Boat on my mooring

[JordanH]

All this discussion and I didn't see any mention of how the guy left the boat on the mooring. He's either down below, dead, or he's jumped in a dinghy where he escaped to a pre-arranged ride outta there... or left on another vessel of some kind...

Assuming he's not dead, then...
1. It was pre-planned and the guy (or the thieves) intentionally left the boat and split.
2. It was not pre-planned... perhaps someone found a boat adrift, dragged it into the harbour and said, "ugh, I don't want to deal with this, I'll secure it and go on with my day."

In either case, the person that left it there had to get to shore some how...

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by gmakhs

Moorings are unfair to other sailors and should be illegal like they are on most countries.

I want to touch on this point for a moment.

But first, I want to explain that to me, there are (at least) two classes of moorings. First is a "home" mooring; the place where you keep your boat.

Around here you essentially rent that space from the municipality. Think of the quaint New England fishing village with all the lobster boats jammed into the harbor, as close to the town dock and other commercial wharves as possible.

Sometimes the waiting list to get one of these moorings is decades long. They are absolutely essential to both the business of fishing (often a large part of the town's economy) and to recreational boaters (which again, has value to the community.)

These are sacred. You don't just show up and hang out on one because you're done cruising for the day and don't want to anchor. It's simply not tolerated.

Then there are "destination" moorings. These are set up in remote coves where there are no shoreside facilities. No locals need these spots to keep their boats.

These are usually found in what used to be popular anchorages, with good protection, good holding and quiet surroundings. Those places are relatively rare around here, and it can be a challenge to plan your day to arrive at one.

But here's the catch: Anyone can walk into the town hall in many places, plunk down a few dollars, and reserve the right to put a mooring right in the middle of one of these great anchorages, reserving it forever for themselves. The town doesn't care; those spots have no commercial value to them.

Pretty soon all the anchorages are full of moorings that are only used a few nights a year by their "owners."

Your only option is to take one, and if the owner shows up, move to another.

This isn't codified in law, and it's not something anyone likes to do. It's just the reality, created by a system which does not value anchorages.

[Supers0nic]

Sounds like Chad

[CassidyNZ]

One thing that isn’t mentioned at all is that the stranger who hooks onto a mooring has no knowledge at all about what’s at the bottom. Where I live moorings are “tailored” and registered for a particular size of vessel and they are “owned” by a person, not public property.

My mooring has a 4 ton anchor with ground tackle to suit and is registered for vessels up to 14m. The mooring alongside mine has a 1.5 ton anchor and is registered for vessels up to 8m. If I had to tie to my neighbor’s mooring and it blew hard in the night, there is a chance that I will ”relocate” his mooring or even do lasting but invisible damage to the ground tackle.

So I have a very jaundiced view of anyone tying onto a mooring that they haven’t been invited to use and see it as an act of absolute disdain for other people’s property. Any boat owner who thinks it’s OK is dead wrong.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by CassidyNZ

One thing that isn’t mentioned at all is that the stranger who hooks onto a mooring has no knowledge at all about what’s at the bottom. Where I live moorings are “tailored” and registered for a particular size of vessel and they are “owned” by a person, not public property.

My mooring has a 4 ton anchor with ground tackle to suit and is registered for vessels up to 14m. The mooring alongside mine has a 1.5 ton anchor and is registered for vessels up to 8m. If I had to tie to my neighbor’s mooring and it blew hard in the night, there is a chance that I will ”relocate” his mooring or even do lasting but invisible damage to the ground tackle.

So I have a very jaundiced view of anyone tying onto a mooring that they haven’t been invited to use and see it as an act of absolute disdain for other people’s property. Any boat owner who thinks it’s OK is dead wrong.

Not to mention just dumb since you don't know if it can hold your boat. I'm terrified of any mooring that I don't know for certain is regularly either pulled or dived on for inspection and rated for the boat I'm booking up to it, and that's before we get to any issues of permission!