"Armond Perretta" wrote in message
...
Denis Marier wrote:
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down
and thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it
can become difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could
learn a better way to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.

There really _is_ no simpler method. I once picked up a mooring at Indian
Harbor (CT) while handling a 46 footer, where the mooring pennant had
already been removed (very late in the season). It was blowing 25 - 30 SW
and the youngsters manning the club's VHF had directed me to that specific
mooring. I realized only after the fact that the pennant was long gone to
storage. Meanwhile my soon-to-be wife was driving the ship with about 2
hours experience, trying to hear my shouts over the wind. We didn't sink
or hit anything hard, but it was close at times.

Repeat: There is no simple method and the best tactic is to grab that
ball
with the pole and pray.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare



isnt the standard technique (for a ball/mooring bouy of a reasonable size)
to drop a loop of line over it , pull in and cleat off? This holds you on
the ball while you thread the eye on the top. Done it many times

MD

Mobey Dick wrote:

isnt the standard technique (for a ball/mooring bouy of a reasonable
size) to drop a loop of line over it , pull in and cleat off? This
holds you on the ball while you thread the eye on the top. Done it
many times

I don't know how "standard" this is, but it would probably work well in many
cases.

I would not however venture to say that it would work in _all_ cases. In
the instance I cited (2 plus meters off the water in a borrowed 46 foot
motorsailer with none of my own gear on board, an inexperienced person at
the helm, a "yachtsman's gale" whooping up, no indication that the mooring
had essentially been disabled at that time of the year, etc., etc.), I am
just not 100% sure.

I don't really think, for the record, that any individual could have been
100% certain, but that's probably attributable to the narrow circles I
travel in.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.


Denis,

here's link for the happy hooker... works great...
http://www.firstmatescabin.com/page12.htm

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Capt. JG wrote:
"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...

So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.



Denis,

here's link for the happy hooker... works great...
http://www.firstmatescabin.com/page12.htm

Yea, that's like the gadget I got from West for about $20. I'm sure
this one works 22 times better.

In article ,
"Denis Marier" wrote:

So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.

If you do it a lot, the hooker would be a good idea, but the few times
I've had to hook to a bare mooring, I turned the boat around and
connected from the cockpit, which is a lot closer to the water.

As most of the moorings I've used had the chain running through a PVC
pipe through the mooring, when I picked the loop up, I could latch it
into a cleat for that third hand that's usually needed.

If I did it a lot, my mooring line would have its own hook for an
initial hook-up. I wouldn't depend on it of course, but anything that
lets me get things under control faster is good.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.


Can you pull up to the mooring ball so that the ball is at your stern
quarter and while holding your bow line just reach down a much shorter
distance than you would from the bow. Grab the eye, run the bow line
through. This seems to easy. What part of the picture am I missing?

"Marty" wrote:

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.


Can you pull up to the mooring ball so that the ball is at your stern
quarter and while holding your bow line just reach down a much shorter
distance than you would from the bow. Grab the eye, run the bow line
through. This seems to easy. What part of the picture am I missing?

The stern of our boat isn't that much lower than the bow and is also
not that much more accessible - we have a center cockpit boat.


grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html

That what is done most of the time when the wind is light.
However, the picture could quickly change when the wind starts to pipe up
and the wave frequency increase.

"Marty" wrote in message
. com...

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can
become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better
way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.


Can you pull up to the mooring ball so that the ball is at your stern
quarter and while holding your bow line just reach down a much shorter
distance than you would from the bow. Grab the eye, run the bow line
through. This seems to easy. What part of the picture am I missing?

To thread the pennant while at the stern of a boat the freeboard height has
to be low enough to be within reach of the mooring ball. Sailboat's
freeboard are much higher than runabout power boat, dinghy-sailers and
kayaks. Some cabin cruisers have a swimming platform. However the average
freeboard height at the stern of cruising sailboats is over 4 feet.
A good mooring has the proper scope of chain and lifting the ball in the air
may be heavy and can easily pull the end of your hook or its handle. On
average mooring have 10-15 feet of heavy chain at the bottom and lighter
chain at the top. On average the proper mooring has a scope of 1 to 6.


"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
That what is done most of the time when the wind is light.
However, the picture could quickly change when the wind starts to pipe up
and the wave frequency increase.

"Marty" wrote in message
. com...

"Denis Marier" wrote in message
...
So far the only way I know is to pick up the mooring bail, bent down
and
thread a rope through the bail. From the bow of a sailboat it can
become
difficult when the weather is bad. I only wish I could learn a better
way
to thread the pennant trough the bail hook.


Can you pull up to the mooring ball so that the ball is at your stern
quarter and while holding your bow line just reach down a much shorter
distance than you would from the bow. Grab the eye, run the bow line
through. This seems to easy. What part of the picture am I missing?