How to moor your yacht (and how not to)

Line-handling is an often neglected skill on which the safety of your boat and crew depends when tying up. Harry Dekkers explains what to do, and what not to

Sailing itself is not that difficult, with a few basic techniques and rules to keep you and your boat safe, whether you’re on a 50-footer or a dinghy. Since Covid 19, plenty of people have bought a boat and crossed the Atlantic without any major issues with very little prior experience.

On the flip side, many highly experienced sailors may never have crossed the Atlantic, but are likely to have come across plenty of challenges and even damaging themselves or their boat. That’s because manoeuvring in harbour requires, in many ways, far more skill and knowledge than sailing in a straight line and anchoring in open bays.

I’m going to explore the equipment, procedures, and possible challenges that can arise and how to overcome these.

Yacht owners invest a lot of money in the latest gizmos and gadgets, but many boats get neglected when it comes to mooring them in such a way that they remain in situ, in the state we left them and without damaging our neighbours’ yachts. It’s not uncommon to see a new yacht tied up with a line which is one third gone and a fender that’s had the fender sock chafed off.

The mooring line will break during the first storm and if not, then the damaged fender sock will ensure that the hull will be sandblasted as the boat moves in the wind.

Marina manoeuvring

Before approaching a berth some aspects need to be considered. We must plan the manoeuvre into the confined space of a marina and the more difficult the situation is, the more important the planning is. Most of the boat handling mistakes I’ve made have been in easy circumstances when I have neglected the planning phase.

As a skipper you set the speed as slow as possible to avoid damage and as fast as necessary to have water flowing over the rudder to retain steerage. There is little else you can do from the helm once you’ve started the manoeuvre. You need to have prepared in advance.

When planning, it’s worthwhile working out your ‘break off point’ – the point at which you will still be able to break off the manoeuvre and head back into more open water. It is also a good habit to ask yourself. ‘What can go wrong?’ And even better, to pretend you are manoeuvring single- handed. This will force you to consider the order everything has to be done in, including which mooring line should go ashore first.

Fender positions need to be considered, especially those that take the biggest load. In narrow berths you may decide to leave fenders off one side or both so you don’t get stuck.

How the lines will be attached needs thought too; pontoon cleats are fairly easy to lasso, but rings are trickier. You could confirm this with binoculars, or by asking the marina over the radio.

Communication

Talking to the marina is always a good start. They can confirm which berth you are in, what side to you will be, what the tide and wind is doing, and if there are any challenges, like a particularly long boat near your berth, as well as whether there are rings, hoops or cleats.

If you are sailing singlehanded, or in a cumbersome long-keeled boat, explain your situation and they may be able to send people to help catch lines, or assign you an easier berth.

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Sailing with crew, it is essential that you communicate your plan and explain what is expected from them. Actions like priority of mooring lines, what to do with specific mooring lines (for instance to ‘hold’ the line or let it slip slowly until the boat has come to a full stop), signalling distances to the shore, and stepping ashore, not jumping.

It will avoid flared tempers and possible accidents, particularly in tricky moorings. You don’t want a shouting match on board, but when giving commands, use a loud voice and ask crew to acknowledge they’ve heard you.

Positioning mooring lines

As you know, there are two main types of mooring lines: bow and stern mooring lines and bow and stern springs. The springs prevent the movement fore and aft, and the bow and stern line prevent movement in and out from the pontoon.

The longer the lines, and the more parallel to the yacht and pontoon, the more stretch the lines will have, reducing strain on the deck fittings. Tightening the bow and stern lines perpendicular to the yacht will keep the boat tight alongside, but offer little stretch and the yacht will snatch at the lines, making staying aboard uncomfortable and risking chafe or more serious damage.

If you want to improve the security of your mooring, then doubling up your mooring lines, secured at each end, and married up to the same tension will do the job.

Handling mooring lines

A mooring line is the key ingredient for keeping your boat where you left it, and needs to be suited to the size of boat and the forces of wind and tide acting on it. How you rig the lines is critical.

Stowing lines

It all starts with how you stow your lines ready to use. On our own boat we use two methods. A coiled line with a locking loop is the most common, or there is the ‘French pocket knot’. Either will let you keep these lines neatly and ideally hung up in the cockpit locker.

Straight line throw

Whether there is someone ashore to receive the line or not, you are likely to need to throw the line – doing this without jumping ashore is always preferable.

In the first instance you must be able to throw a line in a straight line. This is easy if you prepare the line in two coils. If you are right-handed, start coiling the largest part of the line in your left hand and make some smaller coils in your right hand. Then open up your left hand and throw away the coils in your right hand, which will ‘pull’ the coils in the left hand.

Accepting assistance

If there are nice people ashore who offer to take your lines, then always tell them exactly what you want them to do with the line so they don’t suddenly snub the boat and make the stern swing out wildly. Which cleat to use, whether to hold or ease and so on.

To avoid misunderstandings, it might be the better option to throw them a bight and keep the loose end on board, which enables you to decide yourself how tight you want the line to be and when necessary at least being able to slip the line completely.

Lasso throw

When there is no assistance ashore you will need to throw a bight of line around a cleat or pole. Start by holding some smaller coils of the line in your left and your right hand and the end of the line underneath your ring- and little-fingers. Then throw each coil outwards, creating one large loop. With a little practice, it’s easy to throw a knot-free loop a surprising distance. I used to make it a competition when training midshipmen for the longest throw and within minutes they were all acting as pros.

Slipping lines

Slipping a mooring is generally less challenging for the simple reason that you start in a steady and controlled state. The worst case is that you are unable to leave the berth – a nuisance, but rarely a cause of damage. Two years ago, we visited the beautiful island of Anholt, between Denmark and Sweden.

We took a temporary mooring along the fuel dock which was quite easy as the wind was blowing onto the pontoon. After refuelling, and a quick lunch, the wind had increased, making things uncomfortable, but in the meantime yachts had moored close ahead and astern of us, making it virtually impossible to leave, only saved from our predicament by the harbourmasters’ launch.

One potentially unforeseen risk is that as you release your last line, it jams or gets stuck on the cleat or some other obstruction ashore.

With the wind blowing you off the pontoon, that’s not a big issue, but an onshore breeze will push you back onto other boats if you lose steerage.

In the worst case scenario, releasing a loaded line that then jams can result in the line or a fitting breaking, with the danger of recoil posing a serious risk of injury to crew.Most jams or recoil situations occur when letting go of a line with an eye splice in it, but can also happen when a loose end whips and wraps itself around the other part of the line.

It is better to ease lines slowly than to throw it off quickly. It’s worth making sure you can let go of the line at the boat end too, so if the worst happens, you can drop the whole line and come back for it later.

Mooring equipment

Looking at the mooring lines themselves, there are a few aspects that can improve your mooring security: the material and the way the line is constructed can make a big difference. There are many types and brands, and it’s worth getting advice from your local chandler. The key criteria are independent of the brand, however.

First the diameter should be sufficient. Often big heavy yachts use lines much too thin, though big fat lines on a small boat can also cause issues. Secondly you want to have a lot of stretch in your mooring line, contrary to your running rigging. Stretch dampens shock loads, protects your boat and improves your sleep on board.

Don’t be tempted to reuse old halyards as mooring lines, as they can damage your boat. Thirdly, the line should be able to withstand chafing, or be fitted with adequate chafe protection. Fourthly, you want to minimise the influence of UV as this can degrade strength over time, especially important for permanent mooring lines.

The fifth thing to consider is how you want to make an eye at the end of your line when required. Splices are always preferable, as knots reduce strength and can get in the way. If you do tie a loop, a bowline is the best knot that won’t come undone by itself. Finally, finish your line ends properly. It can be done by melting or with tape, but a proper whipping is by far the most solid and durable option.

Mooring springs

When leaving the yacht for a longer period, if you have to use a short line, or if there’s a lot of wave action, mooring line springs can help. These can be either rubber around which the rope is wound, or stainless steel. For the rubber ones it is essential that the mooring line is led through the full length of the spring to act as a ‘last resort’ in case the rubber breaks under load or fatigue.

Stainless steel springs tend to be more reliable, but need firmly seized shackles at either end to be properly secure. These must be of similar metals to avoid corrosion, so not a mix of galvanised and stainless steel.

Use of fenders

Mooring alongside a pontoon requires the use of fenders. Too often I see yachts moored with fenders that are not wide enough, too few, or incorrectly positioned. In my experience, you can accommodate 90% of all situations with only four fenders, as long as they have a sufficient diameter. Even if you have sufficient fenders, but position them badly, they will be useless.

Try to avoid running your shore power cable over or under fenders, as getting the cable stuck can result in an electrical short.

For some years, the use of inflatable fenders is gaining popularity. These models are specifically useful in critical conditions when you would like to use fenders with a much larger diameter without having to find somewhere to stow them when not in use.

If your yacht is equipped with a rubbing strake, you can position the top side of the fenders on the rubbing strake to keep them from rubbing against the hull in the wind and causing numerous tiny scratches over time. If the boat is blown onto the pontoon, the fenders are there ready to do their job.

Some people use fender socks to prevent the fenders from damaging the hull. These socks do, however, have one disadvantage: they can and will collect fine dust and sand, which will slowly change your soft socks into a piece of sandpaper. So if you are using these socks then make sure you frequently give them a good wash.

Deck equipment

On cruising yachts, it’s easy to assume that all deck hardware is created equal, but just look around your local marina and you’ll find lines tied off to all sorts of unlikely deck fittings – stanchions, shroud bases and D-rings. Of course, if it isn’t made to support high lateral loads (none of the above equipment is), then you shouldn’t make off mooring lines to it.

If you haven’t had a look before, it’s worth looking at the underside of your deck, and finding out what reinforcement has been used for installing cleats and winches. Is there GRP reinforcement, or solid metal or wooden backing plates, or just a couple of penny washers? You’ll soon know which strongpoints you can trust. Hairline cracking on the deck around cleat bases suggest that more reinforcement is probably required.

Fairleads are critical for avoiding chafe. Ideally you should have nice rounded edges with no pinch points or sharp turns, though that’s rarely the case on cruising boats. Closed fairleads are more secure, though open fairleads are more common and more convenient.

Open fairleads should be orientated and used so that the line cannot easily pop out. If the line can jump out, it should be lashed in place to stop it causing damage should it break free.

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