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From: Faure, Marin (no email)
Date: Fri Jun 03 2005 - 13:23:48 EDT
>Envisage: it is blowing 35 knots and you want to go home before the
wind gets to 60 KTs, how hard will it be to get that snap hook off the
ring?
It will depend on the design of the buoy and the area in which you boat.
In this area, the mooring buoys we use do not have the ring mounted on
the buoy itself, but on the mooring chain running up through the buoy.
The ring simply sits on top of the buoy tripod-- it's not attached to
it. So it's very easy to grab the ring with a boathook and pull it up
to deck level at which point the karabiner can be released.
However you are absolutely correct in that if the boat is moving around
a lot in wind and waves, hauling up the ring can be difficult, and if
the conditions are bad enough, impossible. At this point there are two
options (for us out here; I don't know about other locations). In the
small bays where we use these mooring buoys, if the conditions in the
bay are such that getting hold of the ring to release the karabiner is
impossible, the conditions outside the bay are going to be so bad we
won't want to take the boat out there anyway. Better off to stay on the
buoy in the bay until things calm down (which we have done on several
occasions). But if for some reason it becomes imperative to get off the
buoy right now, we would simply take up the strain with the backup line
and then cut the karabiner line in front of the bow. This would leave
the karabiner and about four feet of line on the buoy.
I agree in principle that using a pair of mooring lines passed through
the ring and back to the boat is the ideal setup because it's the
easiest to let go, although it can be more difficult to rig initially.
Unfortunately, there have been enough cases--- not a lot but enough to
make us wary--- of mooring lines fraying and breaking when sawing back
and forth through the steel rings in rough weather. The rings are not
rusty (for the most part) but most of them have rough spots from the
welds that under a lot of strain and movement can tear up the typical
nylon mooring line if the conditions are sustained overnight, for
example. If you have a backup line (and a lot of boats don't use them
for reasons I cannot fathom), it's not a problem. But the karabiner
method eliminates the worry completely, although we still use a backup
line, and with the buoys we use it's the easiest way to get on the buoy
to begin with.
As to the strength and condition of the buoy's ground tackle, you're
absolutely correct in saying it's a bad idea to trust it if you don't
know how it's set up or its condition. In the case here, all the buoys
we use are set up the same way, they are checked and maintained
annually, and the components are sized for boats far larger and heavier
than ours. There are rafting limits posted on the park buoys in the San
Juan Islands--- across the border in the Gulf Islands the Canadians
don't allow rafting on their park buoys at all. In high winds, boats
dragging anchor in these locations is not uncommon. Boats on the
mooring buoys--- even really big boats--- don't go anywhere.
So I think it's a case (as usual) of no one rule or practice suiting
every situation. What we do works very well out here in the locations
and conditions we boat in. But I would not blindly advocate someone use
the same system in the Caribbean or along the ICW or wherever because I
don't know what the conditions are in these locations. For example,
people have posted to the list that most mooring buoys in the northeast
use loops of line or pendants rather than steel rings. I don't see that
the karabiner method offers any advantage in this case-- a loop of line
through another loop of line is a different deal than a loop of line
through a steel ring with rough spots on it. The original post asked
for examples of mooring techniques with a mooring buoy. I described
what we and other people use out here, but it may be totally
inappropriate for the location and conditions the original poster boats
in. He'll have to judge that for himself.
______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
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