Mediterranean mooring

I have to jump in here and say something about Mediterranean mooring, which is what we have all had to learn. It can be quite tricky and each marina is a little different, the winds, other boats, etc.

Parking this huge boat is a real challenge. It is called Mediterranean mooring. Im sure there is a you tube on it You have to back into the mooring dock, throw a stern line to the guy on the dock, he threads it through a ring then sends it back to tie to the boat cleat. While this is happening, he is picking up a line in the water that is attached to an anchor at the bow of the boat. Someone on the boat uses a hook to grab the line, follows it all the way to the front of the boat and pulls hard to secure the boat's front end and keep the stern away from the mooring wall. This is repeated on both sides of the boat. Whoever is controlling the boat has to keep it from hitting the dock or pulling away too far. It all happens very fast and we are done in less than 10 min. Today we had to park next to a big yacht with the owner on board making sure we didn't hit his boat. We have fenders out plus a roving fender to place as the need arises. My body is sore from sailing! We've had a few scary moments but are getting much better at it. Got a line caught in the prop one afternoon but it was easily dislodged thanks to Larry going under the boat to untangle it. Whew. I'm having trouble uploading pics to the blog using pics from my phone.



Donna