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Mooring Tips (Use at your discretion!)
With the safety and
convenience of a mooring comes a certain amount of anxiety. Some of
the best entertainment in Catalina is watching other boats trying to fetch
a mooring can. Nothing is better than pulling up to a mooring like
you were on a track. On the other hand, nothing is worse than over
running the mooring, slamming your boat into reverse and having the stern
swing around, giving you the opportunity to meet your new neighbor, "up
close and personal". In an effort to make things a little less
entertaining, Nancy Wallace of the Dana Point Yacht Club has offered some
helpful information on moorings and how to fetch them.
1. Locate your mooring
buoy and float with wand.
 2. Approach from the shore side of the mooring if
possible.
3. As you approach note
the wind direction and how other boats on your row have cleated their
lines (Port or Starboard).
4. Have someone on the
bow grab the wand.
5. Position your boat
so your forward and wind momentum will stop with your bow at the float
with wand and your stem toward shore. GOOD LUCK!! This is the hardest
part. Be careful not to over run the wand and use as little reverse as
possible to avoid swinging the stern from the engine torque.
6. As soon as the bow
person can grasp the wand pull it on deck. The boat should have drifted to
a stop by now. Put the boat in neutral and go forward to assist. Cleat the
heavy yellow bow line on the same side as the boats around you and hold it
in place. The bow person hands you the smaller yellow sand line (the one
with the small lead sinkers on it) and holds the bow line in place. Walk
the sand line on the side you cleated the bow. Pull up the slack as you
walk to the stern. Cleat the heavy yellow stern line. Drop the sand line.
GOOD JOB, your now safe and sound at the Island. |
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There is no doubt that the best entertainment for the fleet is
watching the various boats and their anchoring techniques. No one will
ever say anything if you do a good job, but don't do it right, and
you'll have plenty of advice on what you're doing wrong! Two techniques
that won't work are; first, to dump all the chain in one spot, and then
back up at 2-3 knots to set the anchor. The second is to drop the
anchor, and back up too quickly |
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MOORING AT CATALINA ISLAND?
Get rid of handling the usual messy sand line that connects the bow and stern hawsers.
This new product, called a MOORING-COIL,, lets you and the boat stay clean. Attached to a tether, it captures and slides along the sand line so that you can easily and cleanly retrieve the stern hawser, after cleating the bow hawser
At the same time, the MOORING-COIL, will give you better control of the boat over crosswinds that may push the stern away.
The substantial stainless steel MOORING-COIL, is $58.85 plus tax and shipping. Additionally, various lengths tethers, spliced on, are available - or you can provide your own.
The MOORING-COIL,is made by Yacht Rigging Associates. For info and orders, please call 310-823-2627
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| without putting out sufficient
scope. The technique that works for us is to drop the anchor, and
as it reaches the bottom slowly back up until you have a scope of about
7:1 out. At that point secure the line if you're using nylon or connect
a snubber if you're using chain. Put the engine in reverse, and slowly
raise the rpm's from idle until you reach the rpm cruising speed you
normally motor at. |
Anchoring Tips
Stop at each 200-rpm increment to determine that
you are not dragging. I do this until we are at about 1600 rpm's, and
then we just sit there in reverse for about a minute or so, and then
increase the speed to 1800 rpm's. Watch that line or snubber straighten
out. Put your foot on the line, and if you can feel the line jumping the
anchor is not holding, and you should back off to 200 less rpm's, and
let it pull at that speed for a while. If it's still not holding, don't
waste your time…pick up the anchor and drop it in a different place.
Sometimes it'll work if you back down 180 degrees in the opposite
direction. After the anchor is set, then you can pull in the extra rode,
and anchor with a 5:1 scope minimum. If there are other boats in the
anchorage, ask them how much scope they have out if you'll be anchoring
near them. Ask what direction the wind blew from the night before, maybe
they can tell you about a local condition that would effect the way you
would anchor. After anchoring, if you think that maybe you're a little
too close to another boat, ask them how they feel, and if they say that
they also think you're too close, then reanchor. It's better to do it
then than if the wind picks up in the middle of the night, and you have
to re-anchor in the dark. Above all, never anchor up wind of another
boat which would put your boat over their anchor. No matter which way
the wind shifts you never want to be over another boat's anchor.
Sometimes you'll run into a guy who thinks that, if you're within 1,000
feet of his boat, you're too close. Try to find out exactly where he
thinks his anchor is, and how much scope he has out. You'll then
be able to determine if you're too close to his anchor. If you feel
there's no problem, politely tell him so, and offer to re-anchor if you
do get too close later, but remember it may be in the middle of a pitch
black night, so get it right the first time.
excepted from Ground Tackle
and Techniques by Jim Hughes, Baja
Seafaris |
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