Doubling Up Mooring Lines

[Liming II]

Good Morning,

We are new to mooring in the ocean, and are preparing for some strong winds this weekend. We have been in a mooring field for a few days and all has been well, but we are supposed to get some 25+ knot gusts over the weekend. My question. is it prudent to put out another set of mooring lines with just a little slack in them an an insurance policy? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Mike

[Kalinka1]

Sure if it lets you sleep better.

[bensolomon]

Are you able to snorkle the mooring? The hardware under the water can be iffy. 25 knots is nothing. Make sure you use a separate mooring line from the port bow cleat to the mooring and back to the cleat, and from the starboard cleat to the mooring pennant back to the cleat. This way, you already have two independent lines. That will be enough.

Do NOT use a single looped line from one side, through the pennant to the other side. This will chafe and saw right through

[Shrew]

25+ kts is a weekly occurrence when we're out, even in the summer. If you're snubbers are sized correctly, that should not be an issue. I'd certainly use two separate snubbers. A third as a safety measure isn't bad. I'd leave enough slack to be able to run it to either bow. Watch it when the wind dies, as you spin the snubbers might get hung up in the ball. OR run 4 snubbers if you feel it will allow you to sleep better.

We sat through 45mph winds with combers rolling through a mooring field last year. I had 4 lines going to the ball. They all survived.

[deblen]

https://forums.sailboatowners.com/th...engths.106075/


https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...-252412-2.html


https://marinehowto.com/mooring-pend...ughts-musings/

[Liming II]

Thanks for the responses. We have a line for the port and a separate line for starboard. I should have said we are on a catamaran, I don't think that would change anyone answers.. We may try to get 1 more line on each side off the eyebolts.

Thanks again,

Mike

[tkeithlu]

Wonderful advice. Just add, set your anchor alarm. You didn't attach that mooring ball to terra firma, so you don't know whether it's been maintained in the last 20 years.

[dougweibel]

Catamaran doesn't change the advice you've been given.

I will reinforce what has been said. 25 kts should be a non-event. If you are worried about your mooring lines in 25 kts you need newer or bigger lines. I would not use lines I was concerned about for gusts under 50 kts. Squalls pop up at unexpected times and can hit fairly hard.

There is nothing wrong with doubling up lines. However, be prepared to spend some extra time getting off the mooring. We recently spent a few nights on a mooring next to another cat. Gusts to 40 for 48 hours with 1.5 kts peak tidal current and still blowing 20-5 when we left. The other cat doubled their lines and had to launch their dingy to get one set of lines unpinned from the other. The action of the reversing tidal current had wrapped the double lines a bit. Even without doubled lines we have sometimes had some difficulty getting the first line loose when leaving a mooring in wind. It is worst when you are using your own lines to a single pendant when the pendant does not have a thimble.

[markcoulter]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

Are you able to snorkle the mooring? The hardware under the water can be iffy. 25 knots is nothing. Make sure you use a separate mooring line from the port bow cleat to the mooring and back to the cleat, and from the starboard cleat to the mooring pennant back to the cleat. This way, you already have two independent lines. That will be enough.

Do NOT use a single looped line from one side, through the pennant to the other side. This will chafe and saw right through

I give that last price of advice to everyone. I saw a friend die from that mistake. His line chafed through, his engine wouldn’t start, and he was knocked off his boat when it drifted under a dock. I called the Coast Guard, but it was too late. It was blowing at least 45 knots, so I would have only been a liability in a rowboat.
I live year round on a mooring, when I’m not sailing my trimaran. It’s my own mooring, and I maintain it myself.

[seandepagnier]

I was in a storm on a mooring once with 50 knot sustained and the boat was doing the submarine thing with 8ft waves with length the same as the boat length, and it did break the mooring line. I did have a backup line to the mooring, but when I noticed I dropped my anchor (rather than trying to rig another line during the storm) In any case the second line did not break.

It was a 3/4" line, but very old.. chafe can be an issue. I would always suggest having more than one line in a storm.

[gregabbiss]

Well I hope you have cruised through the wind without incident. As many have said 25kts is nothing to be worried about. Will get a bit noisy perhaps but you'll be ok.

As you might have gathered from other comments, most cruisers are wary of mooring balls because we don't know how well they were put in and maintained without inspection.

We ourselves usually prefer to anchor as we have put a lot of time and energy into getting our anchoring kit and technique correct and we have learned to trust "bertha" our anchor in more than twice those winds.

Sea state is more important to a great degree so try to make sure you are on a protected shore and there is little fetch from the land to your mooring/anchor. This is even more important than just protection from the wind, as the seastate will bounce you and stress your ground tackle more than the wind itself.

With that, make sure you have a good snubber (catamaran, you'll have a good bridle or two good mooring lines with some stretch in them), stretch or "give" in your gear is important to absorb that shock and not break things or pulls things out bottom.

Make sure you have chafe protection in place, from using two lines to stop "Sawing" to actual chafe protection on the lines where they go through mooring rings etc.

A reliable anchor alarm is a must and a plan for if you drag or break loose is important. you don't want to wake in the middle of the night in panic about what to do. On that note, take note of land marks that you can see at night, getting your bearings of where you are and how you are orientated is more difficult in a hurry at night.

Doubling up your lines is prudent, but , as others have said, I wouldn't bother until it gets double your expected wind speeds and at that point I might be moving onto my anchor anyway :-).

The rest is about getting used to the noise and motion. Building confidence in your abilities and gear and allowing yourself to sleep. If really worried , split the night with an anchor watch between yourselves until you have built your confidence.

The best ally you can have is prudent thinking and caution. So right now whilst you are worried and not over confident, you are in the best of positions.

Enjoy the ride.

BTW, we have an impression as new sailors that if your tackles breaks you'll be sailing through the anchorage at great speed. The truth is you'll be drifting slowly and you will have time to react and intervene. This is the reason those that get too comfortable without an alarm or anything, sleep comfortably through their journey whilst others try to wake them from afar when things do go wrong.

[rotrax]

We nearly lost our new - to us - boat seven years ago in a 50 knot storm at Glengarrif in Ireland. I lifted the pickup buoy and wound the 1/2 inch line around a cleat. I then secured our heavy line to the large but rusty ring on the top of the mooring ball.


Next morning our heavy line was chafed right through, only the light line on the pickup was holding us. The gusts peaked at 55 knots nearby.


I made a heavy nylon three strand line with a metre of 5/16 chain spliced in the middle. That is used every time now if the ball has a shackle or ring for attatchment.

[Noisykate]

Talk to other people at the Anchorage, and ask them what they do, and to critique your set up.
Sort out an anchor alarm.
Watch who breaks free under what conditions and work out why.
Learn how to watch other boats to see who moves, allowing for everybody jiggling about.
Look out for rusty gear - we have a special line with a bit of chain reeved in the middle, for attaching to big old rusty moorings. (Both ends get fixed to the same cleat).

25kts is nothing and should not concern you. Talk to people, and sort out what is worrying you.

[Stewie12]

Chafé protection is essential. Whether it be a piece of rubber hose or whatever something is essential in a blow, but I would agree that 25 knots is nothing to worry about.

[boatman61]

As has been stated above.. I would be more concerned about the quality of the mooring than the amount of lines I have attached to it.
Mind.. a Lagoon represents a lorra windage..
But 25kts is a fresh breeze..