Sailing to the Mooring

[Plymouth Sailor]

Can anyone provide me wisdom on sailing to a mooring w/o a motor on a 25' boat or larger in a crowded harbor? Loss my outboard this year and am working on a solution. In the meantime, I'd like to sail w/o crashing into a fellow moored boat. I understand sailing close haul and then turning into the wind to the mooring and dropping my sails however any tricks, experience methodology is appreciated, thanks.

 

[jssailem]

Do it carefully. Use wind and current to power and brake the approach. Put out a bunch of fenders. Solo sailing not recommended for the faint of heart. Be ready to yell "Look OUT... or STARBOARD".
Maybe practice on a mooring ball that is not around other boats till you build up your skills.

 

[Gunni]

Take a fender, attach a weight and go out in open water. Deploy your mock mooring ball and train, train, train. You will get to the point where you know how to estimate speed, momentum and distance to make it work. It is different for every boat and requires practice. I would think that capturing the pendant from the cockpit would be your best bet since a 25’ boat won’t have the momentum to pull you out of the boat.

 

[Meriachee]

We do it all the time. There are pool tubes on the fender lines that actually keep them from tangling, and there is a pool float that gets attached to the outer loops, then the floating line from the tender is 15' so there's 20' plus of stuff to grab. Unless it's blowing, there's no drop the sails required, it's all about keeping the speed low enough that you're coasting into it, and ready to bear off if it goes wrong.
The spin maneuver is no different than what you need to do if you kiss the mark anyway.....

 

[Jackdaw]

Two pieces of advice:

1) Work on knowing how to always be able to bleed speed

2) Work on luffing and feathering upwind to control your speed to a crawl while maintaining directional control (way).

You can practice these skills anywhere, any time, and in any conditions.

 

[jon hansen]

a 'pick up' bouy attached to the bridle with a 4 ft whip on it makes things much easier.
practice is all it takes. do it 10 times in a row before you go on your next sail. easy peezy.

 

[markwbird]

Yes. Practice. You have to approach so that you luff up as you get close and then coast up to it so you can grab it. Have a plan and follow through. Also have a nice long pole with a hook on it. If there is room I like to do it main only. Less sail to deal with and better visibility forward. This, of course, requires that you have room to approach well off the wind and then turn up to the buoy. It also means that if you miss you have room to fall off and go again.

 

[Johnb]

We have a mooring pick up aid equivalent to a "happy hooker". Don't remember the exact brand. Highly recommended, its like have 10 foot long arms and makes the whole process way more forgiving.

 

[capta]

Singlehanding a 53 footer to her mooring I found that having a very long line on the mooring made hooking up much easier. I wasn't sailing but was squeezing the boat into a crowded anchorage, and having about 45 feet of target, instead of 6 or 8 makes life a great deal simpler. Once I had the line attached, I could just pull her up short to the mooring, either by hand or if too windy, using a winch or the windlass.

 

[Plymouth Sailor]

I agree, I had a 25 foot tether at one anchorage however where I am now only allows half the length of your boat as a mooring pendant, very tight however starts to thin out in September (NE).

 

[MikeHoncho]

There is a bunch of stuff on Pinterest ( uh I've been told) on using your anchor to do this.

 

[Will Gilmore]

feathering upwind to control your speed to a crawl while maintaining directional control (way).

That is absolute key. Don't let yourself lose way until you have that pendant in hand.
Try dropping the main and just go in with the jib. Learn your boat or warp her in with a dinghy.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[weinie]

better to come up underpowered and go around for a second attempt if necessary than to come in at warp speed, loop the cleat, then find your boat is doing a 360 with the sail still up and the mooring line is now between the keel and the rudder with the buoy nowhere in sight. Make sure the sheet is free to run without any hockles so it doesn't accidentally power up again while you are at the bow.

The key is practice practice practice and more practice.

 

[weinie]

That is absolute key. Don't let yourself lose way until you have that pendant in hand.
Try dropping the main and just go in with the jib. Learn your boat or warp her in with a dinghy.

- Will (Dragonfly)

wouldn't want to be on the bow with the jib flogging around in anywhere above 10 knots.

 

[RoyS]

Roll up your jib before closing in on your mooring. When you approach the mooring slowly with the main only aim to have the mooring ball bump the hull about mid-ship as you coast the boat to a stop. Then release the mainsheet and leave the helm and grab the pick-up float and walk it to the bow to cleat. Having the mooring bump so close to the helm makes it easier to gauge its exact position and much easier to grab. I find that this is much better than running to the bow only to discover it is now out of reach. I prefer to use the main only for this maneuver. Once tied off go back and drop the main.

 

[Will Gilmore]

wouldn't want to be on the bow with the jib flogging around in anywhere above 10 knots.

That can be an issue.

I prefer to use the main only for this maneuver

You make sense. I'm thinking of maintaining way. If I furl the jib and just use the main on a CE balanced boat, I often develop weather helm that makes it hard to regain headway once she has come up into the wind. With jib only, the boat is always trying to fall off, so if I loose way, she'll fall off until the wind is at a better angle.

I'm learning all the time.

- Will (Dragonfly)

 

[Meriachee]

If I furl the jib and just use the main on a CE balanced boat, I often develop weather helm that makes it hard to regain headway once she has come up into the wind

The question goes beyond theory. What does it do on your boat, how do you respond to it and what are the limits you are prepared to impose on your skill so you don’t hit my boat in a crowded anchorage. Sorry, it’s got nothing to do with how many masts you have or the shape of the keel. It’s got everything to do with particular skill, gained by experience, and anticipating what can happen, and reacting before it does happen.

The best advise in this thread has been to get away from other boats and try it. A local marker makes a great stand in. If you can sail up to it and stop just short, from almost any angle, a mooring is easy.

 

[jssailem]

The best advise in this thread has been to get away from other boats and try it. A local marker makes a great stand in.

Response #2. Practice.