Mooring buoy gets tangled

[Dave_S]

My boat swings around all over the place as it is more controlled by the breeze than the current and wraps the mooring balls in knots.

I tie it up with short lines that hold the small buoy and loop out of the water so that it passes over the top of the larger buoy each time they cross paths. This works but is not ideal.

Am I doing something wrong ?

[JPA Cate]

Dave, if you want to lie to the current, deploy a small drogue from astern. Might be able to make do with a bucket! We had a friend with a tri, who used one to lie with the keel boats, long time ago, back in Mexico, but the point is, the physics are the same: you only need enough drag to make you lie to the preferred force.

Ann

[Dave_S]

Thanks Ann, I'll give the bucket a try.

[JPA Cate]

Dave, it could take a small sea anchor. Yours is a large boat, with a lot of windage. Good luck with it. Might look at a 5 gal bucket, rather than a 3. Small hole in it. The hole size will maybe have to be adjusted to get the greatest pull astern, but it's easier to make a hole larger than smaller! Cheers,


A.

[Tusitala]

I use those primary colored foam "noodles" for swimming pool use, about 3' long for each bridle leg. the lines stay on the surface near the ball and don't tend to wrap up around the mooring.


Pat

[TrentePieds]

Dave:

A lot of "modern" boats won't lie still when anchored over the bows or moored to a can over the bows. It's just a function of their basic design. I don't know about catamarans, but certainly in monos there is often an advantage to anchoring or mooring over the stern. I do it all the time. You do have to be aware that beyond a certain amount of "weather", it won't work due to the danger of getting "pooped".

Again I don't know about catamarans, but in a mono it is not difficult to rig a "riding sail" (from the backstay) that brings the CE far enuff aft that the boat will lie quietly "wind-rode".

TP

[ebsail]

I'm moored in the Hudson River where current changes from north to south and the wind is from any direction. So my mooring is a mushroom, plus some chain, then a swivel, then lighter chain, then a swivel, two rope pendants, one has a pickup stick and the second a plastic Tide bottle. Both pendants are seized together with wire ties except for the last 4 feet. No mooring ball. I just grab the pick up stick and cleat the pendant and do the same with the second pendant (the one with the Tide bottle) on a second cleat. Nothing left in the water to tangle and the swivel allows the boat to rotate freely with no tangles

[Gary Matthesen]

I use 3/4 inside diameter foam pipe insulation. Same idea, keep the pennants floating high

[Emouchet]

Noodle trick also for me. When there is very light wind or no wind, the boat tend to kiss the mooring ball. Pendant as they float because of the noodles cannot messed up around the ball.
Since I have 2x 25' long pendant, that takes a couple of noodles and ty-wraps. I use black ty-wraps rather than white, because they are more UV resistant.

[sailon46]

I need to ask while we are on the subject if anyone here has a trick with the Mooring balls when in the middle of the night the wind slacks off and my boat starts banging on the mooring ball. What am I doing wrong.
Ernie on the Mary Jane

[TrentePieds]

In days of yore when sailing ships ruled the waves, "the cutter" (ships utility boat) was kept afloat when the ship was at anchor, and it kept from bumping into the ship by means of a "boat boom". A boat boom was a longish spar that was handled somewhat like a modern spinnaker pole. With the boom guyed to the side of the ship and the boat hauled out to its outboard end, the boat couldn't touch the ship.

I see no reason that in gentle weather and with no current (as you posit) you couldn't use your spinnaker pole, or even a boat hook to hold your boat and the can apart.

TP

[Cadence]

A spare buoy would solve your problem but probably not financially feasible.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailon46

I need to ask while we are on the subject if anyone here has a trick with the Mooring balls when in the middle of the night the wind slacks off and my boat starts banging on the mooring ball. What am I doing wrong.

Ernie on the Mary Jane

Nothing, I think they all do that. It’s the suddenly awake at 2am call from the wife “I think there is some body on the boat”.
I dislike it cause it seems to run a nasty slime on the hull, off of the ball of course.

[Bean Counter]

To stop the banging, take the mooring tether to a starboard bow cleat, then run a line through the eye on the mooring ball and tie to the port bow cleat and shorten both lines up until the ball can not hit either hull.

[Bean Counter]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

My boat swings around all over the place as it is more controlled by the breeze than the current and wraps the mooring balls in knots.

I tie it up with short lines that hold the small buoy and loop out of the water so that it passes over the top of the larger buoy each time they cross paths. This works but is not ideal.

Am I doing something wrong ?

Maybe a short bridle with 2 * 10 ft lines & connected with a swiveling shackle to the top eye of the ball. (assuming it has a top eye)