Dumb mooring questions.....

Hello All,
My E38 is on a mooring this year, which is a first for me. I thought that being on a mooring would be easier than docking..... I was wrong! Getting off the mooring is quite easy, just pull up some slack and drop the pennant, no problem. The problem came when I tried to get the darned pennant back. With the dinghy hanging from the mooring pennant it was impossible to motor up to the mooring straight into the wind which I assume would be the easiest. I had to approach from the side which resulted in being blown down off the mooring ball, almost missing the pickup float, squashing the dink, etc. There has got to be an easier way to do this. How the heck do you motor up without running over the dink? Any tips? Thanks, RT

Hi Rob, how about a longer painter or pennant that you can attach to the stern of the dink, then you can pick it off with a hook? You would need to have a second painter to attach the dinghy to the float.

Rob just tie up your dink up short to the mooring ball and let the pennant float past. A smaller float on a smaller line attached to the pennant can extend the length and make for an easier pick up(then just keep the second float and line on deck when you are moored)

I've found coming in at a slight angle to the wind works best. Maybe 15 degrees or so. Then you won't directly run over the dinghy, and you'll also be near enough to the wind that the bow won't get blown off (and run over the dinghy). Also pay attention on your pre-approach to any current, because that'll push the dinghy off the wind too, so you can choose the favored side.

Ditto what Ben said about tying the dinghy up short on the mooring ball. Then your pennant is likely a good bit longer than your pennant, so the pickup buoy should be behind it.

I'm sure this goes without saying, but just in the interest of covering all the bases, you're picking up from the bow, right, not the cockpit? Even if picking up alone it's much easier in my opinion to pick a good approach, wait until the bow is 5 feet from the pickup bouy and closing slowly, then put the transmission in reverse idle, and walk to the bow to pick up the pennant, and cleat it off. Putting in reverse idle means you won't run over the bouy if you miss the pickup, and if you make the pennant fast, the boat won't spin around the ball once it's tied (endangering the neighboring boats).

My favorite thing about moorings is that you can sail on and off of them so easily. Tried that once with a slip, and it was a near "adventure".

Thanks for the input! I will try tying the dink short to the ball and see what happens. Also the slight angle and then using just a touch of reverse sounds like just the ticket. We are overnighting tonight so tomorrow when we get back I will get to try it. Thanks, RT

Though we don't have moorings here in SoCal it brings up great memories of my father. When I was a kid in Maine my Dad stuck a ski pole thru a buoy with a weight on the bottom. The pick up was about fifteen feet off our mooring and he'd tie the punt right to the mooring. He'd come blasting in off the Atlantic in his old Herresoff, come into the wind and stop dead.

When my older sister started sailing we had graduated to an aluminum skiff. She tried to emulate Dad and one afetrnoon crushed that skiff like tin foil. Then she made her little brother swim in to "borrow" a punt.

Thanks for the memories

John

Well that worked! Keeping the dink up close literally on top of the ball allows the pennants and float to hang out behind it and makes for an easy pickup. I was able to get back on the mooring ball today singlehanded using the advice from this thread so thanks much! RT

Bravo!