A simple approach to picking up moorings

[sailormed]

I use the "Hook and Moor" for mooring balls and similar.

Video

It is totally unbelievable how it stitches the mooring line through the mooring ball eye.

Edit: Sorry already mentioned in post 14

[northwestsailor]

This is the one I use. https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Grade-...BS5NTCRH2WZFPD

As long as we get close enough to tap the ring with the boat hook it has always attached effortlessly as the first step to a more permanent connection.

[grantmc]

Just use a little grapnel anchor with 4-5 mtrs of rope. as you sail (very slowly) past the mooring throw it across and past the mooring. It will catch the mooring's anchor line every time.

[deblen]

For moorings with pendants:
Have your bow line already fastened to your bow cleat.
Bring the line out thru the chock & back to the cockpit & slip hitch the end to whatever is convenient.
Motor up til pendant eye can be gaffed from the steering position.
Slip the bow line thru the pendant eye,drop the pendant overboard & fasten the bow line to a winch or whatever.
The boat will drift back,the pendant eye will slide up the bow line to the bow chock & you are moored.
Later,you can mosey up to the foredeck,cleat the pendant and gaff & cleat the second pendant if there is one.
It pays to have a real gaff like a lobster boat uses. (Hamilton Marine)



The lasso idea sounds good for some pennant-less mooring buoys.

Otherwise,a specialty mooring grabber as described is a great tool.
I would still prefer to not leave the cockpit.



I don't like having someone reaching out over the bow pulpit with a gaff,especially with any wind. It's a good way to fall overboard or lose a gaff.


For high sided boats,get a longer gaff. They are available to 14 or 16ft.
Do not tie a wrist loop to them. / Len

There is rarely a reason for anyone to be on the foredeck if some thought is applied first.

[Symphony]

I was taught to use this lasso system when running an inexperienced crew on a large charter cat where the water is more than 5 or 6 feet below the deck line.

have a long line, fixed at one bow and adjustable at the other, or adjustable at both bows. new driver brings the boat up to the mooring buoy, another new sailor heaves the line out and over the buoy, and then another helps her pull it in. everything is controlled and slow no matter the wind, waves or other conditions. no one hanging over lifelines or off the transom. no screaming needed.

I am happy to see all these other gadgets too. always ready to have another idea in the quiver

[kmcshane]

I have used this boat hook attachment for grasping cleats, bollards and balls. It's simple, detachable, and fairly inexpensive compared to the "hook n' moor." It's proved valuable when trying to tie to fairly tall wood pilings that stake your boat out from the finger piers.
As soon as you've got the lasso around the ball or cleat, just pull the aluminum boat pole sharply inboard and the lasso is set.
The "docking stick" as it's called can stay in place, or you can switch out the line for the appropriate dockline as needed.
Don't know if this link will work here on CF, but you can simple look on amazon for "docking stick boat hook adaptors."

https://www.amazon.com/Docking-Stick...BYXEX953ZP0399

[Mike Banks]

If it is your own mooring, I run about twenty feet of floating polyester line to a foam float. This will stream clear of the mooring buoy, because of wind, tide or a combination of both. Floating line is less likely to foul propellers. If you approach it by motoring slowly upstream, then pull alongside it, the floating capture line rope will be parallel if alongside, or pointing directly at your vessel if you use a direct approach and have someone on the bow, where it can be hooked aboard using a long boat hook. In my case I prefer to come alongside, about ten feet or so from it, and throw a grapnel made from three or four strands of galvanised fencing wire over it. The target line is almost impossible to miss.

I haul the line aboard while the boat idles, then once at the bow, use the captured line to raise the mooring buoy. Using the heavy anchoring bow cleats, I secure the vessel to the permanent polyester mooring rope using a mooring hitch around one of the two bow cleats.

The mooring buoy and its lead remain on deck coiled up and tied to the bow pit rail with a short rope tie left clove-hitched to it for the purpose. Time to leave, undo the tie and throw the float line clear, then unhitch the mooring rope and toss the buoy overboard.

Having a heaving line with a small grapnel on it is useful for a variety of purposes. If it becomes fouled, a strong pull will straighten out the tines, which can be hand-bent back into position.

[admiralslater]

The french islands feature mooriings with large rings and no penant . I noticed that the french boats had very large hooks on the ends of the boats pennants . I purchased on in Guadeloupe. It is permanently attached to the ships bridle when you push the boat hook in the ring against the tension of the bridle the hook opens and is easy to attach and remove. Google mooring hooks to see them. One not they dont like swirling wind situations .

[Mirage35]

We do pretty much like deblen describes above - line already attached at the bow, motor up beside the mooring, catch with a boat hook and attach. I have a heavy duty snap shackle on the end of the mooring line to make it even easier.


I'm very happy to see this thread providing suggestions - I've seen too many people using the approach of one hanging off the bow with the other on the helm, neither able to see what's going on, lots of yelling. Better to find other ways: we're not very experienced, but picking up a mooring doesn't stress us at all since we found this approach.

[canyonbat]

So, now that we can all grab the ball, how the heck do you keep it from banging against the hull all night in a wind vs current situation?

[Symphony]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

If it is your own mooring, I run about twenty feet of floating polyester line to a foam float. This will stream clear of the mooring buoy, because of wind, tide or a combination of both. Floating line is less likely to foul propellers. If you approach it by motoring slowly upstream, then pull alongside it, the floating capture line rope will be parallel if alongside, or pointing directly at your vessel if you use a direct approach and have someone on the bow, where it can be hooked aboard using a long boat hook. In my case I prefer to come alongside, about ten feet or so from it, and throw a grapnel made from three or four strands of galvanised fencing wire over it. The target line is almost impossible to miss.

I found one of these lines by surprise in Oyster Bay, Long Island 10 years ago. the line was disconnected from any mooring, waterlogged, and with its damaged foam it lay submerged about 4 feet below the surface waiting for my prop. It was a real mess to disentangle.

[Nikki S]

Originally Posted by canyonbat

Last night we watched a single handed guy, here in Nanaimo, It is nice when young sailors take tips from us old farts.

Hi to you there in beautiful Nanaimo. I love your part of the world, and the folks I met there, so much, I just had to say hi. (Sadly haven't been back for 13 years - maybe it's time...)

[jkindredpdx]

35 years ago I was a well-read but inexperienced sailor. Sailing our charter boat into Sucia Harbour, I perfectly executed a tack, bringing the boat to a halt, snagged the mooring buoy pickup pendant, and pulled in the pendant line to retrieve the mooring shackle... then I looked up to see the skipper of a nearby boat staring at me through his binoculars saying what is that guy doing with our crab trap?

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by jkindredpdx

35 years ago I was a well-read but inexperienced sailor. Sailing our charter boat into Sucia Harbour, I perfectly executed a tack, bringing the boat to a halt, snagged the mooring buoy pickup pendant, and pulled in the pendant line to retrieve the mooring shackle... then I looked up to see the skipper of a nearby boat staring at me through his binoculars saying what is that guy doing with our crab trap?

Ha, I can envision doing the same.

"What is that guy doing with our crab trap?"

Procuring dinner of course. Before anchoring for the evening.

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by SV_Harbinger

I just motor up to they bouy nice and easy like, grab the pennant and toss the eye splice on the first available winch all from the cockpit, . . .

I don't see pennants on very many mooring buoys on the West Coast, usually its just a rather small metal eye on top. One has to be able to reach down to that eye from the deck and run a line through it. There are attachments to boat hooks that can do this. That type of buoy is usually spherical, which means the lasso method may not work if the lasso can just slip back up over the top of the buoy.

The situation is much better in the very crowded and well managed places like Catalina Island. Complicated but excellent system with stern line attached also, but that means the orientation of the boats are fixed, so they can't swing with the wind.