Home / Seamanship / Mooring and anchoring
A boat lies as well as its lines lie
Most of the time a boat lies alongside. That is also when a large share of the damage happens, and almost always in the same places: a line too short, a spring left off, a fender at the wrong height.
Making fast on a cleat
First a full round turn around the base, then two or three figure eights, and a locking hitch to finish. The order is what matters: the round turn takes the load, the figure eights only hold it in place.
Slipping a line
Take the line twice around the bollard or ring and keep both ends on board. You can then let go without stepping ashore and without leaving anyone behind on the pontoon.
The mooring system
Bow line, stern line, forward spring, aft spring, and a breast line if needed. The two springs stop the boat surging in its berth, and they are the ones most often left off.
Coiling and clearing
A coiled line runs, a line left in a heap knots itself exactly when there is no time. Throw a heaving line so the coil opens in your hand instead of catching around your foot.
Fenders
Set them to the height of the pontoon or the neighbouring hull, not on a guess. Make them fast to the guardrail or handrail, never to the netting, which was not built for it.
Anchoring
Scope of four to seven times the depth, depending on weather and bottom. Anchor ball by day, anchor light by night. And take a bearing on two fixed marks ashore: you see dragging on the bearing long before you feel it.
What this has to do with insurance
In tidal waters you do not set line length for the water you can see, but for the lowest point of the night. A line that comes up hard at low water levers the cleat or the bollard, and the damage then sits in the deck, not in the line. If you leave the boat unattended for weeks, also read your own contract: many policy wordings attach explicit duties to how a boat is berthed and secured.
