The hybrid technique of anchoring, rafting and docking all at the same time, while staying cool and calm, is possible… So, here’s a guide to becoming a professional med-moorer…! Med Mooring Masterclass Now, this is the one thing about Med sailing that can really give UK sailors the heebie-jeebies. Back in the UK, we’re used […]
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Now, this is the one thing about Med sailing that can really give UK sailors the heebie-jeebies. Back in the UK, we’re used to horrible tides and hideous weather but Med mooring is something new. Put simply, it involves backing towards the quayside while dropping your anchor, securing the stern to the quay, and then tightening up on the anchor. Simple enough? Yes. But if you screw it up, I guarantee it will be in front of a full taverna of ‘experts’ critiquing your technique.
Picture the scenario: the morning has been glassy calm and you’ve motored, soaked up some sun and perhaps anchored and gone for a swim. After a long lunch, a light breeze pipes up and you sail lazily towards your destination. No hurry, you’re on holiday. By 4pm, the wind is starting to howl and you realise it’s time to stop having fun and head for port. By 5pm, you approach port and the wind is screaming. Everyone else moored up hours ago and you spy one last, very narrow, quayside spot.
You’re sunburned, tired from all the fresh air and gasping for a cold beer. Yet the horror of Med mooring in a screaming gale has to be dealt with. At this point, as you back tentatively towards a sea of boats, an Italian man in budgie smugglers (yes, it is always an Italian man, always in budgie smugglers) will head towards the bow of his boat and start bellowing instructions at you in a friendly but ultimately unhelpful manner. This is the point at which you lose the plot.
So, what’s the key to making it easy? Well, it’s utterly facile to say, but you need to be prepared. There’s not much to it, but the amount of times I have seen a boat back in while the crew are still wrestling with fenders and scrambling with lines is surprising. So here is your very simple checklist. You need:
If you’re towing a dinghy, move this forwards towards the bow. Make sure the anchor is free on the roller and ready to drop. Now, sometimes you have no choice in this, but if there is a selection, then it pays to give it some thought; you may be drawn to the wide-open spaces, but this is not always a good thing. If there is a crosswind blowing at all, then the more space you have, the more chance there is you will be blown around as you try to secure the boat. If you select a nice narrow space, then once you are in it, you are effectively held in place by the yachts to either side while you sort out your lines and tighten up on the anchor.
The type of yacht you moor alongside makes a difference, too. If it’s a high-sided superyacht it provides good shelter, but it can be intimidating to come alongside if there’s a crew aboard who might go spare if you scrape it. If a yacht is the same height as yours, you can guide yourself in with your hands if needs be.
Dropping the anchor is obviously critical. Get this wrong and it doesn’t matter how well you park, you’ll have to do it again. The key is not to cross over someone else’s anchor chain as this leads to a whole world of misery the next day. If you’re lucky, the water will be clear enough that you can just look down and see where the anchors are. This, however, is rare. A visual inspection of the boats already on the dock and the direction in which their anchor chains are pointing should help. There is a bit of guesswork involved though. If there’s a crosswind, you’ll also have to make allowance for being blown down.
Now you need to start backing in and dropping the chain. You want to be around three or four boat lengths out, although this is also dictated by depth; some Greek harbours can be ridiculously deep, so more chain is required. I have witnessed a yacht back gently in while dropping the anchor and chain into the dinghy that was tied at the bow. This did not work very well, although, remarkably, the boat was left in this state overnight. Avoid repeating this mistake.
If it’s calm, you can back in gently and drop plenty of chain. It should be relatively hassle-free. It’s the wind that is the problem, as you need enough way on the boat to ensure you don’t get blown off course, but also to be moving sufficiently slowly to actually drop enough chain for the boat to hold. It’s therefore worth starting your anchor drop a bit further out and maintaining decent speed as you approach. Stay calm and don’t be afraid to bail out if you aren’t comfortable with how things are going.
Obviously, by the time you reach the quay, you don’t need to be dropping the anchor any more. You should have briefed your crew already about this, but I have done this and still found them blithely lowering away while the stern lines are being secured. It’s annoying but not the end of the world as you have to tighten up on the chain anyway.
At this point, all the action is at the stern, where you need to get your stern lines on. As often as not, there will be helping hands on the quayside. As soon as you have one or preferably both lines on, you are in a good place as, unless you are in extremely windy conditions, you can knock the boat gently ahead and keep it nice and straight by ‘steering’ it on the stern lines. This keeps the boat off the quay, and you can tighten up the anchor chain at your leisure. Make sure you don’t have any lines in the water before doing this!
Now feeling relaxed, you can tighten up your anchor chain and pray it doesn’t pull out. Once it is nice and tight, reverse hard on it and tighten up the stern lines so that you can actually step ashore. Once satisfied, head for a taverna and enjoy a cool beer.
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