UFC Mooring Ball FIGHT!!!

[hoppy]

What technique(s) do you use solo?

I have not picked up a mooring buoy for years. The last time I guess I was lucky, only two attempts on a day with 20-30 knots but no current.

I manoeuvred the boat so that it was on an angle to the wind, windward of the buoy and positioned so that the boat should drift on the buoy midships. That gave me time to get to the buoy and pick it up with a hook and walk it to the bow to tie it up.

No idea if it's a good technique to use or I was just lucky. On previous buoy mooring attempts I tried to motor the bow up to the buoy and run up to the bow. It sucked.

Nice track art

[darylat8750]

Originally Posted by hoppy

What technique(s) do you use solo?

I have not picked up a mooring buoy for years. The last time I guess I was lucky, only two attempts on a day with 20-30 knots but no current.

I manoeuvred the boat so that it was on an angle to the wind, windward of the buoy and positioned so that the boat should drift on the buoy midships. That gave me time to get to the buoy and pick it up with a hook and walk it to the bow to tie it up.

No idea if it's a good technique to use or I was just lucky. On previous buoy mooring attempts I tried to motor the bow up to the buoy and run up to the bow. It sucked.

Nice track art

The second time I ever tried using a buoy instead of my anchor.. On the Hudson with what seemed like 10 knots of current I tried something similar. The buoy popped up on the other side of the boat after scratching my new bottom paint. :face palm: With the boss at the helm and me on the lines we finely got a line through the ring one the try where I said "If this doesn't work we wait for slack tide."

[deblen]

Before arriving
Bring bow line back to cockpit-outside of stanchions,etc.

Motor up so buoy is beside cockpit.

Pass bow line thru eye of bouy or pendant.

Cleat bitter end of bowline to a winch,cleat,etc. at cockpit.

Let boat drift back & the mooring slide up the bow line.

Smile

[PuttingDoctor]

Originally Posted by hoppy

What technique(s) do you use solo?

I have not picked up a mooring buoy for years. The last time I guess I was lucky, only two attempts on a day with 20-30 knots but no current.

I manoeuvred the boat so that it was on an angle to the wind, windward of the buoy and positioned so that the boat should drift on the buoy midships. That gave me time to get to the buoy and pick it up with a hook and walk it to the bow to tie it up.

No idea if it's a good technique to use or I was just lucky. On previous buoy mooring attempts I tried to motor the bow up to the buoy and run up to the bow. It sucked.

Nice track art

As mentioned prior planning a pickup from the stern or cockpit may ease the burden of communication between crew and helmsman. "Keep your eye on the ball." Check out this review of EasyMoor. Boating Gear Review of the 'EasyMoor' mooring device

[MIRELOS]

that's a tough river, very strong currents and stuff floating around

[Kita]

I can only imagine there was a few choice words that go with a sailors vocabulary. ..but as a guy that doesn't do alot of this.I have a question, is there a problem with using a small grappling hook like you see on crab boats when they are picking up the traps? Seems like that would be easy,or am I way off here?

[sailorboy1]

bet some of the people on smaller boats saying "just reach down and pass the line ...." wouldn't be as smug if they tried it on a bigger boat

[SteveInMD]

I needed a good laugh! Thanks Mark. Happy Friday!

[Cruisingscotts]

About a week after buying my first boat, a 36' ketch, with zero expiriance other than a canoe. One of the many hazards to navigation presented was my first mooring ball attempt. I pulled into Roche harbor andit was flat calm with n current. I pulled the bow right up to the mooring ball just perfect. I then climbed over the bow pulpit and down the bobstay sort of hanging upside down and fished a line though the eye and brought it back up over the bow roller. I was very proud of myself and could not figure out why everyone on the dock was laughing at me?

[CaptTom]

We tried to grab one that had no pennant line, with a strong, gusty wind and stiff current. By the way, my boat is all windage, and has very high freeboard.

I gave up. No matter how many times I could grab the eye with a boathook, I couldn't get it close enough to get a line through it.

I wonder if getting it from the swim platform might have worked. Never tried that on this boat. I used to use a similar trick on a smaller boat, but it was low enough to grab the ball over the gunnel.

[buzzstar]

After reading the comments and re-reviewing the image, I concluded, 1/ it was a snail moving NNE, 2/ I will henceforth shut down all unnecessary electronics before making such attempts, 3/ I am not alone in having such problems, 4/ if some of my attempts had been recorded, it would make you look good, 5/ using a boat hook from the helm leads to strange patterns. And that is enough.

[MCOS]

Mooring balls forgive our mistakes, docks don't. The only unsuccessful mooring at a ball occurs when the captain concedes defeat prior to hooking the ball. Sometimes the dance is short, sometimes it is not, still considered "sailing" and far better then most other activities.

[Olddave]

In the past, I have left my Zodiac on the mooring while I enjoyed a solo day sail. An unsuccessful pick-up could be expensive. My trimarans beam and the potential for the dinghy to end up under the trampoline were added complications.
If the breeze had strengthened during the day, sometimes I would swallow my pride and just drop the anchor up wind of the mooring!! Yep then I could drift back in full control and grapple the mooring rope.
To retrieve the anchor I would add a temporary line to the mooring so that I could get over the anchor and suck it up, so to speak.
Not fancy but it works.

[deblen]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

bet some of the people on smaller boats saying "just reach down and pass the line ...." wouldn't be as smug if they tried it on a bigger boat

If a mooring has no pendant-just a ring on top of buoy-what do you do?
I presume you have to get your line attached to the ring--somehow.
What methods do folks use ??

Tks/ Len

[ArcticNightSky]

We just got the "Happy Hooker" boat hook. Makes it so much easier. It threads the line right through, super simple.