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"Sailing" or "Horsing" on a Buoyed Mooring

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
My plan was to keep my E32-3 on a buoy year round, topped with a canvas boat cover. I've only had the boat in since early last month. Before installing the cover, I was satisfied with the mooring, though I was surprised by how much the boat “sailed” or “horsed” in 12+ knots of wind. Often the bow would swing rhythmically up to 25-30 degrees off center, but I could live with that.

I thought the canvas cover would help, as there is more canvas behind than mast than in front. Man, was I wrong! With the cover on, the swings increased to 60-80 degrees. Occasionally, the bow would actually get pointed slightly downwind, the boat “sailing” away nearly broad-reached until jerked back in the opposite direction by the mooring lines. As it was late in the evening, dark, and cold, I decided this would have to make do for the night (winds were forecast at 10K). I was going to remove the cover the next day.

Then, hesitating to undo all the work I’d done just the day before, I thought I’d try tying by to the stern, just to see how it would fare. I was amazed at the difference. Tied to stern, the boat remained rock solid in 15K wind—no oscillations at all. It only moved, in a very controlled manner, when wind gusts changed directions.

Time to rethink my plan. Options: 1) leave the boat covered and tied to stern as pictured, 2) remove the cover and go back to tying off at the bow, 3) try a riding sail with the boat tied to bow and covered, or 4) suck it up and pay for a slip--at least over the winter.

Any long term concerns over tying off to stern long-term? Any experience with a riding sail on a permanent mooring buoy?

Conditions in the bay where I’m moored:
Bay is very well protected from waves.
MLLW depth 12’ / tide range of -4 to +15.
Mooring is an 18” buoy on 6’ chain + 30’ of 1” double-braid nylon, with 2 swivels, shackled to a helix anchor
Peak/Average “High” winds are 35K/18K (Jan-Mar), 38/16K (Sep-Dec) over the last two years


The boat: Raised stern with 7 thru-hulls:
Eng exhaust (with a seacock I can close)
2 Cockpit drains (seacocks that need to stay open for drainage)
3 Bilge pump drains (2 for electric pumps, one for the manual pump that I can bung for protection)
Propane locker drain​

Any advice or experiences appreciated....

Ken
 

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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Well, it's another example of fin-keeler characteristics, and also illustrates the issue of bow sea anchor vs. stern series drogue.

Also, your (beautiful) cover is huge windage. I wonder if any other moored boats there have such winter covers?
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
I wonder if rigging a bridle to hold the bow a bit off the wind - as per "the Pardey method" of sea anchor rigging - would help. Really just an extra line and a snatch block run back to a cockpit cleat. Of course, that would probably require a longer pennant...
 

Kenneth K

1985 32-3, Puget Sound
Blogs Author
Christian--it's mainly powerboats in the bay. Most are gone for the winter, but a few are left out on docks or on anchored floats. The other 3 sailboats in the bay have tarp-awning covers. I never understood the tarp cover--the cockpit still gets wet, the bow and forward ports still get wet. Not sure what they are protecting except maybe the hatchboards and grab-rails. It appears, though, that the tarp awnings pull a lot less wind than my full cover does.

Toddster--I looked up the "Pardey" method; not something I had heard of. Maybe I'll give it a try, though the longer pennant might be a problem for me in the limited space I have. Thanks.

Loren--I felt the same way when I tried it, and still tend to the lean that way, though it may be for no tangible reason. The results over the past few days have been hard to argue with; the boat has been far more stable tied to stern (with the cover), than it was tied to bow, even before I put the cover on. As someone said in the post you referenced:
Ernest
Anchoring by the stern is OK in any wind, but not large waves. A boat is actually more aerodynamic stern into the wind. Also the boat will weather vane nicely even when tied on a single stern cleat. All sloops will sail at anchor. If the center of wind resistance is aft of the lateral resistance the boat will not sail at anchor (i.e. schooners) or boats with riding sails, or sloops anchored by the stern. Ernie Schlesinger

Waves are not an issue where I'm moored, though I do worry about water slapping at the stern thru-hulls. Even that concern may be overblown. The hose run on every stern thru-hull has a substantial horizontal rise above the thru-hull before continuing down to a lower part of the boat. My hope would be that the rare splash that might propagate to the top of the loop would be brief, and not able to start a siphon that would sink the boat. I think that it may be this concern, as well as the fear of stern/cockpit swamping from waves that give people the aversion to stern mooring.


 
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