Swing mooring technique for catamaran

[GSwannell]

I am quite a new owner of a Fountaine Pajot Belize and am still learning all about anchoring and using swing moorings. A recent issue I have had is attaching to a swing mooring that is in a strong current channel. I was at Amity not far from Brisbane, Australia and chose to use a swing mooring instead of anchoring due to the approx 3 kt tidal current flow. The wind however was exact opposite to the current and the swing mooring float kept banging into the hull as the wind was stronger than the current drag but the cat faced towards the incoming tide. So although the current set the direction the cat was facing, the wind blew us up against the current past the float. I used my normal bridle which is about 4m in length. We got through the night after setting the rudder at an angle to provide a stable position relative to the mooring float.

Now I am at Tangalooma at Moreton Island, just of Brisbane. Same situation where the current is opposite to the wind. With the normal length bridle attached to the swing mooring we could not find a stable position to stop the float banging into the hulls. IN fact the ctaamaran was facing side on to the current initially! Should I shorten the bridle length so that is prevents the float moving across the other side when in current/wind opposing situations.

I would appreciate advice on how to handle this type of situation. Thanbks guys.

[delmarrey]

If your going to be there long, have you considered a stern anchor. Get the boat in position of the strongest flow and set a stern anchor w/bridle. This is just a suggestion not knowing the tide or prevailing winds.

[dirkdig]

Happens to our cat too on moorings,pain in the hulls.
We have attached our bridle to the mooring lead and the mooring still end up under the boat.

[JonJo]

We pull the mooring line attached to the public mooring until its so short the buoy cannot touch either hull. We have a mooring cleat just behind and in the centre of the cross beam (and a central bow roller). We tend to simply loop the long bit of mooring line we have pulled aboard round the middle cleat and then take the free and and secure to one of the cleats on one of the bows.

[GSwannell]

Thanks guys for the quick response. The current has now decreased in strength and the wind increased (about 20 kts) so we are back to sitting away from the mooring as normal. I did shorten the lines considerably to stop the float hitting the hull. I was concerned about putting too much load on the bow cross beam so I cleated a single line to the position near the anchor windlass. seemed to work OK for this time. Maybe in future I will shorten the bridle to prevent the float hitting the hull, but still have the load going to the bridle attachment on each hull. Still learning!

[JonJo]

Sorry - forgot this.

We also made up a very short strop, maybe 20mm double braid, spliced eyes at both ends and hose pipe protection. We then thread through the buoy shackle and attach our own bridle to the strop - so ignoring the mooring line completely. Its a bit, actually -very (sometimes needs a boat hook to thread it through), fiddly and the shackle on the buoy needs to be big enough - but its not much to carry. The idea being, its sacrificial - but made so that we can attach to it, it is also useful if you use a public mooring whose mooring line is either questionable or manky.

[Tan Anu]

Hi,


I'm familiar with the moorings in the Tangalooma area having used them a couple of times. We attach a fairly short line to the bouy sufficient to have some movement but not allow the bouy to contact the hulls.

Regards
Tan Anu

[klem]

As others have suggested, shortening the bridle so that it can't hit the hulls can work.

Another option is to tow a drogue or bucket off the stern to increase your drag through the water to pull you back from the mooring.

[Captain Bill]

I have a small drogue that I hang about 10-15 feet off of the stern. The current always wins when I have it out.

[GSwannell]

Thanks for the further tips people. I woke up 5:30am this morning by the thump of the mooring on the hull so I knew the tide was turning. Managed to set up a temporary line while I untangled the big mess at the float. All done from the dingy.

So in future I will be prepared with my own strop, shortened bridle, and try and track down a drogue chute in case it is needed (great idea).

Appreciate the advice from you all.
The good thing about today was the great sail home from Tangalooma to Newport -beam reach about 7 kts speed all the way home!

Regards

[JonJo]

Originally Posted by GSwannell

Thanks for the further tips people. I woke up 5:30am this morning by the thump of the mooring on the hull so I knew the tide was turning. Managed to set up a temporary line while I untangled the big mess at the float. All done from the dingy.

So in future I will be prepared with my own strop, shortened bridle, and try and track down a drogue chute in case it is needed (great idea).

Appreciate the advice from you all.
The good thing about today was the great sail home from Tangalooma to Newport -beam reach about 7 kts speed all the way home!

Regards

Instead of the drogue chute, its more money - try a decent, strong (ie not a 99c from Bunnings) bucket hung between the hulls from the middle of your transom.

Just wait till you beam reach at 10 knots all the way home - you will never look back!

[Wanderlust]

I'm just back home from my first trip on my Lagoon 410, bringing it down the coast from Queensland, and found this thread looking for ideas to improve my arrangement for attaching to swing mooring balls.

Experiment #1 (failed) was a simple bridle with a loop through the mooring loop, and tied to each bow cleat. As in the comments earlier, it didn't matter how short I made the bridle, the mooring line to the float was still too long, and allowed the float to bang against the hull. It also floated underneath the trampoline and got partially trapped there. The mooring I tried did not have a way to tie to the top of the float.

Experiment #2 (works just OK) was in a mooring field at a marina. Here swing room was an issue, so the marina suggested I attach their mooring line directly to one of the bow cleats (e.g. starboard), and then form a bridle with my own mooring line to the port side. This entails dropping a looped end of my line over the port bow cleat, then leading that line over the mooring line and back to the same port bow cleat. I then tighten that line enough to bring the float centrally under the forebeam and tie off to the cleat, forming a "V". This works OK but the lines rub over my deck and furling line and there are other fittings they may get caught on.

So, I want to try Experiment #3 when I move next. My model Lagoon has the anchor chain running underneath the trampoline, and there is no strong central attachment point for a mooring line. But there is a bow roller over the forebeam.

My idea is to pull the mooring line over the bow roller, then with my mooring line already attached to a midship cleat, thread it through the mooring line loop and tie off to the other midship cleat. By adjustment I can allow enough slack for movement, but still prevent the float from bumping the hulls. The downside is lines running over the trampoline making it virtually unusable while moored.

Any other ideas as the bow roller fitting does not look very substantial, and I don't know if the forebeam is designed for the stresses and directions they may come from.

[GSwannell]

Steve, thanks for giving us your experiences. I am not qualified to comment on the strength of the forebeam, but my FP belize has attachment lugs at the end of the forebeam and that is where I attach any lines. I have set myself up with a short mooring line made of Spectra to use when I need the float to be close and central. I have not yet tried it out.

[JonJo]

The big problem with modern, single deck, cats is the distance from cross beam to waterline (or near waterline - which is where the mooring buoy will be). We try to pass our mooring strop, its heavy duty geared for grotty, rusty, barnacle encrusted, fittings (to which we would attach the bridle) through the mooring buoy shackle, or splice (actually on the buoy). We find the only way to do this is from a dinghy or, better, attach the strop at the transom and then let the yacht fall back. It really needs 2 people, one on the helm, engines and one fixing the strop. You need a length of line through the strop for when the yacht falls back - but this can be part of the bridle that you subsequently attach.

Its all a bit fiddly, so from preference we would anchor, but if you must use a buoy (courtesy mooring) it does allow you to ensure the buoy is fixed at the correct distance from the bow.

We stand to be corrected but have found there are few, no, places on our east coast where you cannot anchor, in preference to a courtesy mooring, except for one or two deep water courtesy moorings in the Whitsundays (and you are lucky if they are empty or your timing allows you to use them overnight).