Mediterranean Mooring

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

Was it in Lipsi may be?

No, Agia Effimia on Kefalonia.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by weavis

Save time........... just fear it.

It is no reason to fear

And there are lots of reasons to be cautious and alert.
Small mistake can lead to the chain of events causing complete failure in matter of seconds sometime.
Not problem if it is only failure for the boat attempting the mooring. Worse if it make for the great mess involving other boats around...

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

Just curious - how long was Your chain before adding 30 meters?
And - how did You connect the parts of chain?

65m I think, but the last 10m was pretty rusted so it got junked.

Not sure how they connected it. I was planning to inspect that over easter but got a little distracted

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by hoppy

No, Agia Effimia on Kefalonia.

Oh, and was there an older lady on the Beneteau 50?
The boat was permanently based there some time ago.
Lady was quite memorable for running in her night gown, with a huge ball fender, from bow to stern and back, fast like Speedy Gonzales, when somebody was mooring nearby

We had bloody crosswind mooring there last time. The guys on quay were of great help, but the lady was really in terror, as we moored just upwind from her

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Troup

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy an audience as much as anyone, provided I happen to have done something worth being proud of.

Audiences can be unreliable, though.

I remember sailing into a particularly difficult jetty, in a notoriously fluky bay, in one of the Marlborough Sounds, which themselves are a venue where even keen sailors on big boats rarely get the sails up.

We were on our 20' junior offshore yacht, nimble and surefooted (and we weren't too bad either, after three weeks of solid sailing in sometimes testing conditions)

Despite getting alternately half-flattened and repeatedly put about while sailing a straight heading, we made a textbook landing without resort to the engine, at the jetty by the store, where the owner had rushed out to take a line.

He congratulated us in glowing terms, saying our final manoeuvre was perfectly judged, especially considering he'd never seen anyone make it all the way to his wharf under sail in thirty years etc...

Which was all very gratifying, but he somewhat took the gloss off our glow a couple of years later when we repeated the feat and got the same reception.

In every detail ....

That sounded like a very reliable audience

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by hoppy

65m I think, but the last 10m was pretty rusted so it got junked.

Not sure how they connected it. I was planning to inspect that over easter but got a little distracted

So now You have about seven boatlengths of chain. Good number
I believe six is just minimum

[weavis]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

So now You have about seven boatlengths of chain. Good number
I believe six is just minimum

I read somewhere about the ratio of length of chain, length of rope and the weight of the anchor and the weight of the vessel.

I then read another treatise who change the numbers again.

At this rate, I will have 600 metres of chain and require a larger vessel to hold the weight.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by weavis

I read somewhere about the ratio of length of chain, length of rope and the weight of the anchor and the weight of the vessel.

I then read another treatise who change the numbers again.

At this rate, I will have 600 metres of chain and require a larger vessel to hold the weight.

It is only my opinion, based on mine own only experience, so can not be counted as reliable too much

Anyway, I think six boatlengths is minimum and eight boatlengths useful maximum of all chain rode for Med mooring. Six is about enough to slow the movements of the boat in strong crosswind. More than eight and in most places You will not use it because of space limitations

[poiu]

A thorough description, thanks. Also loved the anecdotes.

I'm surprised I haven't found a mention of this, sorry if it is there and I missed it:

I find I can't let the chain out fast enough when backing up to the quay to maintain enough speed for control and to counter even a moderate cross wind, so I do a slightly different procedure from what DoubleWhisky described, which otherwise works for me.

I position the boat ready to back up with the anchor lowered to 2m off the bottom, then lower the anchor with the buttons, after a few seconds to allow the anchor to rest on the bottom I go in reverse for a few metres putting out chain at the same time. With the anchor now on the bottom with a few metres of scope out (to protect the anchor from tripping later) I use the clutch release to dump the full length of chain I need to comfortably reach the quay. I back up as quickly as I need to according to the wind and forget the anchor until stern lines are on and tension it last thing.

Another advantage of this method is it reduces the need to anchor to windward of your berth in a strong cross wind and therefore reduces the chance of tangled chains.

DoubleWhisky mentioned putting 4 or 5 boat lengths of chain out. I think that is a bit too much and it isn't usually possible (would be 100m for me). Aiming for a scope of min 5:1 if possible is my choice.

[hoppy]

i was taught to start dropping 4 boat lengths out. Which meant using almost all of my chain, depending on the depth.

[poiu]

If you were learning on a 9m boat that would be 36m of chain and with 8m off the roller to the bottom gives a scope of 4.5, which sounds fine. It's scope that counts surely. I know where you come from. I was taught the same.

[noelex 77]

Scope is always king.

So a larger yacht and a smaller yacht will drop a different number of boat lengths from the quay.
It is helpful to translate the ideal drop distance into boat lengths as this is easy to visualise.

Unlike normal anchoring where a long scope has got the disadvantage of large swinging area in most cases when Med mooring a large scope only has advantages. So work put your chain length in terms of your boat length.

Carrying a long chain length is a major advantage as it gives you much more freedom. Med mooring with 50m of chain requires far more judgment than having 100m available.

Judging distances when Med-mooring towards a quay is usually quite easy as there are plenty of known reference points (such as people on shore). Estimating the same distances when stern tying to shore is more difficult. The brain tends to assume objects such as trees and rocks are certain size and uses these assumptions to estimate distances. Sometimes these assumptions are wrong.
Radar and even a laser rangefinder can be helpful judging these distances.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by poiu

A thorough description, thanks. Also loved the anecdotes.

I'm surprised I haven't found a mention of this, sorry if it is there and I missed it:

I find I can't let the chain out fast enough when backing up to the quay to maintain enough speed for control and to counter even a moderate cross wind, so I do a slightly different procedure from what DoubleWhisky described, which otherwise works for me.

I position the boat ready to back up with the anchor lowered to 2m off the bottom, then lower the anchor with the buttons, after a few seconds to allow the anchor to rest on the bottom I go in reverse for a few metres putting out chain at the same time. With the anchor now on the bottom with a few metres of scope out (to protect the anchor from tripping later) I use the clutch release to dump the full length of chain I need to comfortably reach the quay. I back up as quickly as I need to according to the wind and forget the anchor until stern lines are on and tension it last thing.

Another advantage of this method is it reduces the need to anchor to windward of your berth in a strong cross wind and therefore reduces the chance of tangled chains.

DoubleWhisky mentioned putting 4 or 5 boat lengths of chain out. I think that is a bit too much and it isn't usually possible (would be 100m for me). Aiming for a scope of min 5:1 if possible is my choice.

Congratulations for sailing such a beautiful boat
Do You have a bow thruster on it. Probably yes, on such a big boat, but I can not be sure

Generally I do not use Your method, as I do prefer to back the boat with the speed even to the speed of windlass putting the chain out. It is slowly, I know. But, if You get the angle of the hull to the wind right and You keep the anchor chain quite tight all the way back, You can execute full control of situation even at a low speed. Of course - You need good anchor, setting on very short distance and reliably. If You have one, it will not allow the bow of the boat to be blown off by the wind. With crosswind, at the beginning of the backing I'm aiming for the bow of the windward boat or even slightly higher (depending on wind force). Closer to the slot I'm aiming my stern more and more into it. My boat is slightly oversensitive to the rudder adjustements while backing, and I found that it is easier and safer to adjust the positioning of the boat by short bursts of bowthruster, keeping rudder steady, but it is also perfectly doable without bowthruster, if You use the rudder very softly. Key thing is to find a proper level of tightening Your chain. Up to 20 knots of true crosswind I'm using remote for windlass. If it is blowing more, my wife is on the bow, controlling the windlass and visually checking the tightness of the chain. She is coming back to stern just when our stern is passing the bows of neighbouring boats. Long scope really helps for this method, as You do have some seconds more of the time for finding the right angle of backing the boat.
And I must admit, it is really nice to coming to the quay, in crosswind, slowly, steady, with people on the quay and other boats looking at You with some of disbelief in their eyes

On the other hand I used the method You described long time ago, with CQR anchor (before I owned a boat I chartered some so equipped) or with somewhat undersized (according to my present opinion) Delta on my first own boat. Since having Rocna as a bower I never needed to use this method, and frankly speaking I'm not great fan of the boats charging into their slots at great speeds I just prefer the situation being completely controllable.

My best regards



Tomasz

[weavis]

This is what I use more or less..

Anchoring with sufficient scope brings the direction of strain close to parallel with the seabed. In general the longer your rode the better. 10:1 Scope is preferable in windy conditions. It’s recommended that an average cruising boat carries at least 400 feet of Rode, which will allow for 10:1 scope in 25 feet of water (5 feet allotted for freeboard height). This will ensure that most of the time you can anchor with 10:1 Scope.
(Mantus website)

Do any of you use the snubber?

[Andrew Troup]

Originally Posted by hoppy

That sounded like a very reliable audience

Yeah, with the accent on the 'lie'

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

Surely the store owner knew a thing or two about marketing

Hmmm. He only got us back the once;

no way we would ever be loyal, or even return customers,

once he demonstrated what a shameless suck-up he was!