Fairleads > Mooring Lines
March/April 2006
Hi everyone,
Our most recent Puzzler attracted some wonderful answers – essays actually – that went way beyond ordinary Puzzler standards. So I've deferred my own essay for this edition of Fair Leads, in order to share with you some wit and wisdom regarding mooring lines.
As you might recall, the Puzzler was as follows:
Imagine that you are approaching a dock, about to tie up. You have plenty of crew aboard for line-handling, on and off the boat. Your mooring lines all have an eyesplice in one end. The Puzzler is, do you send the eyesplice ashore, or the free end?
Bob Salnick responded:
On Eolian, we keep the eye splice on the boat and send the free end ashore. For us, this means that the hand ashore has full control of the line. If we sent the eye ashore, then a hand would be needed ashore to drop the eye over a cleat, and also a hand on the boat to tend the free end of the line.
Further, when it is the eye which is sent ashore, if there is no cleat on the dock, a problem presents itself: how to make the line fast? It is not always obvious what the facilities ashore are when the lines are being made ready for docking. Sending the free end ashore gives the greatest flexibility to the dockside hand.
And Tom Hammernik seconds this with:
By keeping the eyesplice inboard, you fix the distance from the inboard belaying point (cleat or bit) to the point of chafe (such as a chock), thereby allowing the application and maintenance of chafing gear to the mooring line at the point of chafe, resulting in longer mooring line life.
CJ7 says that it depends on circumstances:
In most circumstances, when docking, I would trust my crew onboard more than the random people on shore, so I would want the splices of the mooring lines ashore so I know my crew onboard has the control of the lines while docking.
I also prefer splices ashore and adjustments from the boat when the boat is a live-aboard, so that adjustments may be made at anytime without needing to get off the vessel.
If the boat is looked after by a care taker or dock master, then the splices should be on the boat side so that adjustments can be easily made from shore, without boarding the vessel.
I don't know why one wouldn't want the dockmaster coming aboard, yet assume them to be trustworthy enough to adjust one's mooring lines... But Robert Summers came up with a somewhat more compelling "It depends" rationale:
... On the East Coast, where most docks are fixed (non-floating) the most common tie-up options are to pilings; West Coast tends more to floating docks with full length fingers. Soooo.... I am on the East Coast and I always prefer to keep the eye splice on the boat and simply drop it over my 2 Samson posts forward or the 2 posts aft. That leaves the line tail to be tied off to any diameter piling rather than trying to drop the eye over the piling top where it may slide down as far as the water resulting in a not so fun "un-piling" battle when it's time to go. On the West Coast where I used to sail, the eye was great for dockside because you can simply pull the eye through the dock cleat and secure the eye-loop over the cleat arms and tie off the line tail to the boat's cleat.
Robert Summers
One of our more, um colorful correspondents writes:
Which end goes ashore? Well, a careful, analytical read of the situation you describe in the puzzler, yields exactly two choices: Throw the eyesplice, or the "other" end ashore.
The key phrase here is "plenty of crew aboard for line-handling, on and off the boat." To me, this implies that two or more "friends of friends" (FoF's) have weaseled their way on board. These are the ones wearing black-soled shoes, which leave graffiti on deck.
After enduring 90 minutes or so of commentary like: "Does this thing have a lifeboat?", "Where's the bathroom?", or, "I hope your radio works," followed by "Are you trying to tip us over? You sure you know how to drive this thing?", one acquires a clear understanding of precisely which of the two ends should be sent ashore.
Most likely, one of these "FoF's" vomited, or sat on the jibsheet while coming about. Without a doubt, the skipper's presence was required belowdecks, at a critical moment, when the FoF used the head, dry, and couldn't figure out how to flush it.
So, in the typical scenario I describe above, instruct the FoF's to leap ashore, and toss them the spliced end of the mooring line, making certain the other end is well-secured on deck. With luck, they can get their fingers pinched while trying to manipulate the eye over the cleat on the dock. I've had the pleasure of seeing this happen several times, and let me tell you, it's quite satisfying. If one of these FoF's happens to sail with you again – not too likely in my experience – have them struggle with taking the eye off the dock cleat when you cast off. There is a good chance of them leaving some skin or a bit of nail behind.
If you have a good crew, secure the eye on board, and send the whipped-not-spliced end ashore. This way, the faithful crew can bend it around the dock cleat, fingers at waist level, safe and secure. They can use the friction of the line to slow the boat, and their end is "adjustable," so that she gets tied up correctly, every time.
That's the proper way to handle mooring lines.
Brent Trockman
Curmudgeon
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So much for the probably-send-the-end-ashore contingent. The bulk of our respondents voted for sending the eye ashore in most circumstances. For starters, here's Keith Morgenstern, weighing in with several points:
Although there may be special circumstances, in general I would prefer to send the eyesplice ashore.
This is based on two observations:
1. Docks seem to rarely have cleats, but almost always have an abundance of pilings. Making a loop with an eyesplice is far easier and quicker than doing the same with the end without an eye splice.
2. Unless you are pulling into your own, longtime slip where you have marked the docklines where they should be cleated, there is likely to be a bit of iterative adjustment in the slack on the lines to get the boat "just right" in the slip, taking into account tide, wind direction, how much you trust your neighbor, which side the pier is on, etc. Typically, the adjustment is in the athwartships direction, such as moving the bow to the left or right in the slip. This can easily be accomplished by one person [aboard], holding a line in each hand and paying out and pulling at the same time, thus leaving the "perfect" amount of slack and moving the boat over. If the other end of the line was sent ashore, you would have to bark instructions to two people, trying to coordinate their independent actions, and trying in vain to describe exactly how much slack to give for that "perfect" docking. Also, when the tide shifts, the people onboard can easily adjust the lines without going ashore, since the shore based team is unlikely to stick around for the tide to shift.
Are there exceptions?....sure: if there is a large tidal range, you are planning on going ashore for awhile, and there are dock cleats, maybe keep the eye splice so that you don't have to jump 15-feet down into the boat just to adjust docklines (of course the opposite is true if you are on the boat and need to climb 15 feet). In this situation, the question is moot since you would want to cleat both ends so as to be able to adjust from either end, not using the eye splice at all.
Thanks for the head scratcher,
Keith Morgenstern
Yuri in Tortola has a voice-of-experience feel to his list of answers:
Having served on many boats under many masters, I have to say that the right way to handle any dockline is [to do] whatever way the captain says to!
However, I myself quite strongly feel that the correct way to handle a dockline with an eyesplice on one end is to pass the eyesplice to the dock. The reasons are several, chiefly:
- The line tail is kept off the dock, reducing dockside clutter.
- The nip is more easily freshened aboard the vessel, where it tends to chafe.
- Adjustments can be made without going onto the dock.
- The eyesplices can be secured to cleats, bollards, etc., by slipping them under and through existing secured eyes on the dock, letting each line be taken off easily without having to untie them all.
- It's far easier and safer to have dockside "helpers" simply drop an eye over a cleat than trust their tangle-tying ability.
- When rafting up (an extension of the same situation), good etiquette calls for the rafting party to provide the lines and fenders; handing the eye over relieves the other boat of dealing with your tails.
Let's not delve too too deeply into the myriad of ways to tangle an eyesplice onto a cleat! In any event, I'd simply rather do away with the eye entirely; a well-cleated line on an appropriately-sized dockside cleat is arguably stronger anyways, and the nip tends to change from docking to docking, rather than the eye getting progressively worn in the same place each time.
For the record, the only way my laptop can catch a WiFi signal in this harbour is when I perch it on deck... atop a pile of spare docklines.
Rich Shapiro's well-reasoned response makes a strong case for sending the eye ashore:
For the puzzler, I am making the assumption that, not only are there plenty of crew and dockhands at the time you tie up, but also that there will be plenty of both in the event of an emergency at the dock (such as a fire on another boat) or when it is time to cast off.
The second assumption I make is that the end with the eyesplice will be thrown over a cleat, thus it can't be adjusted from that end and can't be cast off unless slackened from the other end first.
I would pass the eye splices over to the dock. In doing that, I am keeping control over the tension or casting off of the lines onboard the boat. This offers several advantages.
First, the responsibility for the boat remains with the skipper, not with those on the dock. Thus, the skipper should retain control over the lines during docking or casting off.
Second, the lines are closer to the skipper. If orders have to be shouted or there is confusion, closer is always better. In the worst-case- scenario, the skipper can cast off or adjust a line himself without getting too far from the helm if engine power is called for.
Third, most likely the deck crew are familiar with docking their boat, while the dock hands may be teenagers on a summer job. This places adjustment of the lines with those likely the most skilled in their handling. It also means that the boat cannot be cast off without assistance from on board (no fair cutting the lines - this is just a puzzler).
The disadvantage of this method is that it becomes awkward if the dock hands disappear, as the lines have to be slacked from on board before they can be cast off from the dock cleats.
Bravo, Rich, I am strongly with you on this one.
And our final essay comes from my dear friend, and old Sea Cloud sailing buddy Paul Bongé. After a Tom Robbins-esque preamble on rigging in the post-Katrina Gulf Coast, Paul says:
One sends the eye ashore of course. Knots around pilings, bollards, and through rings can often bind, hang up, or otherwise find sneaky ways of becoming foul or liberated from their contorted state. Also, and you did mention we'd ample hands ashore though not their talent or lack of in the marine way, we submit ourselves to poorly tied lines that must be corrected. Now being the puzzler comes from P.T. and you know something about tides and did not mention a floating pier, the eye goes ashore so the lines can be efficiently and expediently managed from aboard by a minimum of crew when responding to the nasty up-and-downy nature of water, or the vagaries of wind and sea. So there! Now I'll just end here and not even address the ridiculousness of proposing to keep the eye aboard, or that if you do and it comes under strain, how're you going to ease it without hopping ashore and taking more steps than you want at 3:30 in the morning? Now you're completely awake, and by the way, with all those extra hands in the puzzler why don't you have a watchman?a suffit mon ami...
A bientot.
Paul Bongé
There you have it folks, a spectrum of circumstances, and of opinions on how to deal with those circumstances. I don't know about you, but all those ideas have gotten me to re-examine my mooring notions.
Fair Leads,
Brion Toss