![]() ![]() Kedge anchor rode – a short stretch of chain, ideally stainless as it’s nicer to handle, and a long floating warp or webbing reel is ideal.Įnjoyed reading Boat berthing: skills for sailing the Baltic Sea?Ī subscription to Yachting Monthly magazine costs around 40% less than the cover price.An easy-to-handle kedge anchor without moving parts, such as a Bruce.Hook-on ones are available if you don’t want to install one Here’s a list of things the locals use routinely which might make life easier when boat berthing: ![]() Much of it can be picked up once you’re there. You don’t need tonnes of extra kit for a trip to the Baltic. Kit list for boat berthing in the Baltic Sea Start off with lunch stops only for your first time and anchor off for a good night’s sleep. Some people use climbers’ crevice hooks, but these damage the rocks and should be avoided if possible.Ī couple of slim tyres are better than fenders as they’ll sink. You’ll also need to identify strong points to attach lines to before coming alongside. Rock wedges with eyes are an essential bit of kit when boat berthing in the Baltic Sea If approaching bows to, then the kedge needs to be deployed 2-3 boat lengths out. Local knowledge, a decent pilot guide or reconnaissance by dinghy is required to identify suitable spots. Rock mooring can be done in two ways: bows-to with a kedge anchor or, for the very brave, alongside. The only thing cooler than screaming through the archipelagos under full sail, is tying up to a rock when you stop. Have your fenders deployed as it’s likely you’ll lie on the yacht next door until you’ve got the fore and aft lines tensioned. Securing it on the leeward side of the boat will help keep the yacht square to the dock in a cross wind. It can be left to windward or leeward on approach and this will often depend on how the other yachts are lying. Many local boats have a long metal hook to which they tie their mooring line, hook the buoy as they go past and then let go, the hook kept in place by gravity and line tension. Theo Stocker finds out how from Barrie Neilson… If you charter in the Med, you’ll find yourself mooring stern to. Some Baltic yachts have a rubbing strake, but you can also drape a heavy line over the side to offer protection to the topsides. If the berth is very narrow then fenders may need to be abandoned. If double-handed, they can then give this to the helm before nipping ashore from the pulpit with the windward bowline. It’s best to make sure you have lines and fenders rigged on both sides before coming in.Īs you enter the berth a crew member standing at the widest point of the boat needs to attach the windward sternline or midships line, depending on your preference. These wobbly structures look like finger berths but they definitely aren’t designed for a person to stand on (several British sailors have found this out the hard way), they merely present a strong point for attaching to and separating the berths. You can’t stand on a Y-berth spar, so you need another way to get you lines through a ring and back on board. Y berthsīoat berthing in the Baltic: A Y-berth is where a single spar separates each boat. They can be approached stern to if that’s your preference, which will certainly make leaving the next day a bit easier, in which case just reverse these instructions to set a bowline first and then attach a stern line to the dock. You either need to get a crew member close enough to feed a line through the ring or use a boathook with a special mooring clip on it to secure to.īerthing in marinas is largely bows to, in either a ‘Y’ finger berth, a box berth or with a single stern buoy, all of which require nifty line handling from the crew. There are also very few cleats: the strong points onshore tend to be rings, so you can’t rely on lassoing the dock from the boat. He did it beautifully, there was no question of his seamanship, it was just a manoeuvre which is rarely required. Last time I was there, a Finnish skipper of a 36-footer berthed alongside a wall took out his seamanship manual to remind himself how to spring off against a cross wind. ![]()
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