The Monarch website says:
"The bow and stern lines are tied to a piling, cleats, or the bulkhead (if
there is no dock) and the two spring lines criss-cross. These lines are
for
control of fore and aft movement."

I haven't any idea what they are saying. What lines are necessary, and
where do they go. It is for a 15' sailboat.


This link has a picture showing typical configuration of mooring whips. The
lines may be a little difficult to see against the water background. The
instructions that you quote from Monarch make sense. They are saying that
you configure the lines just as you would in any side-tie setup. As Chuck
says, the purpose of the whips are simply as a stand-off. They simply keep
the boat away from the dock. Fancy fenders, if you will. Even better,
because there is no contact or chafing, as with fenders

The bow and stern lines keep the boat from moving too far away from the
dock. The bow line goes from the bow cleat directly to the closest point of
attachment on the dock. Same with the stern line.

Spring lines keep the boat from moving fore and aft. Attach a line to a
forward cleat on the boat, and run it back to an attachment point on the
dock that is near the stern of the boat. This could be the same place you
tied the stern line to on the dock. Attach another line to an aft cleat on
the boat and run it forward, probably to where you attached the bow line to
the dock. The spring lines will cross each other.

http://www.patiostore.com/moorings.html


RG