It pays to check your mooring lines

We had some very heavy weather in Sydney last weekend, below is the unfortunate result. The 44' bounced across the rocks and ended up on its side. She was on a mooring. I would think the insurance company will look very carefully to ensure the mooring had been lifted and checked as per their conditions.

She has been in that position for five days now, it's being lifted this afternoon. The hull is now in a very sad state indeed.

No morning swim for me for a while, our normally pristine little beach is a bit of a mess. Feel for the owner though. A bloke retrieved his ensign from the cabin, it was handed to him as he stood on the beach.

Sorry, I was unable to download the video.

I saw that on a TV news report, which reckoned it 'was a million dollar boat' in a throwaway 5 second story. What is the location?

And yes, I suspect the mooring and its lines will be closely looked at. After 5 days of partial flooding with the tides I imagine it is going to be a huge repair bill if done properly.

The boat beached at Balmoral, across from middle head in the harbour.

Agreed about the mooring lines. Sure is sad to see it beached like that.

I rarely use mooring balls, I simply prefer the convenience of a marine. That being said I wonder if any mooring balls get lifted for inspection around here. I know of a dozen balls owned and operated by a marina which use locomotive wheels for anchors. I have never seen any equipment around which could lift them. I suppose they could "dive" them for inspection. I also know a number of privately owned homemade anchors and balls. I actually shudder to think what may be below the ball.

pete

It's normally not the anchor itself that fails, but the line/chain etc that attaches the mooring ball to the anchor. Some areas REQUIRE you to use their mooring balls, but then state that they have no liability to you if they fail . . .

Found this sad interview with the owner on facebook.



With the boat aground and bobbing in the background, she talks about how it happened, plus the looting of the boat that happened after a friend tried to secure the boat to the beach.


https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSsydne...oring-and-looted-at-balmoral/642273563010177/


Also found this picture on the Daily Telegraph website, but they require a subscription to read the story:

Same thing happened in Nanoose just north of Comox a few weeks ago. The sea wall failed and as a result the marina was destroyed. Our friend's 60ft Sonship ended up on the rocks after the dock and the steel pilings failed.

Photos like that one are the reason I go down to the boat every time a big wind is forecasted to check the lines. I know they'll be good, but it eases my blood pressure to check them every time.


Sad to see a boat sitting like that.

GFC said:

Photos like that one are the reason I go down to the boat every time a big wind is forecasted to check the lines. I know they'll be good, but it eases my blood pressure to check them every time.


Sad to see a boat sitting like that.

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Agreed. And if practical, I try to go down as the winds are picking up so I can see how the boat is riding in the slip and ensure that no adjustments are needed based on movement due to wind direction, wave reflections in the basin, etc.

Many people get thrifty in buying dock lines. Mooring to a ball is better done with your anchor chain.

Was the mooring buoy rated for a 40ft boat?

This is how its done by some of the "pro fishermen" in our part of the world.

Tail end of a cyclone milling around, come in and dump it near us then disappear ashore leaving no anchor light on.

Thankfully no wind to speak of from it.

Miz Trom said:

Found this sad interview with the owner on facebook.



With the boat aground and bobbing in the background, she talks about how it happened, plus the looting of the boat that happened after a friend tried to secure the boat to the beach.


https://www.facebook.com/7NEWSsydne...oring-and-looted-at-balmoral/642273563010177/


Also found this picture on the Daily Telegraph website, but they require a subscription to read the story:

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Wife of guy that lost the boat was remarkably civil in referring to looters.

She said that the mooring line chafed on their anchor which is why it failed.

In the newspaper article a guy said lucky no-one was on the boat. But I disagree - had someone been on board they could have got underway and then anchored!

Brian: I agree being on the boat may have saved her. I found the interview (35 seconds into it), it sounds like the boat was hobby horsing and the mooring line got caught on the anchor and chaffed through.

https://www.facebook.com/108878629136279/posts/3334658016558308/

Insequent said:

Wife of guy that lost the boat was remarkably civil in referring to looters.

She said that the mooring line chafed on their anchor which is why it failed.

In the newspaper article a guy said lucky no-one was on the boat. But I disagree - had someone been on board they could have got underway and then anchored!

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An impressive lady! Commiserations to her, and her family.

It`s more common here to have boats kept on moorings, though boats that size are often on a marina. A houseboat near us went aground recently,same thing, mooring line sawed through by contacting anchor.I saw it recently with a sailboat on a National Parks overnight mooring, owner was trying to make adjustments.

Boats that size may use a mooring bridle, which might keep lines clear of the anchor.

Living on the lake, boats were always getting loose it seems. There was one man in the neighborhood, a bald headed barber which in itself is some cause for concern, who farmed also but nothing ever grew. So one day he was outraged someone had stolen his boat. Got in mine and recalled the way the wind had blown the day before plus knew the current so went a few miles and there it was, blown up on a point. He still swore it was stolen though.

FWIW, this is taken shortly after the boats bounced off the rocks.

At this stage no officials/police around, however there were some kids retrieving esky's and other paraphernalia from the water around the boat

Miz Trom said:

Also found this picture on the Daily Telegraph website, but they require a subscription to read the story:

Click to expand...

If you delete the cookies from the Daily Telegraph and most news sites, the next time you go to their website you'll have access. Maybe limited to 3 articles and might allow you to view every page for the 1st time. I use an add on - Cookie Autodelete that deletes cookies when I leave a site. Works with Firefox and Chrome.

I looked at that boat to buy when it was a demo in around 2013/2014, before I bought my current GB46.

From memory it’s a 2012 44 Halvorsen. Single Cummins QSC8.3 at 550hp, which was the latest from Cummins at the time.

Pity for the owners, hope the looting ferals get caught.

Hamish.

It`s usual to lift and check the mooring apparatus, right down to the concrete block, every year. Insurance, and I think the Maritime Authority which gives permission to lay the mooring, usually require it. And it`s commonsense. Most people use a mooring contractor who puts it in his diary. I recall a contractor once telling me "I got there just in time", and repeating it.
But it won`t stop a misplaced anchor sawing through the line. A friend lost his sailboat when bridle was sawn through where it ran through a fairlead after days of protracted bad weather.

Unknown moorings are always a little scary to me because you do not know what equipment was used and when was it last inspected. Where I keep my boat, mooring chains and other fasteners are replaced every 5 years.

Ken

Somewhat relevant to this thread:

It always amazes me that people will just tie up to any old mooring they find. There was a thread about this here awhile ago, as in some places you can do that under the assumption you must leave if the owner shows up. Was that mooring designed for small skiff or daysailer, or a boat your size? When was it last maintained?

We like using moorings, but do so only if it is a commercial/government field and we have confirmed with the harbormaster that it is appropriate for our boat.

One exception was in the beautiful Thimble Islands off Connecticut. We were in the process of commencing anchoring in a lovely, protected spot, and a guy came by in a skiff on his way to his dock, and offered the use of his mooring, assuring me it had just been serviced and they'd had as much as 70 footer on it.

Moorings come in many different designs. We always try to use as much of our own ground tackle as possible. I learned this quick at Vero Beach when the painter designed to go over your bow cleat broke off in my hand. I brought it in with me when I checked in, to the chagrin of the staff. We noticed a bunch of people around us in the field busily changing their hook-ups over the course of the day as word got out....

These boats were among a number that also didn’t fare so well at Parsley Bay (NSW) during the same storms on Sunday.

Quite a collection, it must have been some storm.

Glad to see Poseidon was not amongst the mess!

Insequent said:

Quite a collection, it must have been some storm.

Glad to see Poseidon was not amongst the mess!

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Yes indeed! We were on board, but berthed at the marina nearby. Found some minor issues to attend to where a little rain was seeping in around the forward cabin escape hatches. But on the list to fix.

PamLeatch said:

These boats were among a number that also didn’t fare so well at Parsley Bay (NSW) during the same storms on Sunday.
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We are at Brooklyn, in Sandbrook Inlet, which is the other side of Parsley Bay. Two boats on moorings operated by the marina dragged a considerable distance.
A worst case mooring pick up story(in a book about cruising the River) is a hire boat which picked up a mooring ball on the Hawkesbury river, unaware it had broken loose from the mooring itself, and moving wherever tide wind or waves took it.

Very sorry for your loss.

I have never been a fan of mooring buoys. Our Government used to put them in various spots on the coast mostly for commercial fishermen. I always anchored on my own hook. I then knew what I was hanging on and could sleep well. The Government got a very large claim when a 125' packer pulled the Government mooring buoy to shore in a big storm beaching the vessel. That ended most of the Government mooring buoys on our northern coast.

I friend of mine was on his personal mooring buoy only to have a large tree float into the space between his vessel and the buoy. He obviously had a very good hook on the bottom and good rode. It was a nasty storm making it not possible to get out to the vessel to free things up. The tree caused the vessel to roll over and sink while still hooked to the bouy!

If I am going to leave my vessel for any extensive period of time I have learn to do that tied to a good dock in a protected marina.

Google Catalina Island, Avalon, CA storm in 2014 for a crazy story about mooring balls and storms.

Fletcher500 said:

Google Catalina Island, Avalon, CA storm in 2014 for a crazy story about mooring balls and storms.

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Wifey B: I'll admit that I found Avalon's Mooring field a bit scary.