Managing a Med Mooring

THE FIRST TIME I CRUISED THE MED , Med-mooring, mooring stern-to with an anchor off the bow, seemed foreign and difficult compared to just anchoring. But, many Med harbors are tight and often crowded with cruising and fishing boats so stern-to mooring against a stone quay provides a space-efficient, stable configuration that also provides an easier way to get ashore.

Entering a harbor, we scout the mooring area in preparation for the approach and soon figure out where we intend to tie up. We begin the approach by lining up the boat and beginning to back toward a space between other boats already moored to the quay.

The first thing to do is prepare the stern lines to cast ashore by having them neatly coiled and free of lifelines and rigging.

If the stern lines are very long or heavy, it is useful to carefully coil each line into two coils. When it’s time to cast the line to a waiting dockhand or fellow sailor, cast both coils at the same time; they will be easier to throw and easy to catch. The dockhand then passes the line through a mooring ring on the quay and back to the boat. We repeat on the other side, and adjust and cleat them off on the boat. Later, when we depart, we simply pull the lines through the rings and back to the boat as we go.

Some harbors have fixed moorings, a permanently-set anchor, weight or chain with a stout rode to which a smaller leader line, or lazy line, is attached, which is secured to the dock. You pull up the lazy line to retrieve the fixed mooring line, leading it forward, outboard of all the standing rigging, and take a wrap around the bow cleat. There, I ease it as necessary while keeping it taut, and secure it when the stern lines are adjusted to the proper length and cleated off. The proper length, of course, allows for us to get ashore, either by means of a passerelle or gangplank, or by a long step from the stern to the quayside. It should also preserve enough distance to prevent a surge from smashing the stern against the dock. This means that having the mooring line as taut as possible is a necessity. Once the stern lines are where you want them, you can use the engine to pull forward to help when tightening the mooring line. Fixed moorings are always a welcome sight, and their presence is indicated in most cruising guides of the Mediterranean. Some harbors, however, do not have fixed moorings. Instead, we must drop the anchor to secure our bow. Once we identify the area we intend to moor, we check the depth in the area where he intended to drop the anchor to determine how far off the quay we want to drop the hook and how much scope we will need as we pay out chain while we back into our section of the quay.

It is important to get the anchor down to the bottom quickly, as often the harbors are deep and the boat is continuously moving toward the mooring space. In order to get the anchor on the bottom quickly, I release the windlass brake with the manual lever, and let it fall, fast but controlled, until it reaches bottom. Having easily visible, colored marks to measure your anchor chain makes this easy.

Once the anchor is on the bottom, I use the brake on the gypsy to lay out chain manually at a pace that matches the boat’s sternward progress. Keeping a little tension on the chain will help to get it set but don’t drag it backwards with you or you’ll have to go back out into the harbor and re-deploy it. Having enough scope is important in Med mooring as it is in conventional anchoring. A scope of at least five to one is usually sufficient.

We toss the stern lines to waiting hands ashore, and I get back to the bow to tighten up the anchor chain with the windlass once the stern is secured. In this way we can learn whether the anchor is set properly, as well as make sure that it’s tight enough to prevent surge damage. Finally, we rig the anchor snubber.

Often, the smaller harbors are crowded in summer and anchor chain tangles are a problem. As yachts come in to moor, they often cannot avoid laying out chain over the top of the rodes of boats already at the quay. Whenever a boat departs, a chain tangle occasionally means several boats have to unmoor, haul in their anchors and then remoor.

To untangle your own chain without others having to unmoor, get a rope under the chain hat is lying on top of your chain. Lift up the fouling chain as much as possible and cleat off the lift line; then, raise your own anchor underneath it, guiding the chains with a boat hook as needed. Once your anchor is up, release the chain that was tangling yours and motor your boat clear.

In some small harbors, it may also be necessary when the spaces at the quay are taken for boats to raft up in a second, third or even fourth row out from the quay. Late comers will hail those at the quay for permission to back their sterns between two bows and after droping their anchor will back in and make fast the bows of two boats. And, the inside boats then become the only pathway for outer crews to get ashore. This usually is not a problem.

Med mooring is a communal way to moor boats in small harbors. You get to know your neighbors and often will learn of great new villages to visit and harbors to moor in. Also, carrying a passerelle or stern gangplank will make life stern to the quay much better.