Another gorgeous day in paradise and no storm on the horizon,
though I hear those in Minnesota were drenched in the white stuff. In April!
Of course we have been treated to cool weather here at night, fun
for cuddling. But today is just downright perfect for the outdoors. 
Speaking of anchoring and mooring...
There is nothing better than the satisfaction of
showing up in the harbor with your crew or friends and being able to silently
anchor or pick up a mooring ball, without ever saying a word.
Now, I don't mean you have to be Houdini to
accomplish this, use hand signals! There is no hard and fast rules
for hand signals, but work out some simple ones and follow them. Then you won't
find yourself in the harbor screaming "WHAT?" back and forth or worse
cursing and screaming and threatening and making a huge scene.
Now many folks seem to put the small person
(generally female) at the bow and the helmsman generally is the
larger/taller person (the male).
Now the bow person is supposed to be in charge of
the boat's movements, but often the helmsman THINKS he is in charge. So
this is where many mooring and anchoring mishaps happen!
I suggest you put the taller stronger person on the
bow and the smaller person on the helm. Make sure they have run the engine
throttle before and understand clearly about forward, reverse and neutral and
how to shift there. If both the bowman and the helmsman
understand how the engine is going to react, then you have the perfect
combo.
When approaching a mooring assess the currents and
winds and then approach against the stronger force. Assuming you have
already prepped the bow with either boat hook or anchor and rode ready to go,
then you are ready for your hand signals.
The bowman should be in charge and the helmsman
should carefully watch their every move and act accordingly. Often the helmsman
will lose sight of the mooring itself, so it's very important the bowman uses
their arm with finger extended or the boat hook, to point exactly where the boat
should be going.
An experienced helmsman will just barely creep
along with just enough momentum to maintain steerage and gently steer towards
the direction indicated. You need to agree upon forward, revere and neutral hand
signals.
For instance as long as you are pointing, that
means forward, when you hold up a clenched fist that means neutral. If you are
pointing downwards towards the deck that mean reverse gently. Frantically
pointing downward can mean back up with more power.
Numbers come in handy, especially if you've
discovered that say once you are within 30 feet of the mooring the helmsman can
no longer see it due to the bowsprit or the length of the boat or the width of
the crew
or what have you.
Knowing this, then the bowman can begin counting
down when the boat is less than 30 feet away. This often gives the helmsman
confidence in slowing the boat down by going to neutral. For instance 30 feet
can be with the left hand holding three fingers, 20 could be 2 and then 10 is 1
finger. You get the idea. You can also do 3 fingers with a quick switch to
an O made by the thumb and forefinger to indicate 30. Ditto for 15, one
finger rapidly followed by 5. So it just depends if you can get along with
10-20-30 or if you prefer more specifics. Still no need to say a thing IF
YOU HAVE WORKED OUT THE SINGALS IN ADVANCE!
For instance if the boat generally drift forwards
another 20 feet once in neutral at the given creeping speed, then often at the
same time the helmsman is signaling neutral , the helmsman is already prepared.
When the bowman grabs the pendant or line, use the
power of the cleat to gain more strength. For instance, don't just stand at the
bow and try to pull in the mooring, immediately place it under the cleat and
then pull at an angle, this gives you substantially more power. If the
wind is threatening to whip the line out of your hand, then take another turn on
the cleat so your line is C-like on the cleat, even if you don't have enough to
make your figure 8 yet. In most instances this will stop the line and boat, then
you can grab some purchase on it and then make your figure 8 on the cleat.
The object is to cleat is off quickly and then if
you wish to attach a bridle or your own line, do that after you have initially
attached the mooring. Hand signals make for a happy crew all around!
During a squall or inclement weather or high winds hand signals can save your
boat or your life! I know!
I had a near miss where we were on a large heavy
boat and about to wipe out 12 boats much smaller and lighter than
us, the wind had just whipped up from 15 to a 40 knot gust, which sent us
backwards, then sideways, headed towards the smaller moored boats at a
rapid rate.
We persevered with hand signals and I had to goose
the engine a good one to regain control to go forward to where the bowman
was frantically pointing. A dark cloud of smoke emitted from the engine as it
cleared it's throat to go forward against the sudden 40 knot squall. I followed
every hand signal the bowman gave and soon we were firmly tied on our mooring
and sipping a warm toddy and quite honestly, we DID sit down and congratulate
ourselves on a job well done. Whew!
***************
One day shortly after my diesel was
installed in my 30 foot sailboat, I went out to practice with the engine. I was
going forward, then putting it in neutral and trying to measure how far I would
drift. Then I put it in reverse to see if the boat preferred to pull
slightly to port or to starboard. I was engrossed in my practicing, and
reversing and forwarding and drifting, that I didn't realize I had attracted a
small crowd of dinghies of lone males, who came out to "help" me!
They thought I was a woman alone (I was)
and clueless as well (I wasn't, the sun just made my hair super light in
those days!).
They saw me doing all these strange maneuvers
and concluded I had engine or steering trouble and needed gallant
help.
I had to explain I was just practicing with my
new engine so I could learn to pick up my mooring pendant on my own. Of course
by now I have numerous offers of men wishing to come aboard and help out!
Now how am I going to learn to do this on my
own in my own boat if these guys keep helping me out?
Usually I am the first to NEVER turn down help.
But I knew that on many trips I would either be totally alone or with
inexperienced passengers, and that being able to smartly and calmly pick up my
mooring on my own would be a great asset and a necessity.
Finally I relented and allowed a few on board
and begged them to do NOTHIGN but stand by while I attempted by my little old
lonesome to go pick up my mooring without any aid.
Next thing I know these guys are trying to
outshout each other in telling me what to do and I am trying my best to IGNORE
them all. I guess they didn't know I already had several years at sea on
much larger yachts and I was certainly accustomed to this maneuver, just used to
having trained crew about to assist.
For awhile this became the norm, anytime I
would approach a harbor alone, suddenly men in dinghies appeared wanting to help
me moor or anchor!
It's a miracle I ever learned to do it on my
own, by my lonesome. Of course back then we had numerous live aboards in
the islands and many boats were populated with lone males and very few with lone
females. Any excuse to meet a sailing female would do, as it can get quite
lonesome sailing and living alone on a small boat in a far flung port. (But I
LOVED every minute of it!)
So I was quite popular in any harbor I showed
up alone in. Ah, those were the days my friend...
.
