Running the line through the eye then back to the opposite side of the bow virtually assures that the line will chafe. If brought back to the same cleat or side the chances of chafe become almost nil. Since you are rigging a second line anyway, deploy it on the other side. There are then two working lines, neither of which rub back and forth on the ring.
Thank you for the comment Ted, I appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback. This does makes some sense. I have tried both and for me I prefer the clean run to the opposite side and fairness of the lead from the front of the boat. Another one of my instructor friends also pointed out that he does a half turn around the ring and that helps eliminate chafe. The bottom line for me is to have some kind of backup as chafe is always a potential problem with dire consequences.
We’ve had a lot of success in very high winds, by backing the stern quarter (carefully!) into the buoy, and then catching it from the cockpit using the same technique you showed for singlehanding. Doing it that way, the bow can’t blow off as soon as you lose way. The helms person can hold the stern on station for quite a lot longer in the wind without being blown off.
I always put the mooring line through the eye twice as this reduces abrasion. More recently I have been using a mooring line made up with a short length of chain (~2m) with the warps spliced to each end. This eliminates any chafe at the buoy end. I still use a safety line as well though! As our bow is quite high we have been experimenting with backing up the boat to access the buoy from our sugar scoop/bathing platform. This makes threading the line through very easy. But we need more practice in strong wind and tide as it can be a test to get the buoy back to the bow position.
Those are great points Bill. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I am planning to do a follow up video incorporating some of those ideas. I really like the idea of backing up to the buoy and certainly in windy conditions that would easiest with my boat. Very innovative of you to design lines with a length of chain. I bet you sleep well at night 😉
If conditions allow, I try to put the bow between the wind and the mooring, that way if the bow is blown off, it is blown into the buoy, not away. Great videos, thanks.
Great overview video Marco. Well explained, good quality video and graphics. Love the tip on a lay line. We will definitely be adding it to our mooring ball routine. Thanks again!
Thank you so much Capitain!! Love your channel which is important knowledge I need as a beginner! Your tech if is straightforward, easy to understand. The graft made everything so much clearer! Subscripted and liked! You are the best 👍👍👍 🙏🙏🙏
That style of mooring set up is totally different from what we have here in Maine. Here the mooring has an attached pendant that the boater picks up and puts onto a bow cleat. Typically pendants are 3/4" (19 mm) at a minimum. The pendant always has a piece of light line (3/8" or 8 mm) that goes from the spliced eye at the end of the pendant to a float of some sort. Floats range from styrofoam lobster buoys that you snag with a boat hoot to pickup buoys with a 6' to 8' mast with a float on the mast and weight at the bottom of the mast so it floats upright. With this sort of setup there is no need for the boater to supply a line unless the mooring pendant is too big to pass through the boat's chocks. Pendants almost always have integral chafe protection, which combined with the larger pendant diameter greatly reduces the risk of chafe through except during significant storms (50-60 knots) with large waves. In fact my 36' full keel boat has ridden out a number of 60 plus knot storms on the mooring without chafing.
Hey Todd, Yes I am familiar with that system and you're right it is way better. Years ago when I had my own mooring buoy that's how I had it set up and yes, never had an issue with chafe ( still had two pendants just in case). Last year I spliced up some pendants for one of my students who was keeping her boat on a mooring buoy. Spliced eyes with thimbles and shackles for the buoy end and spliced eyes for the cleat. Infinitely better. The system you see in the video is how all the mooring buoys in our provincial marine parks are set up.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Washington state marine parks have something similar to what you show. We don't have marine parks here, but all the rental moorings I have encountered here are set up as I described. Have you ever considered shackling a proper pendant onto one of those moorings? A zip tie would be adequate in place of seizing wire on the shackle for a single night. Also if I had an anchor roller setup like yours I would want two lines as well. That is one poorly designed anchor roller/bow setup. That said, if my boat will be on the mooring for a bad (>60 knots) storm from the bad direction (east in my home harbor), I do shackle an additional pendant to the chain below the mooring buoy.
Man it is so more easy with the chained-out buoys. I regularly break my back when trying to reach down the buoy eye and pass my line into it espically in clappy waters and moderate wing. I have often wondered by port-athorities could not install more sailboat friendly buoys like the one shown here. Or at least get buoys with elevated eye.
Thanks for the comment 12345. It would be even easier if they had lighter floating rope pendants spliced to the eye of the mooring ball but they would have to be regularly maintained as they are subject to UV damage.
Wondering if there is an easy (and fast) way to thread both lines through the buoy hook at the same time and still concentrate on just getting the first one secured to hold the boat in position before securing the second?
That's a great question. I find the chain, especially if its jammed in the buoy really heavy to hold onto, so I only had a short amount of time to thread one line (with more preparation and forethought I might have been able to thread both at the same time). I have had many comments for this video with lots of questions and suggestions so I will be doing another video this simmer to incorporate those. Thanks for taking the tine to comment, I appreciate the support.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video Bryan. I just use my regular mooring lines. My bow line is longer than my stern line. Probably 20’ or so. Then they double back. So I would say 10-15’ when doubled back
Thanks for this video! Great info especially on the idea of running a long line and picking up from the cockpit if conditions demand. Would it also make sense to equalize the lines (ie put the lazy line to work :) and have them share the load? Thanks again!
Hi Stephen. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment. In my opinion I would prefer to leave the lazy line loose enough that it will not chafe at all... and on the subject of lazy lines in my first mooring buoy video I demonstrated the line going from one side of the boat , through the ring and back to the other side of the boat. I was fairly widely criticized for that and the issue was chafing. After having tried both ways I personally prefer the line on opposite sides of the boat as the load is centred and the boat rides better to the wind.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Cool thanks! That makes total sense then with the lazy line and there is definitely logic to wanting to keep one of your lines 100% isolated from chafing. Re: lines going to opposite sides...I've also seen others recommending the other approach in terms of running your lines back to the same side. It strikes me as though the most important consideration with all of this is to just make sure that you *have two lines* although I understand the logic of potentially minimizing chafe by keeping each line isolated to its own side as well. One thing that I *could* imagine happening might be someone (or even lots of people!) running a single line from one side to the other and then believing that they established redundancy, when, in fact that were not the case at all...and in fact maybe they even weakened the system by exposing it to more chafe? I'm totally new to this and have only moored a boat literally one time! At any rate...thank you again for all of this info, I am going to get out and practice all of this stuff my next time on the water!
Yes. That comment has been made. It’s been my preference to run one and keep things simple rather than fuss with two lines at once but it’s a good thought l. I’ll be doing a follow up video with that in mind. Also leading the lines back to the cleat on the same side. Thanks for the comment.
Running the line through the eye then back to the opposite side of the bow virtually assures that the line will chafe. If brought back to the same cleat or side the chances of chafe become almost nil. Since you are rigging a second line anyway, deploy it on the other side. There are then two working lines, neither of which rub back and forth on the ring.
Thank you for the comment Ted, I appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback. This does makes some sense. I have tried both and for me I prefer the clean run to the opposite side and fairness of the lead from the front of the boat. Another one of my instructor friends also pointed out that he does a half turn around the ring and that helps eliminate chafe. The bottom line for me is to have some kind of backup as chafe is always a potential problem with dire consequences.
We’ve had a lot of success in very high winds, by backing the stern quarter (carefully!) into the buoy, and then catching it from the cockpit using the same technique you showed for singlehanding. Doing it that way, the bow can’t blow off as soon as you lose way. The helms person can hold the stern on station for quite a lot longer in the wind without being blown off.
Very good point. I will be doing another video highlighting that point as well as a few others that have come up in comments. Thanks for the feedback.
I always put the mooring line through the eye twice as this reduces abrasion. More recently I have been using a mooring line made up with a short length of chain (~2m) with the warps spliced to each end. This eliminates any chafe at the buoy end. I still use a safety line as well though!
As our bow is quite high we have been experimenting with backing up the boat to access the buoy from our sugar scoop/bathing platform. This makes threading the line through very easy. But we need more practice in strong wind and tide as it can be a test to get the buoy back to the bow position.
Those are great points Bill. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I am planning to do a follow up video incorporating some of those ideas. I really like the idea of backing up to the buoy and certainly in windy conditions that would easiest with my boat. Very innovative of you to design lines with a length of chain. I bet you sleep well at night 😉
If conditions allow, I try to put the bow between the wind and the mooring, that way if the bow is blown off, it is blown into the buoy, not away. Great videos, thanks.
Great tip!
Great overview video Marco. Well explained, good quality video and graphics. Love the tip on a lay line. We will definitely be adding it to our mooring ball routine. Thanks again!
Thank you for the very kind comment. I’m glad you found it useful.
Thank you so much Capitain!! Love your channel which is important knowledge I need as a beginner! Your tech if is straightforward, easy to understand. The graft made everything so much clearer!
Subscripted and liked!
You are the best 👍👍👍
🙏🙏🙏
Wow I like that yellow ball thingy 😊
Yeah me too
That style of mooring set up is totally different from what we have here in Maine. Here the mooring has an attached pendant that the boater picks up and puts onto a bow cleat. Typically pendants are 3/4" (19 mm) at a minimum. The pendant always has a piece of light line (3/8" or 8 mm) that goes from the spliced eye at the end of the pendant to a float of some sort. Floats range from styrofoam lobster buoys that you snag with a boat hoot to pickup buoys with a 6' to 8' mast with a float on the mast and weight at the bottom of the mast so it floats upright. With this sort of setup there is no need for the boater to supply a line unless the mooring pendant is too big to pass through the boat's chocks. Pendants almost always have integral chafe protection, which combined with the larger pendant diameter greatly reduces the risk of chafe through except during significant storms (50-60 knots) with large waves. In fact my 36' full keel boat has ridden out a number of 60 plus knot storms on the mooring without chafing.
Hey Todd,
Yes I am familiar with that system and you're right it is way better. Years ago when I had my own mooring buoy that's how I had it set up and yes, never had an issue with chafe ( still had two pendants just in case). Last year I spliced up some pendants for one of my students who was keeping her boat on a mooring buoy. Spliced eyes with thimbles and shackles for the buoy end and spliced eyes for the cleat. Infinitely better. The system you see in the video is how all the mooring buoys in our provincial marine parks are set up.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Washington state marine parks have something similar to what you show. We don't have marine parks here, but all the rental moorings I have encountered here are set up as I described. Have you ever considered shackling a proper pendant onto one of those moorings? A zip tie would be adequate in place of seizing wire on the shackle for a single night. Also if I had an anchor roller setup like yours I would want two lines as well. That is one poorly designed anchor roller/bow setup. That said, if my boat will be on the mooring for a bad (>60 knots) storm from the bad direction (east in my home harbor), I do shackle an additional pendant to the chain below the mooring buoy.
Man it is so more easy with the chained-out buoys. I regularly break my back when trying to reach down the buoy eye and pass my line into it espically in clappy waters and moderate wing. I have often wondered by port-athorities could not install more sailboat friendly buoys like the one shown here. Or at least get buoys with elevated eye.
Thanks for the comment 12345. It would be even easier if they had lighter floating rope pendants spliced to the eye of the mooring ball but they would have to be regularly maintained as they are subject to UV damage.
Wondering if there is an easy (and fast) way to thread both lines through the buoy hook at the same time and still concentrate on just getting the first one secured to hold the boat in position before securing the second?
Interesting thought! That would make life easier. I'll think about it. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for making these videos. Can I ask why you didn't thread the lazy line through the ring when you pulled the chain up the first time?
That's a great question. I find the chain, especially if its jammed in the buoy really heavy to hold onto, so I only had a short amount of time to thread one line (with more preparation and forethought I might have been able to thread both at the same time). I have had many comments for this video with lots of questions and suggestions so I will be doing another video this simmer to incorporate those. Thanks for taking the tine to comment, I appreciate the support.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine it just looked back breaking and I felt it. 😀
Thank you for sharing, very helpful. Any hints on the length of lines required, especially to.minimisr getting the mooring line around your keel?
I’m glad you enjoyed the video Bryan. I just use my regular mooring lines. My bow line is longer than my stern line. Probably 20’ or so. Then they double back. So I would say 10-15’ when doubled back
Thanks for this video! Great info especially on the idea of running a long line and picking up from the cockpit if conditions demand. Would it also make sense to equalize the lines (ie put the lazy line to work :) and have them share the load? Thanks again!
Hi Stephen. Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment. In my opinion I would prefer to leave the lazy line loose enough that it will not chafe at all... and on the subject of lazy lines in my first mooring buoy video I demonstrated the line going from one side of the boat , through the ring and back to the other side of the boat. I was fairly widely criticized for that and the issue was chafing. After having tried both ways I personally prefer the line on opposite sides of the boat as the load is centred and the boat rides better to the wind.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine Cool thanks! That makes total sense then with the lazy line and there is definitely logic to wanting to keep one of your lines 100% isolated from chafing. Re: lines going to opposite sides...I've also seen others recommending the other approach in terms of running your lines back to the same side. It strikes me as though the most important consideration with all of this is to just make sure that you *have two lines* although I understand the logic of potentially minimizing chafe by keeping each line isolated to its own side as well. One thing that I *could* imagine happening might be someone (or even lots of people!) running a single line from one side to the other and then believing that they established redundancy, when, in fact that were not the case at all...and in fact maybe they even weakened the system by exposing it to more chafe? I'm totally new to this and have only moored a boat literally one time! At any rate...thank you again for all of this info, I am going to get out and practice all of this stuff my next time on the water!
can you explain the need and use for shackle in addition to metal reinforced eyelet? Thank you. Drew
Not exactly sure what you're talking about? Where in the video is it? Is it in this video?
I wish someone would think of a way to stop the mooring ball banging into the hull at night while trying to sleep. It always happens at slack tide.
So true 😉
Looks like Plumper Cove! :)
You got it Alfy 😊
Start @5:14 'capturing mooring buoys'
Sharing is caring
Thank you
Couldn't you make fast the lazy line and slip both through the ring together?
Yes. That comment has been made. It’s been my preference to run one and keep things simple rather than fuss with two lines at once but it’s a good thought l. I’ll be doing a follow up video with that in mind. Also leading the lines back to the cleat on the same side. Thanks for the comment.
@@CarpeDiemSailingMagazine BTW, great channel. I am pasting your links to my novice sailing friends
@@ronniecaptain Thank you very much. Much more to come. Raising and Lowering Sails, Tacking, Gybing, Crew Overboard Drills, Gear etc.