Seasonal Mooring System Tips?

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Ginnie Jo Blue

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May 1, 2026, 1:26:11 PMMay 1
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Good morning y'all, 

Undaunted (F32AX) will be on a mooring ball in Fairhaven (Bellingham, WA) from May-October this year. I'm moving to Bellingham July 1st and will have near-daily eyes on the boat at that time, but during May and June I will be three hours away with visits every week or two. I need a robust system to help me sleep at night. 

Fairhaven is well protected, minus any North or NW winds. Balls are maintained by the port and placed seasonally. Divers are doing their annual maintenance this week. 

What are your suggestions for gear? Normally I just use my dock lines and double them back. Now I'm going to buy dedicated lines of the correct length-ish and add some chafing guards where they run along the boat. I have cleats on the mainhull and the float, plus a bow chock on the mainhull to help that line run forward and not across my net. Float has some stainless strips to prevent rub there since the boat was originally moored in Maine. Supposedly we aren't assigned a specific ball and they instead say there are 10 balls and 10 seasonal renters. That said, the employee said most boaters are creatures of habit and return to the same ball. So I can't officially leave gear on the ball but it may done in practice. We'll see. 

I suppose my biggest concern is chafing on the lines if they get twisted, which has happened at a mooring a couple of times when the current twirls me around at night. Is there any sort of shackle system to allieviate this? Also interested in any tips to make my system faster for the exit/return. And, of course, any other issues I haven't yet thought of since my boat has always been a dock-baby when we're apart. 

Thanks,
Ginnie Jo

Jeff Oaklief

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May 1, 2026, 1:41:21 PMMay 1
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For long term ball mooring I made up a three part bridle from big ass nylon three strand.  The middle line goes straight from the trailering ring on the bow to the ball with a big herking shackle to a large chain screw connector on the float.  This takes most of the load.  The two outside lines go from the ball end screw connector of the middle line to each float (large snap shackle to a Ubolt that Ruf Duck has where the whisker stays connect).  I set these outside lines so they were barely slack.  You can put floats on the ends of these bridle lines to make pickup easier... but I just let them sink.

If you want, you can borrow my setup... I do not think I will be using it this year.  You may need to make some tweaks to it to fit your boat.

Jeff 
Ruf Duck
F9R



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Ginnie Jo Blue

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May 1, 2026, 1:52:00 PMMay 1
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Well this sounds confidence-inspiring! And since I just spent allllll my money on new bottom paint, I will take you up on your offer to borrow for the season. I'll reach out via text, thanks Jeff!

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Bill Gibson

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May 1, 2026, 2:59:46 PMMay 1
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Hi Ginnie Jo, 

I leave a 40' mono on a ball all summer.  I gave a lot of thought to how to make a long term system. I made up the gear, which is based on a Dyneema bridle, strong enough probably to lift the boat, let alone keep it on a mooring.  The Dyneema goes around a stainless eye using a double Brummel, with no splicing at that point.  Each leg has an eye spliced in, long enough to go around a cleat.  The legs of the bridle are covered in nylon chafe guard (fisheries) because they rub on the stem with some bits of fire hose quality (ebay) 

The reason to go with Dyneema is that it DOESN'T stretch.  You will have enough give in the anchor SYSTEM below the ball.  If the last few feet to the boat stretches it will chafe on the boat/cleat.  It's also easy to splice and work with.  

I use a Mantus mooring snap shackle, designed for the job, which hooks to a big assed stainless swivel that stays on the buoy.  You could put the swivel on the bridle side of the snap shackle, if you can't assume the same buoy is used.  If you do that a Mantus anchor swivel might work well.  I love Mantus anchoring stuff - it is so we'll designed. 

A swivel is essential.  I see boats every year with lines snarled up and even the buoy lifted out of the water. 

I've used my bridle for 3 of 4 seasons with no appreciable wear/chafe.  My boat is here in Seattle by chance.  I could take a photo of the bridle if that would be of interest. 

Cheers, 
Bill

From: northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com <northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ginnie Jo Blue <ginnie...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, May 1, 2026 10:51:45 AM
To: northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com <northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [NWMA] Seasonal Mooring System Tips?
 

Richard Bryan

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May 1, 2026, 3:30:41 PMMay 1
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For 20 years, my F27 was moored in Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod. The location was assigned to me, and I owned the mooring, so circumstances were slightly different. I’ve never had a dock or slip, until now.

The mooring should have a swivel; mine had 2, with one at the top where the pennant attached. The pennant stayed attached all season. I ran the pennant to the main hull cleat, and it had a chafe cover where it ran through the bow chock. The chafe cover could be as simple as a piece of slit garden hose. I had a line from the bow of each ama that tied to the pennant with a tautline hitch, forming the bridle. The bridle is important to keep the boat from swinging too much. The bridle lines were tied close to the boat with the pennant hauled in a bit, and the tie point was adjusted by sliding the lines out or in so they were barely slack when the pennant was let out to the full extent. When I left the mooring to sail, the bridle lines were untied and the pennant was let go from the boat, staying on the mooring. Bridle lines stayed with the boat so they were available if I used the anchor.

The pennant was a pretty hefty dacron 3 strand with a metal thimble in the splice at the mooring end, shackled to the mooring eye. A bigger eye splice at the boat end was looped around the main cleat. My concern with your situation would be that if you can’t attach the pennant with a shackle through a thimble, there will be chafing where your pennant attaches to the mooring. It would be inconvenient to undo a shackle every time you wanted to leave. I recommend leaving the pennant attached to the mooring with a shackle through a splice with a thimble if you can, or at least for extended periods when you can’t check it often.

Even with the swivel, the bridle lines would get snagged on the mooring every so often. This usually happens when the wind is light or calm, and the boat gets swung around by tidal current. Fortunately, the bridle lines are secondary, and if they chafe through (mine never chafed *all* the way through…), the boat is still secure on the main pennant.

Happy to answer any further questions you may have.

Best,
Richard Bryan

Ginnie Jo Blue

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May 2, 2026, 11:37:44 AMMay 2
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Thanks, y'all. Taking notes and will reach out individually with follow-up questions ;)

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Richard Bryan

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May 2, 2026, 12:49:01 PMMay 2
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One way to maintain your claim to a particular mooring when you go sailing is to leave your dinghy tied to it.

Richard Bryan

Leela Ray

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May 3, 2026, 3:04:35 PMMay 3
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Wow I have discovered from reading this thread that my current mooring ball set up may be a little insane, but if it helps to share (or if you just want a laugh),
we have two lines that we run through our mooring ball:
  1. We have a 1" mooring line that we cleat from the bow of the main hull (we have a cleat on each side of the anchor locker). Then, Nira has to do a fun little lasso manoeuvre to get it over the bowsprit to the other side. 🙃 As we approach (slowly and into the wind), Nira hangs off the forward net to catch the ball, and loops the line through before cleating it back to the bow on the opposite cleat.
  2. We have U-bolts installed at the very front of each float. Once we're stable on the ball, we tie a longer 3/4" line (with a bowline knot) to one bolt, and then pass it through the mooring ball before tying it off on the U-bolt on the opposite float. 
The pros: Minimal chafing/twisting and there's 2 separate lines securing the boat in case one fails. 
The cons:  The general level of mobility required to hang off the boat to feed the lines through, and Nira regularly fails to catch the ball on the first attempt (she refuses to use our telescoping boat hook). 

I've been thinking of getting some lines with shackles/carabiners to make the process a little easier/faster, but we'll get there when we get there. As ridiculous as our method is, the boat has never escaped the ball, even in stormy weather. The only time we've lost the boat was because the mooring ball chain broke. That said, I think it's time for a diver inspection. 😅
- Leela

Paul English

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May 4, 2026, 12:06:19 PMMay 4
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We've done a variety of equally insane things, none of them intended to be "long term" - usually just a few nights at most. Our current preferred "just a few nights" option is from Ginnie Jo. Just one bow line off one side - these are already very long to allow working from the dockside.

One of us holds the bitter end and loops it through the mooring by leaning down off the ama - no boat hook, just an easy reach. Then we back off and let the ball drift up forward of the ama/bow and cleat that bow line back on the same side!

Then a second rope - whatever we have handy we wait until the boat tacks the ball onto the same side as the bow line, and run a second rope through the ama bow net eye - not the one all the way forward on the tip. Now the ball is pinned halfway between the bow and the ama, no bonking anything at night and we've got the added security of two ropes, but both are doubled back for an easy cast off. 

This arrangement seems to reduce tacking on the ball significantly versus attaching just at the bow, but even so if we were mooring more long term I think I'd want a riding sail, in which case I'd probably want double strong ropes (dyneema) off the bow, maybe with some added snubbers for shock load. I realize the mooring ball itself adds some spring, but they are not all equal in that regard!

I'm partial to the fin delta style: https://www.practical-sailor.com/sails-rigging-deckgear/rest-easy-with-a-riding-sail/ and keep meaning to try the DIY-with-a-tarp method.

When the wind builds up, the side-to-side shock load _just from tacking_ gets pretty significant. Extremely unpleasant if you're trying to sleep too. 

We rode out a ~40kt night on the side of Cypress Island before RTC using double dyneema lines - there was enough fetch that the waves were significant and the shock load was incredible on each wave. I hate to think what would have happened if the bow cleat didn't hold as I've only got one bow cleat and all the ropes were attached. Some snubbers would definitely have helped.

Worth noting that in 40kn we weren't really tacking noticeably any more because most of the motion was up/down/front/back from the waves.

We absolutely flailed the polyester jackets off both ropes - in polyester's defense they weren't exactly new and probably had plenty of UV damage. But the dyneema core was fine, I still have the ropes and would use them again. 
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Bill Gibson

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May 5, 2026, 3:23:27 PMMay 5
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Sadly, I don't think the fin delta sail is available any more (let me know if I'm wrong).  I did just find this blog entry showing a solution using a tarp over the boom, shown on a Corsair tri.  

My one experience of anchoring the Dragonfly had it hunting through almost 180 degrees!  Raising the center board and rudder didn't seem to help.  I need to find some kind of solution if I do any serious cruising in the boat. 
From: northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com <northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Paul English <tall...@engmooski.net>
Sent: Monday, May 4, 2026 9:05:57 AM
To: NWMA <northwest-multi...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [NWMA] Re: Seasonal Mooring System Tips?
 

Northwest Multihull Association Membership Officer

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May 5, 2026, 4:30:40 PMMay 5
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Sail Delmarva is the same guy that writes the articles for Practical Sailor.  I am disappointed - a bit of Googling does seem to indicate Banner Bay Marine / Fin Delta sails are defunct.

Onward to tarp experiments!  One can just get a standard riding sail of course, but I like the idea of providing some incidental shade or rain protection for my cockpit - if the dimensions work out such that I can also transition in/out of the cockpit to the nets without too much fuss. 

If it is a particularly calm night we leave the rudder down so that the current sets us nicely - no tacking at all. But we pull the daggerboard up for noise reasons.

Richard Bryan

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May 5, 2026, 5:15:32 PMMay 5
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All of the multihull people I have known (and I myself) routinely use a bridle arrangement with rudder and daggerboard up to prevent too much swinging on a mooring or an anchor. A trimaran may choose to use a bridle line to only one ama, and it works just as well. I don’t know any multihull that has used a sail for this purpose. I think that is something used by monohulls because they don’t have enough beam for a bridle to be effective.

Richard Bryan

Robert Hall

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May 5, 2026, 5:19:25 PMMay 5
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Paul I could sew up one of those anchor riding sails easily. Good winter time project!

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Darren Greenhalgh

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May 5, 2026, 5:32:58 PMMay 5
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i have made an anchor riding sail, but have never used it yet.  i usually stern tie to something and tuck farther in most anchorages.  im going to have to use it - take some photos, and share with everyone how it goes.  it is still laying in my aft cabin.
d
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