Mooring bridle?

[gansett]

So we are moving our Bristol 31.1 K/CB to get it out of the mud. We're taking it across the bay closer to home, and mooring it at a marina with plenty of water. We were there several years ago with a previous boat. Back then i relied on a single mooring pennant provided by the marina and doubled it up on a couple of occasions when she rode out a hurricane and a major wind storm.
But more recently I've seen people using a bridle, and I'm wondering if i should up grade my mooring pennant to a 2 line bridle.
Is this a common method of better securing the boat? Or is it just overkill for most situations?

[Mike OReilly]

If one line is good, two are better. I always run a bridle to any mooring I use. But I also always use a bridle snubber when anchoring.

[hlev00]

I prefer a bridle on my Beneteau 423 as it helps reduce the sailing around a bit and reduces side loads on cleats as there are no bow chocks on this boat so the load is straight onto the cleats. The cleats are about 2 feet back from the bow. If the lead was through a bow chock or over an anchor roller I would be happy with a single lead.


Harry

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by gansett

So we are moving our Bristol 31.1 K/CB to get it out of the mud. We're taking it across the bay closer to home, and mooring it at a marina with plenty of water. We were there several years ago with a previous boat. Back then i relied on a single mooring pennant provided by the marina and doubled it up on a couple of occasions when she rode out a hurricane and a major wind storm.
But more recently I've seen people using a bridle, and I'm wondering if i should up grade my mooring pennant to a 2 line bridle.
Is this a common method of better securing the boat? Or is it just overkill for most situations?

On the West Coast now it apears to be standard practice to run a bridle/snubber. I don't know how this came to be so prevailant and I honestly don't see the advantage and I don't accept the claim that it reduces swinging in the wind at anchor. I think people do it because they see everyone else doing it. Not being a follower without understanding the reasons for doing something, I have never rigged a bridle.

We are happy with a single mooring or anchor rode (chain) and we do put on a single snubber if the conditions warrant.

However, a single mooring pennant is, of course, more consequential if it fails, so there is that.

[gansett]

We brought the boat to its new home port yesterday and put her on a mooring, using the single pennant provided. While I was on the bow I was evaluating the benefit of using a bridle and I'm not convinced it would be the best thing. Right now the path from each cleat to the same side fairlead brings the line right up against the bow rail stanchion. To avoid this I ran the line from port cleat to starboard fairlead. Plus, the fairleads are so close across from each other I don't think a bridle would do much good reducing swing on the mooring.

As I've done in the past, I will double up the pennants if a storm is coming in, with some chafe gear to prevent damage against the bow rail stanchion and through the fairlead. But normal mooring will be done on a single pennant unless I'm advised otherwise.

[Benz]

I have two lines from the mooring for redundancy, but they both come to the port side--otherwise they'd rub against the bobstay all the time. One goes though the hawse to the bitts, the other has a toggle spliced on that catches a loop on the bobstay shroud chainplate. There is no way for that one to chafe on anything.

[JebLostInSpace]

Depending on your bow's geometry, the double line may reduce swing on the mooring, or so I've been told. My bow geometry doesn't look like there's much effect, BUT I do now use the double line anyway after getting screwed over by the single line once.

Downtown Annapolis in a crowded mooring field the week before July 4. Tied on with a single line, as conditions were very mild and I honestly didn't even consider the 2-line setup. Later in the day, the mild conditions turned to a perfect flat calm. The moorings were "designed" to accommodate boats up to 55 feet, meaning there were precisely 55 feet from one ball to the next. My 43 feet and a neighbor's 45 feet meant their stern was routinely within spitting distance of my bow. In the flat calm, the boats no longer pointed nicely parallel to each other through the mooring field. One unlucky eddy swung my neighbor's boat about 140 degrees different from my heading, and bang! His dinghy (on davits), swung into my solar array and bent the hell out of them.

Don't get me wrong, having the double-line would not by any stretch of the imagination prevented this incident. However, the mooring operator's website apparently had fine print somewhere stating this was required. Because I did not have the double line, the mooring operator managed to escape paying for my damage, despite a mooring field that was clearly packed too tightly...

You live and you learn, and I repaired the array myself for a hundred bucks or so, and now I avoid mooring fields if they are too full. But I do run a 2-line bridle just in case it helps me in any future insurance claims.

[sogin]

Originally Posted by gansett

So we are moving our Bristol 31.1 K/CB to get it out of the mud. We're taking it across the bay closer to home, and mooring it at a marina with plenty of water. We were there several years ago with a previous boat. Back then i relied on a single mooring pennant provided by the marina and doubled it up on a couple of occasions when she rode out a hurricane and a major wind storm.
But more recently I've seen people using a bridle, and I'm wondering if i should up grade my mooring pennant to a 2 line bridle.
Is this a common method of better securing the boat? Or is it just overkill for most situations?

I learned a lot about mooring pendants on the Marine How To site run by Rod Collins (alias Main Sail) at the URL https://marinehowto.com/mooring-pend...ughts-musings/
We have duplicated his mooring pennant design and it has served us well but it is important to either have the ability to remove your anchor during storms or come up with a way to prevent it from touching the pendants.

[Shrew]

I used a bridle on a mooring about 4 years ago. When tide and wind went slack, the boat would hug the mooring buoy and invariably one of the legs of the bridle would wrap and get tangled around the mooring chain UNDER the mooring ball.

About once a week I would have to go out in a dinghy and untangle the mess. If you're going to use a bridle, it really needs to be short to prevent this from occurring.

[Shrew]

What would be better would be to tie the two legs of the bridle together from the mooring ball to as close to the pulpit as possible allowing the V portion to ba above the water in slack tide conditions.

[sogin]

Originally Posted by Shrew

I used a bridle on a mooring about 4 years ago. When tide and wind went slack, the boat would hug the mooring buoy and invariably one of the legs of the bridle would wrap and get tangled around the mooring chain UNDER the mooring ball.

About once a week I would have to go out in a dinghy and untangle the mess. If you're going to use a bridle, it really needs to be short to prevent this from occurring.

I solved that problem by tying in several floats on the merged bridle (as per shown by Maine Sail) immediately above the attachment points to the mooring ball. We actually attach on top of the mooring rather than Maine Sails' recommendation to attach below the mooring ball. beneath the mooring ball. I don't have a photo handy but it does protect the boat from contacting the mooring ball and because of the floats it never wraps around the mooring chain

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by sogin

I solved that problem by tying in several floats on the merged bridle (as per shown by Maine Sail) immediately above the attachment points to the mooring ball. We actually attach on top of the mooring rather than Maine Sails' recommendation to attach below the mooring ball. beneath the mooring ball. I don't have a photo handy but it does protect the boat from contacting the mooring ball and because of the floats it never wraps around the mooring chain

I do similar with pipe insulation or brightly colored "pool noodles". They keep the lines floating so they can't get caught under the buoy. The bright colored ones are easier to see at night too. They only last a season but I get them at dollar store so they're almost free. Two noodles per bridle leg.