Using a bridle on a mooring ball

[jdmuys]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I'm 100% behind you on the amp-hr & watt/-hr crusade.

This is just being silly and pedantic. No one is going to think the OP is tying off his boat with brides.

I am not sure. I, being a non native speaker, appreciated the correction.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by jdmuys

I am not sure. I, being a non native speaker, appreciated the correction.

So you thought he implied he is keeping young women in white dresses in the aft locker to hang onto the mooring balls?

A quick non-judgmental correction would be fine but repeated and antagonistic responses is silly.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

If you have a bridle with a shackle tied in the centre, it shouldn't be a problem. The problem arises if you just run a line from one bow through the buoy's painter back to the other bow - the line will either saw through the painter's eye or if there's a steel thimble, it'll chafe through your line; with only one line holding you to the buoy - when it snaps, off you go.

We always use a Prusick (spelling?), so no issues sawing.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

A quick non-judgmental correction would be fine but repeated and antagonistic responses is silly.

To be fair, Stu gave a quick non-judgmental correction. Others repeated it, and the antagonism came from the OP who apparently didn't appreciate the correction.

[jdmuys]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

So you thought he implied he is keeping young women in white dresses in the aft locker to hang onto the mooring balls?

You need to consider your unconscious bias. I mentioned that English is not my native language. And yet you are assuming that I knew these words. This is strong prejudice.

Beyond this, oftentimes, it is not easy to parse a foreign language sentence. It requires time and effort. The reward is learning and improving.

When native speakers are so sloppy and/or lazy that they don't care or don't take the time to check their spellings, this become an added burden for us. In addition to check our understanding, we need to ponder which word the OP meant.

Now I am grateful to have learnt what BRIDAL means. Thanks to the person who corrected, just as a matter of fact, without judging.

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

So why are there cleats on the crossbeam then?

Excellent question, one I have ofter pondered.

I most often use them as fairleads. When mooring to a ball I run a line from the bow cleats, under the inboard beam cleat ear (not hitched to the cleat) then to the eye splice on the mooring ball painter, back under the beam cleat ear then secure the bitter end to the bow cleat. Otherwise, on our boat, the mooring line gets caught in the inside angle where the gull striker cable meets the crossbeam or it lays atop and outboard of the cable and saws back and forth.

I also use the beam cleats in a similar manner if the wind or current is pushing the bow away from the dock. I run a line from the lee bow cleat, under the beam cleat ear and then forward to a dock cleat.

I agree with other posters above that the crossbeam is designed for compression loads preventing the hulls from twisting and also to carry vertical loads from the forestay. Horizontal loads from mooring, anchoring and most especially towing could stress the beam beyond its design parameters causing failure of the rig. Not worth the risk IMO especially since the manufacturer warns against doing so with a warning sign on the crossbeam as well as warnings in the owners manual marked by bright-red and yellow-exclamation-point-icon-thingies.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Lodesman

So why are there cleats on the crossbeam then?

We have fairleads on the crossbeam that lead back to cleats on the hulls, works nicely.

[dhenline]

Originally Posted by StuM

Using the same incorrect term four times in one post is not a typo.
It's an all too common basic misunderstanding.

I agree. one time is a typo. four times, is not knowing how to spiel it.

[mcon12000]

Just another opinion..

Two lines and if you hanging out for a bit some old fire hose and some pool noodles.

You’ll also find a few places in the US that require you to use an easy to release two line setup. Nothing else is allowed.

[HabibiDah]

Watched a privately owned Cat come into a mooring field once. Nailed the ball at a full stop just off center so the bow person could get to it easily. It appears that they had two bridles rigged -- one for anchor and one for mooring balls with the mooring ball bridle noticeably shorter than a normal anchor bridle. It also looked like they were using some sort of hasp or gated hook to attach to the mooring eye. All in all, the entire evolution took about 30 seconds. Ever since that day, I thought if I'm spending a long period of time somewhere where I am forced to use mooring balls (Like the BVI), I might rig a secondary short bridle just for that. And just to forestall the inevitable comments, yes...for short periods of time, in generally good weather, noting that it's not as easy to let go of the ball, etc. etc....

[Peeew]

To a mooring ball ring or shackle I use two bow lines, each one with a spliced eye “luggage tagged” to the mooring fitting or pendant. Not slipping and chafing as if led back. Still easy to adjust from the boat and when leaving is easy to loosen each in turn by taking up the other. I also use firehose as a cover near the bow to reduce chafe there

[KiwiIC]

On the 60 plus foot fairly extreme cat I used to sail we anchored from one bow. The boat hung at an angle but never sailed around as it did if we used a bridle.

[MHTinkler]

Yacht club rule for all moored boats:
Two independent mooring pendants required at all times. One as primary pendant, second as backup and safety line for first.
A bridle creates just a primary chionnection to mooring ball with balanced or adjustable loading but leaves syatem vulnerable to single point failure. A second pendant is just a good idea, especially if the boat is left unattended for extended periods of time.
Just my two cents.

[KiwiIC]

To comply with that rule we did always have a secondary attachment, just not snubbed up.
On another "sub part" we always lead the warp back to the base of the mast, strongest part of the boat!

[Capdave360]

Originally Posted by Nahbrown

We were taught not to use a bridal on a mooring ball but to use two lines run independently to our forward cleats .


Why?

I see other cats using their bridals to no ill effects and it would make my wife happy to just hook the bridal to the painter from the mooring ball.

When we bought our boat there was not a set of hardware that would work for a bridle. I figured she had made it nine years and 50K miles of cruising without one, let's give it a try.

Since then we've spent about 450 nights on anchor and maybe 50 on moorings, no bridle, no problem. One less thing to fuss with. We don't seem to sail around more than any other cat.