times. Some good sailing. Enjoy and always Keep it up, Ctskip
Be sure you have the engine on
With your engine on and sails down, you should have no problem approaching your mooring as long as you are headed into the wind as you approach it. Go slow with enough speed to be able to steer and hit reverse so that you can is just off your bow. Even in strong winds it will take a few seconds for the wind to blow your bow off, so, if your boat pole is at hand, you should have no trouble walking up to the bow and picking up your line. If you overshoot a little - no problem - pick up the line where you can and let the wind do the rest. This worked for me for years single handed even in crowded spots like Chicago and the aforementioned Milwaukee It is my practice to always have my engine on when entering a harbor, even if there is good wind a favorable tack and I plan to sail to my anchorage. there is something classy about picking up the mooring with no engine, but I come to beleive we should use all the resources we have at hand so that if the wors happens we are not saying, "I should have...."
With your engine on and sails down, you should have no problem approaching your mooring as long as you are headed into the wind as you approach it. Go slow with enough speed to be able to steer and hit reverse so that you can is just off your bow. Even in strong winds it will take a few seconds for the wind to blow your bow off, so, if your boat pole is at hand, you should have no trouble walking up to the bow and picking up your line. If you overshoot a little - no problem - pick up the line where you can and let the wind do the rest. This worked for me for years single handed even in crowded spots like Chicago and the aforementioned Milwaukee It is my practice to always have my engine on when entering a harbor, even if there is good wind a favorable tack and I plan to sail to my anchorage. there is something classy about picking up the mooring with no engine, but I come to beleive we should use all the resources we have at hand so that if the wors happens we are not saying, "I should have...."
Mast Buoy
I pick up my mooring solo on my Oday 23 all the time. Best advice is to get a mast Buoy (West Marine $35). This is a small buoy with a 6 foot fiberglass/plastic pole that you grab and pull up mooring lines(youty it to mooring lines when you leave mooring). So much easier and more effective than using a boat hook.. Cheers...
I pick up my mooring solo on my Oday 23 all the time. Best advice is to get a mast Buoy (West Marine $35). This is a small buoy with a 6 foot fiberglass/plastic pole that you grab and pull up mooring lines(youty it to mooring lines when you leave mooring). So much easier and more effective than using a boat hook.. Cheers...
Use a telescopic boat pole
I normally pick up my mooring with a telescopic boat pole that can open to about 12 feet. Where I moor on a river, the current changes from one direction to the other, so I've opted to use about four Styrofoam fish trap floats threaded on to my pendant line with a stopper knot at the end of the pendant line. This allows the pendant line to float on the surface at all times rather than sink and wrap around the mooring chain. The other thing it does, is make it easy for my boat hook to grab on to my pendant line without slipping off. The prevailing winds on the river are normally South-West, so I'll most likely be running in a Northerly direction toward my mooring with the wind on the Port side of my mainsail. Usually I can get a short distance behind my mooring and then head up and fetch to it. I then walk slowly to the bow with the boat pole and grab my pendant line. It takes a little practice and my boat handles great with just the mainsail. If you feel uncomfortable about doing this maneuver in a crowded mooring field, start your engine and have it ready, but remember, the drag of the outboard skeg is going to have a different effect on the "way-on" of the boat. This works for me in all but the lightest winds and depending on the depth of the water. I never attempt this at low tide where my tip-up rudder can bottom out near my mooring causing the maneuver to fail. When I motor up to my mooring, I always shoot the mooring into the wind or the prevailing current, which ever is the strongest, and put the outboard in neutral and walk up to the bow with my stick. A great idea is to attach a Stainless Steel snap hook to your pendant line and run a line from your bow cleat to the stern cleat outside your lifeline stanchions on your Starboard side. On extremely windy days when leaving the cockpit to retreave your pendant line at the bow can be hazardous, you could motor up along side of your mooring and grab your pendant line with the boat pole and snap the hook onto this line and let the boat drift back easy. Then you can go forward at your leisure time and permanently tie on your pendant line to the bow cleat. A piece of Styrofoam threaded on to the line near the bow will prevent the hook from marring the fiberglass. I've never tried this last one, but I'm sure that it would work for someone with a large boat, provided there is enough room behind your mooring. If not, then attach the snap hook on the pendant line at a distance that you'd normally moor your boat. Whenever I single hand, which is 99.9% of the time, I always have an alternative plan just in case the first plan doesn't work. Before I pull up to a dock under sail or power, I have a bow line connected on that side that I plan to get off the boat at. I tie this line to the stern rail with a "Highwayman's Knot." I also have a stern line tied to the stern cleat, and ready so that I can pick up both lines as I get off my boat and step on to the dock. Some boats are hard to step off of, like the O'Day 25s, but with a little care, one can perform this task safely. Do whatever is comfortable for you. Personally, I love moorings and I think that they're easier to use than slips if you single hand.
I normally pick up my mooring with a telescopic boat pole that can open to about 12 feet. Where I moor on a river, the current changes from one direction to the other, so I've opted to use about four Styrofoam fish trap floats threaded on to my pendant line with a stopper knot at the end of the pendant line. This allows the pendant line to float on the surface at all times rather than sink and wrap around the mooring chain. The other thing it does, is make it easy for my boat hook to grab on to my pendant line without slipping off. The prevailing winds on the river are normally South-West, so I'll most likely be running in a Northerly direction toward my mooring with the wind on the Port side of my mainsail. Usually I can get a short distance behind my mooring and then head up and fetch to it. I then walk slowly to the bow with the boat pole and grab my pendant line. It takes a little practice and my boat handles great with just the mainsail. If you feel uncomfortable about doing this maneuver in a crowded mooring field, start your engine and have it ready, but remember, the drag of the outboard skeg is going to have a different effect on the "way-on" of the boat. This works for me in all but the lightest winds and depending on the depth of the water. I never attempt this at low tide where my tip-up rudder can bottom out near my mooring causing the maneuver to fail. When I motor up to my mooring, I always shoot the mooring into the wind or the prevailing current, which ever is the strongest, and put the outboard in neutral and walk up to the bow with my stick. A great idea is to attach a Stainless Steel snap hook to your pendant line and run a line from your bow cleat to the stern cleat outside your lifeline stanchions on your Starboard side. On extremely windy days when leaving the cockpit to retreave your pendant line at the bow can be hazardous, you could motor up along side of your mooring and grab your pendant line with the boat pole and snap the hook onto this line and let the boat drift back easy. Then you can go forward at your leisure time and permanently tie on your pendant line to the bow cleat. A piece of Styrofoam threaded on to the line near the bow will prevent the hook from marring the fiberglass. I've never tried this last one, but I'm sure that it would work for someone with a large boat, provided there is enough room behind your mooring. If not, then attach the snap hook on the pendant line at a distance that you'd normally moor your boat. Whenever I single hand, which is 99.9% of the time, I always have an alternative plan just in case the first plan doesn't work. Before I pull up to a dock under sail or power, I have a bow line connected on that side that I plan to get off the boat at. I tie this line to the stern rail with a "Highwayman's Knot." I also have a stern line tied to the stern cleat, and ready so that I can pick up both lines as I get off my boat and step on to the dock. Some boats are hard to step off of, like the O'Day 25s, but with a little care, one can perform this task safely. Do whatever is comfortable for you. Personally, I love moorings and I think that they're easier to use than slips if you single hand.
Anchor ready
I try not to use the outboard on my Cal 21, that's why I have a sailboat. I figure that there is no rational reason to own a sailboat in the first place, but, if I'm going to engage in some antiquated transportation, I might as well do it the way my forefathers had to do it. All good advise given previously. One thought is to make some runs under power, in wind and in calm, and get adept at cutting the motor at the right time so you just drift up to your mooring. Gives a good sense of your inertia. Certainly, practising in a safe area with a temp. buoy and bringing her up alongside, with various combinations of sail, would be good. You never know what conditions, and sails, you'll need for your boat to come up on your mooring unless you practise. Of course, if it's a tight mooring you'll have to motor and nobody applauds you for picking up your mooring under power! One thing I do find to be helpful is having an anchor rigged and ready. Doesn't have to be alotta chain, scope, etc...just enough to stop you, and hold you in position while you regroup. I had call for this when my outboard went on strike, and I hadn't even stepped my mast yet! In the take it for what it's worth dept.: On merchant vessels, we always clear the anchors for port/harbor manoeuvering and where tugs are not available, we can pay out an anchor until it's on bottom, just a bit firther than up and down, and then manoeuver against it. It's amazing what you can do with your bow "tacked down". This, bye the way, is how one conducts a "Med-moor". Fair winds & following seas
I try not to use the outboard on my Cal 21, that's why I have a sailboat. I figure that there is no rational reason to own a sailboat in the first place, but, if I'm going to engage in some antiquated transportation, I might as well do it the way my forefathers had to do it. All good advise given previously. One thought is to make some runs under power, in wind and in calm, and get adept at cutting the motor at the right time so you just drift up to your mooring. Gives a good sense of your inertia. Certainly, practising in a safe area with a temp. buoy and bringing her up alongside, with various combinations of sail, would be good. You never know what conditions, and sails, you'll need for your boat to come up on your mooring unless you practise. Of course, if it's a tight mooring you'll have to motor and nobody applauds you for picking up your mooring under power! One thing I do find to be helpful is having an anchor rigged and ready. Doesn't have to be alotta chain, scope, etc...just enough to stop you, and hold you in position while you regroup. I had call for this when my outboard went on strike, and I hadn't even stepped my mast yet! In the take it for what it's worth dept.: On merchant vessels, we always clear the anchors for port/harbor manoeuvering and where tugs are not available, we can pay out an anchor until it's on bottom, just a bit firther than up and down, and then manoeuver against it. It's amazing what you can do with your bow "tacked down". This, bye the way, is how one conducts a "Med-moor". Fair winds & following seas
Most of the advice..
..below is sound. And most of the time picking up the pennant lines with a mast buoy is easy. With a little practice you can judge the boats approach speed for a perfect pick up. However, there are times that I have come back to my mooring with winds blowing so hard (30+)that the pick up stick is lying horizontal in the water due to the strong wind. A boat hook at that point is the only way to right it long enough to grab it. The big problem is judging the approach speed well enough so that by the time you leave the cockpit, go forward to the bow, pick up the boat hook and try and grab the pick up stick before the wind blows the bow off only takes a few seconds. A miss means getting back to the cockpit before you wind up drifting down on your neighbor. Add to this a heavy rain and the darkness of night and you can see that playing this game can take several attempts sometimes.
..below is sound. And most of the time picking up the pennant lines with a mast buoy is easy. With a little practice you can judge the boats approach speed for a perfect pick up. However, there are times that I have come back to my mooring with winds blowing so hard (30+)that the pick up stick is lying horizontal in the water due to the strong wind. A boat hook at that point is the only way to right it long enough to grab it. The big problem is judging the approach speed well enough so that by the time you leave the cockpit, go forward to the bow, pick up the boat hook and try and grab the pick up stick before the wind blows the bow off only takes a few seconds. A miss means getting back to the cockpit before you wind up drifting down on your neighbor. Add to this a heavy rain and the darkness of night and you can see that playing this game can take several attempts sometimes.
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