med mooring - bow first

[rebel heart]

I've seen a couple of boats lined up in med moors with their bows first and the idea appeals to me for a few reasons:

- I have a fixed prop, large keel boat which generally backs down like a pig. If I get way going it's not that bad but still...

- I have a stern pulpit with rails and a wind vane on the back, so there's not really any easy way to walk off the back onto a platform.

- I was thinking of chopping the forward bowsprit rails and making a gate of sorts at the very front, which would make it pretty simple to just walk forward, drop down a blank which could secure onto the cranse iron somehow.

Just curious if anyone out there has done it. I know people do it, tossing out stern anchors on the way in. Seems a lot easier on my nerves.

[boatman61]

Have done it both ways.. just need a plank long enough for the angle then step over the pulpit...
Easy for me at 6ft 1in...

[psk125]

As boatman says, it's possible to do. The problem comes with the angle of the plank. A high bow will make it into a slide, rather than a gangplank, if the quay is low. Not a good way to arrive on the dock - or in the water, if you miss the dock. Transoms are generally lower than the bow, so the angle is flatter and it's easier to walk across. If it works, it works. If it doesn't... wear your bathing suit when heading ashore.