(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Welcome to the
Inspire and Learn series.
We are The Multihull Group,
a multi award-winning dealership in Australia,
specialising in catamarans.
Join us as our expert team
teach you all about anchoring,
docking, rigging, sail trim, maintenance
and so much more,
so you can build confidence
in your catamaran handling ability.
- [Narrator] In this episode,
Joe demonstrates the two ways of med mooring,
using an anchor,
and a mooring block.
- [Joe] Hello, and welcome back
to another Inspire and Learn episode
with The Multihull Group.
My name is Joe Fox,
and today we're on board
a beautiful new Lagoon 46.
Back by popular demand,
we're going to be looking
at a mooring technique,
called med mooring today.
This is a technique,
we don't really use much here in Australia,
but overseas in Europe,
most parts in the Med.
This is a technique you use
for parking the boat's stern too
on a town quay,
or a Wharf.
Now, the reason they do this is,
marinas take up a lot of space,
they're very expensive to install,
so it's much more efficient
to stack boats Side-by-side,
stern too, along a town quay.
If you imagine a Lagoon 46,
alongside, it's kind of a 15, 16 meter boat.
Now, if you park that stern to the quay,
you're reducing your quay space
down to about eight meters,
so it means the marinas is in Europe
can get a lot more boats
into the town.
Now we're demonstrating this
on a Lagoon 46 today.
This manoeuvre is the same,
whether you're doing it on a Lagoon 40
anything up to a Lagoon 55,
even the bigger model.
So the principles are pretty much the same.
Today we've got about a 10 knot northerly wind,
blowing straight on our beam.
So this is actually very good for demonstrating
cause it allows me to demonstrate
how to keep control of the vessel,
when we're coming back
into the berth with the wind blowing us sideways,
in a direction we generally
don't want to be going,
so it's quite a challenge.
We're gonna be looking at two
med mooring styles today.
So the first one that we're going to do,
involves using the anchor.
(pop sound)
Now this involves dropping the anchor,
say 50, 60 meters out in front of the boat,
reversing back towards the dock,
and fixing two stern lines,
either side of the boat onto the dock.
Once we've got the stern lines in place,
we then tighten up the anchor,
we make sure the boat's set,
and we can turn off the engines
and start enjoying
the beautiful Mediterranean town.
The second method
that we're going to be looking at today
is the use of mooring lines for this.
now this is a different system,
very similar concept.
So we will not be using the anchor,
we'll be reversing into the dock
without the anchor going down,
we'll get two stern lines on,
and then we'll talk through
the med mooring style,
and mooring lines,
which replace the anchor
with a big concrete block,
50 or 60 meters out,
and a nice rope
to come in to your
bow cleats to hold you off the dock.
Hope you enjoy this episode,
and if we can teach you something today,
that's fantastic.
This manoeuvre that we're doing today,
can be done quite easily with two people,
So a helmsman and a crew member.
Now I've got Ben Hrones,
on board today helping me out.
Ben's part of our service team
with Vesseltec,
looking after a lot of the new Lagoons
that come into Australia.
So Ben, thank you for joining us,
pleasure to have you on board.
We'll be working together
to get this boat from out there in the wind,
in here safely alongside the dock.
So communication when you're completing
this manoeuvre is quite essential,
so I'm gonna be positioned at the helm station,
driving the boat,
and Ben will be a bit all over the boat.
he'll be dropping the anchor at first,
and then once the anchor's down enough,
he will make his way
to the aft section of the boat.
Ben is going to be calling my distance.
So he's gonna go 5, 4, 3, 2,
and then you guessed it,
one meters as we come in,
so that I know where the boat is,
how far I am off the dock.
Now on this 46,
this model has stern cameras options as well,
so I've actually got a camera
looking out the back of the boat,
on the chart plotter here.
So as well as listening to Ben,
and hearing Ben,
I can see him,
and see when he's getting the lines on,
and more importantly,
the distance to the back of the boat
from the dock.
If you don't have a camera,
that's not a problem,
it's just like I said before,
it's just that clear communication.
So Ben talking nice and loud,
so that he's giving me
all that info I need,
so I know when to stop the boat.
So on your approach into the marina or the port,
there are a few things
you want to bear in mind.
So you want to be looking
generally in the Mediterranean,
you have Marineros,
and Croatia are they called
other things all over the Med,
but there are dock hands,
normally wearing a white shirt
to help you and catch your lines,
If you need a little bit of assistance.
Listen to them,
cause they will guide you in,
to the right spot.
They'll take you to a spot
that's easy to park in.
I can see here,
we've got a completely empty berth.
There's no boats already parked there.
If there was a vessel already parked
on the quay,
then the best way for me to approach,
is to drop the anchor,
and reversing on the Windward side
of that vessel.
I put fenders down my leeward side,
or fenders down both sides
just in case,
and as I come in,
I've got the vessel that's already there,
I can rest onto them
with my fenders,
which makes this manoeuvre a lot easier,
but today we're gonna challenge
ourselves a bit,
and it's worth practicing as well yourself
because there won't always be
another boat there to rest on,
when you come into a berth like this.
So we're about 50 or 60 meters off now,
I'm in about five,
five and a half meters of water,
so I know I've got a chain counter here,
so I know where my anchor
has hit the bottom initially,
and then I'll start reversing.
- [Joe] So we're in position now,
and I'm gonna tell Ben
to start dropping the anchor,
and then I start moving backwards,
so I drop,
and I'm gonna give him the signal to drop,
which is spinning downwards,
so Ben will keep dropping
until I tell him to stop,
which is what I briefed him on,
and which is what you want to brief
your crew on as well.
I'm heading directly at
that Lagoon 42 at the moment,
which is, you know,
with the wind blowing me
from my port side,
I'm actually tracking almost perfectly
towards the dock.
(engine revving)
So it's worth mentioning
as I'm coming backwards,
that I've actually locked the wheel
same as all the maneuvers
that we've talked about on this series,
delete the wheel from the equation,
makes manoeuvring the boat
a lot more straightforward,
and you've just got one less thing
to think about.
Okay, stop,
stop.
And I've told Ben to stop
from about a boat length off the dock,
and I've let out plenty of chain,
so I will extend a bit further back
as that chain straightens out
onto the seabed.
and I've asked Ben to come back now
to the windward corner of the boat.
It's very important that he comes
to the windward corner
because that's the first line
I want to get on.
Being the windward line as soon as it's on,
I can drive on it,
and I can hold my position quite nicely
on the dock.
I'm just letting a bit more
anchor chain out now,
manually, cause Ben is obviously no longer
at the anchor winch.
So I'm coming back nicely.
I've got 40 meters of chain out now,
which is about what I expected
to be able to use,
and I'm looking at my camera here
for boats on about a 45 degree angle
to the dock.
But as I come in,
and as I get close,
I'll give the starboard engine
the burst forward
and what that'll do,
that'll slow me down,
which is good,
I want to slow down,
and it will turn me,
so I'm in line to the dock.
Now I'm gonna take a look at the camera here now,
so I can see Ben,
- Five meters
- [Joe] so I've got five meters on the back,
a bit more chain.
so to let us come in.
Okay, I can see Ben now
he's on the back,
and that's perfect,
I can see Ben's got that line on.
I've just stopped the boat going forward,
or backwards even
and I'm just waiting in neutral,
until Ben has got that line on.
- [Ben] Port secured.
- So Ben's told me the port line is secured,
and I can now drive on that.
I can drive on that
with both engines,
and what that'll do,
that'll just help the boat
stay to Windward,
and prevent me being blown
further down the dock.
Now the boat is secured,
as soon as I've got one line on
also got the anchor out of the front,
and it makes the whole situation a lot easier.
We're not drifting down wind,
down to my starboard side,
but a fixed point on the dock,
and I can then instruct Ben
to get the starboard line on.
Perfect. Thank you.
So Ben's confirmed
that we've got both lines on the back.
So I'm just gonna head to
the back of the boat to check that
all the lines are in the right position.
Now I've left the engines in forwards
at this stage,
with these two stern lines tight,
you'll notice we are quite far off the dock,
I'd say that's even,
that's probably two meters,
and that's a little bit too far,
I'll get Ben onto this Windward line,
and I'll get him ready to release,
and then I'll reverse the boat.
And as the boat comes aft,
Ben will take in the slack,
tie off quickly,
and then I can drive on it again,
and we'll be closer to the dock.
So we've done that shuffle at the stern,
now Ben's tightened up those lines,
we're sitting probably just about a meter
off the dock, which is perfect.
Now I'm driving on the lines,
which is correct,
the boat is secure.
What I'll do now,
(chain pulling winch revving)
I'll lift the anchor up,
so I can feel the anchor chain
is going quite tight now,
if we look at the front,
we can see we've got maybe
a 50 degree angle on there,
(chain pulling winch revving)
keep tightening this,
and as the chain straightens out,
along the sea bed
from the stuff that have dropped,
it will go slack every now and then,
I keep going until I hear the chain loading up.
(Chain pulling winch revving)
Now we go to the bow,
and we have a look at the front,
we can see we've got a nice
45 degree angle on there,
chain is good and tight,
and the weight of the chain,
that's not on the sea bed,
is pulling the boat forward effectively.
So now I'll be confident
turning off the engines,
I know that the anchor is out,
just forward of the boat
that we can see on a mooring ball off our bow,
so I know I've got plenty of anchor chain out.
I think I've got about 30 or 40 meters
out at this stage.
You are still relying on the windlass,
which is obviously an electric motor.
it can take a lot of weight,
but in the event
that it slips,
or it doesn't hold fast,
it can be useful just to add a safety.
Now, this is the safety
that we use on the anchor when it's stowed,
to prevent it falling over,
and creating unwanted deployment,
but what we can do,
we can extend this as much as we can,
and then put the shackle through the chain.
Now, if the anchor windlass
does give way,
the wind does come up,
and it does pull too much,
we can be rest assured that
that safety snubber line,
will catch the boat and prevent it
moving any further back
into the dock.
Now the anchor line or the anchor chain
is nice and tight,
I've got my two stern lines here,
which are also nice and tight
and I've got about a meter
off the back of the boat.
Now in the Mediterranean,
you'll very often have a passerelle
or in layman's terms,
a gangplank to access the boat,
to avoid the need to take any unnecessary risk,
getting to and from the boat.
It's a time to head off
and enjoy the beautiful Greek island
that you've just arrived at.
So, as I mentioned in the introduction,
there are two styles
for this kind of med mooring.
The second option,
and one that's also quite common
especially in Croatia,
is to use a mooring line.
Now this is effectively the same setup
but you're replacing the anchor
and the anchor chain,
with a line and a concrete block.
There's a small line,
which comes to a cleat on the dock,
it runs underwater,
becomes a big line,
and then goes to a concrete block.
Now the approach would be exactly the same,
aside from the fact
you're not dropping the anchor,
you're just reversing into the dock.
Again, if there's a boat already on the dock,
put fenders down one of your sides,
and go onto his windward side,
and that means he can catch you
as you come in.
But if that isn't the case,
you do exactly what we just did,
you come stern first into the dock.
you get your windward line on,
you can drive on that,
control the boat,
and then you get your leeward line on as well.
Once you've got two lines on,
you can then grab the mooring line,
now they'll most likely be someone
on the dock to help you,
they'll grab the morning line,
and that'll hold it up here,
and you'll be able to grab it
with a boat hook from the side of the boat.
Now hand over hand,
you walk this forward,
to the very bow of the boat,
pull it tight,
and make it off on the cleat.
Once you've made it off on the cleat,
you can go to the other side,
and repeat the same process,
so you've got two mooring lines
attached to the bow cleats,
which go out,
again, same distance as our anchor,
to a concrete block.
Once those are fixed
to the front of the boat,
you can then put your engines in reverse,
and what that'll do,
that'll really tighten up
the mooring lines on the bow,
simultaneously you can shorten the stern lines,
that you've got on the dock,
pulling the boat nice and tight,
getting it hopefully around
the same distance from the dock,
that we have here,
and that's a very common setup
that we find in the Med as well.
So once you've set the boat up in a nice way,
it's important to put fenders
down both sides of the boat,
cause you're gonna have many
other people coming into the dock,
the quay will be busy,
and it will be full,
by about one or two PM in the afternoon.
So fender up the boat nicely,
make sure you're nice and protected,
and then yeah, get ready to welcome
your new neighbors for the night.
So that pretty much sums up this process,
we do hope you enjoyed this video.
Now, we love getting feedback,
we love hearing suggestions,
so do let us know,
and if we can cover any other topics,
that you guys would like to know about,
or would like more information
in the future,
do let us know.
If you did enjoy the episode,
do hit subscribe,
if you haven't already,
and give us a like,
great to have your feedback.
And we look forward to seeing you soon,
out on the water.
Thank you.
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- [Narrator] Join us in the next episode
for more inspirational,
and educational content.
So that you can feel confident
in your catamaran handling ability.
We'll see you then.