Who goes sailing to spend time in a car park? Yes, marinas are very convenient, but there’s nothing like getting back on your boat after some time away on her home mooring and feeling the weight of the world falling away without even having to sail anywhere. You are away from hectic shoreside life, and begin to ease into the rhythms of tide and weather.

Another obvious snag to a marina spot is cost. Once upon a time, the main obstacle to boat ownership was the sum needed to purchase the vessel, but over several decades well-maintained GRP yachts have refused to wear out, while second-hand values have plummeted until a basically-sound cruiser can be acquired for around a tenth of the new-build price.

For several of the boats in my local marina, the annual fee is more than their capital value, which puts a whole new slant on the expression ‘pay and play’. Also, does the fee include an annual lift out? Pressure wash? What about storage ashore, and for how long? The same extras can apply to buoy moorings but the total for the marina must be affordable.

The next problem may be accessibility – for the boat. Early marinas were typically intended for boat lengths of around 8-10m, and longer craft may be difficult to park safely, particularly in stiff winds. With a classic, long-keeled yacht every departure and arrival might resemble a tricky exercise in YM’s ‘Question of Seamanship’ feature.

What about physical protection? Insurance companies love marinas but bad weather can still make itself felt. Complete wipe-outs, such as the destruction of Holyhead Marina, are thankfully rare but each boat lies against a relatively motionless pontoon while subject to constant movement, so mooring kit must be arranged correctly and checked regularly. Warps can chafe, and displaced fenders might allow disfiguring hull abrasion.

For buoy moorings, costs will be lower, although they should be checked for the same possible extra charges. Mooring or slipping the mooring is usually a quick manoeuvre, entailing less chance of expensive mistakes even without a bow thruster. The mooring gear is simpler, although its strength and durability are obviously critical and I’ll look at that later. First, let’s consider life with a buoy.

When I started thinking through what there is to know about living with a boat on a mooring, much of it seemed obvious, and perhaps it is to those accustomed to life on a buoy.

Keeping a boat in a marina has become far more ubiquitous, but perhaps singing the virtues of buoy moorings could help make owning and keeping a boat more accessible to ordinary sailors.

Using a buoy mooring

For a cruiser on a buoy, the owner’s possible problems start on shore. Is there somewhere secure to park the car, preferably not in an expensive public car park? Somewhere to shelter if it’s pouring with rain?

A club compound and clubhouse would be ideal but some estuary moorings are approached overland via footpaths leading to small beaches, well away from civilised facilities. Then how to reach the yacht? At a boatyard or club there might be a launch service but is that included in the mooring fee or at extra cost, like a water taxi? Otherwise, it’s a job for a tender. If an inflatable is usually stowed on board, then in a weekend excursion it might have to be inflated and deflated once at the destination but also twice for boarding and leaving the cruiser.

Dinghy options

Many owners save time and trouble by acquiring a second, rigid tender and leaving it on the mooring. The only caveat is that if the dinghy is left for long periods, a few days of heavy rain can quickly fill an open boat. Other than an inflatable, a dory hull with a square hull shape is more stable than a round-bottomed boat. Moorings can be quite some way from a slipway or pontoon, so the boat should be of sufficient size to safely travel that distance in strong wind-against-tide conditions. It should be sound but ugly and unattractive to thieves.

Others may prefer to use kayaks or paddle boards, which can be more easily taken aboard, but these are slower, potentially less seaworthy and have less load-carrying capacity.

Shore access

For taking on board heavy stores or water it is helpful to have short-stay access to a nearby quay or pontoon, ideally with a tap for drinking water. You’ll also need to consider if there is fuel pontoon somewhere nearby, or whether you’ll need to bring diesel in jerry cans.

Handling considerations

If a tender is employed, the equipment and handling demand careful thought, particularly in choppy water when this scenario is a common cause of man-overboard incidents. The yacht should have secure footholds or a boarding ladder, with pull-up handholds above it.

While the stern bathing ladder might appear to be the easiest, holding the dinghy across any current, particularly in waves, can make this challenging. A fender step at the shrouds, where the dinghy will lie more easily alongside, might in fact be an easier place to climb out.

Stability is key

The tender you choose should have good initial stability so that it remains steady when occupants shift their weight getting onboard or disembarking. It may also be necessary to lift heavy bags on board, which could be assisted by a light hoist or by the mainsheet tackle.

Safety is paramount

The risk of falling overboard should be taken seriously whenever using tenders. Moving between boats and setting out in a small boat is probably one of the riskier things we as cruising sailors do.

It might feel like overkill, but wear a lifejacket and take a torch and VHF radio or phone in a waterproof case. If the tide kicks up a bigger chop than expected, the engine cuts out or you lose an oar, then you can call for help. Don’t forget waterproofs and a drybag to keep your valuables safe.

You should also always have a means of climbing back aboard your yacht from the water in wet clothing, should you overbalance while climbing out of the dinghy. This becomes an even more critical consideration at either end of the sailing season as the days begin to shorten and water temperatures fall dramatically.

Returning to the buoy

Returning the boat to its mooring after a sail should be simple. However, good throttle control is necessary if the tidal stream is strong because the yacht must be held steady for long enough for its crew to make the connection. Single-handers may opt to lasso the main buoy as a temporary measure while they lift the pick-up buoy and make fast the chain or strop. If you are leaving a dinghy on the mooring, it is sometimes easier to bring the yacht alongside this. Pick-up lines can be left in the dinghy, dry and ready to hook up.

Swinging vs Fore-and-aft moorings

Most moorings have single buoys and each boat swings from its bows. The boat will sit to wind, tide, or a combination of the two, and so requires reasonable swinging room. Too close to other boats and they could clash if they dance around the buoy in lively wind-over-tide conditions.

Where a popular mooring site is congested, or has only a narrow strip of water available for the moorings, each boat may be required to secure between two buoys. Usually there is a long line between the buoys marked with a pick-up buoy.

Mooring involves hooking that line then using it to lift a strop at each end of the boat. Some fore-and-aft moorings have pairs of strops to form bridles at bow and stern, which help to restrict a boat sheering off-line in strong winds or currents. Take care to protect against chafe where strops come on board through fairleads on each side.

Approaching and leaving the mooring is somewhat trickier than for a single buoy, particularly if two boats are required to raft alongside one another. Fendering then requires diligence by both owners and floating debris is inclined to be trapped between the two hulls.

Location, location, location

If a marina is far away, or does not have a vacant berth, a buoy mooring is the only alternative but there are wide variations in mooring types and circumstances that should be checked before making a choice. Some buoy moorings are in exquisite places, surrounded by wonderful scenery, although here I’m considering practicalities rather than aesthetics, and the main variables are depth of water and degree of shelter. Both are particularly important if the crew envisage sleeping on board.

Shelter and Insurance

The degree of shelter affects insurance because some companies will impose time limits on their cover in exposed locations, such as limiting it to the period from April to October. It’s worth checking this with insurers before committing to a mooring.

Deep water and good shelter should mean comfort on board, although wind and tide can play tricks, such as swell rolling upstream against the ebb and giving the boat a corkscrew motion. A few mooring areas also experience heavy wash from commercial shipping, including fast ferries. Again, it is advisable to inspect the site in unfavourable conditions to judge whether the sea state is acceptable.

Mooring providers

Moorings come in all shapes and sizes, as do the organisations that provide them. Effectively, whoever owns or has a licence for a piece of seabed is entitled to lay a mooring and rent or lease it to boat owners – local byelaws and environmental restrictions aside.

Commercial mooring providers include harbour authorities, boatyards and clubs, while at many harbours and estuaries it is possible to obtain a mooring licence permitting the holder to lay their own mooring. That could involve dealing with the harbour authority, if there is one, or the organisation that owns the sea bed – possibly a local council, the Crown Estate or a private estate.

Yacht club moorings

The quality of the mooring itself and the facilities provided can vary wildly. Many yacht-club operated moorings will require you to be a member, but will offer clubhouse facilities such as showers, a bar or restaurant, a pontoon for dinghies or to bring your boat alongside, and even a water taxi to take you to your boat.

Harbour authorities may provide a slipway or pontoon, maybe somewhere to keep your dinghy ashore, and possibly a standpipe from which to fill jerry cans with water. For a private mooring, you might be laying your own mooring and devising a way to slide a dinghy into the water off the seawall.

The level of convenience you want will largely be reflected in the price you’ll pay for the mooring, though you may be surprised at how reasonable a yacht club can prove to be, in part thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of members volunteering their time and energy to make the club work.

It’s worth asking around locally, as it might not be immediately obvious who the moorings belong to and how to get hold of one. In popular locations, there may be significant waiting lists for moorings, so if you’re thinking of buying a boat, it’s worth finding out about availability and size constraints for moorings before choosing a boat, rather than vice versa.

Mooring maintenance

Any commercial mooring providers may employ contractors to do the work of assembling, laying and servicing the gear. The permutations are endless; for instance, my own club designs its mooring tackle, buys the materials and assembles the chain sets while the on-water work is carried out by a professional seaman using the club’s workboat but as a contractor. For any mooring provider, boat owners should satisfy themselves, and their insurance company, that the organisation is competent and insured, preferably with a history of trouble-free moorings.

The design of mooring gear, from sinker to pick-up buoy, would normally be determined by the provider, though if you are a permit holder you may be able to lay your own mooring. Some harbour authorities stipulate that the work should be done by approved contractors but at other places there may be no constraints. For a remote location there may also be no mooring contractor, although the job of moving and depositing the mooring gear might be done by a fishing boat.

Whatever the method adopted, this is where design and servicing must be pre-planned. Even if a contractor will do the work, the boat owner has an opportunity to discuss details and should seek approval from their insurance company. In my experience, insurers are inclined to accept special arrangements if a proposal is clearly well thought out. Remember: the insurer wants your money.

Finally, beware of private moorings where the specification or condition of the mooring gear is uncertain. If the mooring hasn’t been maintained or it was laid for a smaller boat than yours, it may not be up to the job of keeping your boat safely tethered in one place.

Where a boatyard or club has laying-up space and a boat hoist or its own crane, owners can usually choose when to lay up and when to launch, which is helpful when a boat requires extensive winter maintenance. However, at some small establishments boats are launched and recovered by hired crane. Crane hire, however, is expensive, which means batches of boats must be ready on pre-set days – not convenient when a yacht is due to be launched but the engine is dismantled and her new seacocks are still lying on the saloon floor.

Mooring design

The above diagram shows the make-up of a mooring in a group that is installed in fairly exposed conditions. Note that this is not design advice but allows me to illustrate what’s involved in this kind of installation.

This system is used in water that is up to 7.5m deep at high tide. It was developed after the storm of October 1987 caused a few older moorings to drag and appears to be reliable. The individual chain sections vary in length according to the depth, and on the deepest moorings the total length of chain is 22.5m. In a row of moorings there must be sufficient spacing between adjacent boats to keep them clear of one another when they are lying in different directions.

A similar consideration applies on drying moorings, where each boat is likely to take the ground on the downstream side of its mooring but those with shallowest draught will lift off first and swing upstream.

The concrete sinkers vary in size according to the size of boats in each row; the largest weigh 2.3 tonnes in air and require even more force to break them out of mud. Some have downward-pointing ‘spuds’ to dig in and enhance their dragging resistance. Chain link sizes vary between 38mm for the ground chain and 10mm for the top chain and replacement periods are dictated by wear. The heavy ground chain is intended to move around very little, so that the sinker only needs to be lifted for a full inspection about every 10 years. Above that, all components are inspected annually.

Chain inspection

The intermediate chain is renewed when significantly worn. The swivel demands careful examination because the wearing surfaces of its male and female parts are partly concealed within its pivot. Most other parts are replaced regularly – the top chain every year and everything down to the swivel every second year.

Some owners, nervous of abrasion to their topsides, will prefer a rope strop rather than a 10mm top chain but paintwork or gelcoat can also be protected by running a spiral of old rope around and through the top chain – see photo 7. Whichever option is used, the boat must have a suitable bow fairlead and a samson post or strong cleat on the foredeck, ideally two. The chain or strop should be secured in the fairlead or bow roller by a pin or a lashing. A strop could also be protected by a sleeve or rubber hose.

In this mooring design, with the riding chain connected to the riser below the buoy, it is intended that as the wind force increases the sections of mooring chain should lift and straighten in sequence: top/riding chain, then riser and then ground chain, thereby giving a progressive load-damping effect between gusts.

Elsewhere, some moorings have their top chain or strop connected to the top of the buoy, which reduces the radius of the swinging circle while retaining the heavier chain sections but with less load-damping. There are plenty of other options to prevent scouring of the sea bed. Drying moorings bring an extra complication because boats may sit on the sinkers.

A keel-friendly option is to use burying anchors but the system in the diagram was developed when mooring anchors had repeatedly been hooked up by clam-dredging fishing boats. Some of the small boat moorings employ iron railway wheels with steel spuds welded on.

Elsewhere, tractor tyres may be filled with scrap chain and concrete. East Coast sailors, familiar with thick mud, sometimes even dig their own moorings, burying little more than scaffold boards and chain under the mud at low tide, relying on the weight and suction of the mud to keep them set.

Where a mooring is in a tideway, wind-against-tide conditions can cause its boat to sail forward so that the buoy lies against the hull, a metre of so aft of the bow. Hippo buoys have a tough plastic skin and are foam-filled. Mooring providers like these because they are almost indestructible but they are also heavy.

If one rides against the hull and the water is choppy the thumping impacts may even be sufficient to cause damage such as localised debonding of the boat’s internal mouldings.

Boathook issues

Finally, the boathook is a vital part of the mooring kit and its design can help or hinder mooring activities. The traditional boathook end, with a small hook plus a spike, is often ineffective because the spike can prod away the pick-up buoy, just when you are trying to catch the buoy’s handle with the small hook. There are several devices that will feed a line through a ring but struggle to engage with a pick-up buoy that is bobbing around.

In any case, the objective is to lift the pick-up buoy quickly and use it to bring the top chain or strop on board, so feeding a line through the handle may not help.

The home-made boathook is more effective with pick-up buoys, especially when they have no handles and it is necessary to snare the pick-up rope. It is useless for repelling boarders but scores safety points because it’s unlikely to cause any eye injuries.

Thank you to Hythe Sailing Club for assistance in the preparation of this article.

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