40 MPH Winds - Mooring Failed!

searaycruisn

New Member
Nov 10, 2006
242
Old Saybrook, CT
Boat Info
2000 380 Sundancer
Engines
CAT 3126
I was at Old Harbor (Block Island, RI) last Thursday night when the winds began to pick up. I arrived at about 8:30 the previous evening, and since I was alone on the boat with my sister (a non boater) I decided the safest thing to do was to pick up a mooring.

The winds started howling at around 4:00PM on Thursday. The boat was swinging pretty hard off the mooring, and I decided to put out my anchor (bow and stern anchor). At 2:30AM, my sister woke me up because she feld the boat swing. Turns out that the mooring ball pulled off the chain. Luckily, I had put my anchor out as backup, but the boat swung towards another moored boat, which was now on my starboard bow. My rub rail was up against his bow rail (a 32 foot bridge boat).

I put on a life jacket and headed out to the bow to put fenders between the boats (the other boat was not occupied). As I am struggling with the fenders, I look down at the dinghy. It had gotten so full of water (from the rain) that it started tipping backwards towards the outboard engine. Next thing I know, the dingy bow comes up and the wind catches it and lifts the dinghy straight up in the air. It twists, and lands upside down in the water, with the engine still on it, and the fuel tank floating in the water.

I had to think fast. The fenders were out now, and adjusted, so I decided to make one small effort to save the dinghy. I grabbed the line attached to the bow of the dingy, and pulled up on it. Sure enough, the dinghy went up in the air again and landed right side up! Next day, I took the engine to a marine shop, and they were able to salvage it.

We heard many mayday calls on the radio that night....it was pretty scary.

I guess I learned a little lesson about the "safety" of a mooring. Had I not had my anchor down as backup, I would have been up on the sea wall.
 
It's a good thing the bridge boat guy wasn't the guy from Saugatuck next to me last weekend!!

Crazy story though, glad you were safe and able to save the motor.
 
WOW!... What a nightmare. Glad you made it through the evening pretty much unblemished. :thumbsup:
 
Were you in Old Harbor or Great Salt Pond (New Harbor)? I did not know Old Harbor had any transient moorings for a boat your size. Old Harbor is so small that there is hardly any room to anchor, unless you pull in right along one of the jetties. Even in GSP I can't see anchoring among the moored boats. You might have been better off moving to the anchorage area to give yourself more swining room.

In any case, I hope the harbor master refunded your mooring fee.
 
I was in Old Harbor. They have several moorings in the harbor. I did not anchor in the mooring field. What I did, was put out my anchor as a backup to the mooring I was on once I realized how strong the winds were getting.

Good thing I did!
 
High winds at Block seem to be a common occurrence. I was there 2 years ago, but in New Harbor, on a mooring, and basically the same thing happened. 40-50+ MPH winds, The wind flipped the dinghy, once I was able to right the dink I had to pump WD40 into it to save it. Several moorings dragged, and even more boats pulled free in the anchorage.

You would think that the mooring should be able to hold in those winds, if it's a relatively common event there.

I was not able to get my anchor down. There was no way I could have gotten to the bow to release the anchor. I was lucky in that my mooring held. The mooring directly up wind of me had 3 smaller boats on it, and I was concerned it would drag. But it held also.

Now when I grab a mooring I always release the anchor latch, so I can drop it from the helm if necessary.

that was a scarey night, so I know what you went through...
 
I heard that 4 or 5 moorings let loose in new harbor great salt pond as well the other night, apparently there were 71 mph gusts.
 
A friend was at the Boat Basin last Thursday, he was stern to the wind, with a empty slip behind him, he said he was concerned the canvus would blow off, especially during the peak gusts. So even people tied up at the docks were concerned.

We're going back the end of August, and altough we perfer to grab a mooring, or anchor, I plan to get a slip.
 
As a kid our boat was on a mooring for many years. Typically, the mooring ball is nothing but a pass-through for the chain that continues down to the anchor. Are you saying that the ball is literally a link in the chain and thus if the ball fails, the boat is adrift??

I'm curious how such transient moorings are anchored? There's a dock-n-dine place on Barnegat Bay that uses moorings and they often close them down when it blows too hard.

Our boats were moored with single chain passing through a pipe at the center of the mooring buoy (which was simply 4 or so squares of stacked dock flotation). On the topside end was the line (painter). About 6' below the water's surface the chained Y'd off on a swivel to two chains. Each leg of the Y led to a 250# mushroom anchor embedded in the black muck bottom around 20' deep. Very effective system but these things certainly did fail. Usually one of the chain legs would let go from corrosion. I can recall this happening twice. Each time we'd take the dink and a grapple hook and drag the area. When we would get something my Dad would don his SCUBA gear and investigate. If it was the anchor, he'd take chain down and shackle to it and we'd pull the whole thing up for re-rigging. Man that was a pain in the arse.

This was our spot in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn from around 1970-1982.
romadii2.jpg
 
Ron, That's the way to set and maintain a mooring! Unfortunately the transient moorings at Block Island are nothing like that. I remember one year when we had the 410DA we picked up an empty transient mooring. When the harbor master came around to collect the fee, I commented that the mooring ball behind us was a bit close to my swim platform (like 1'). He said no problem, and proceeded to drag the mooring about 10' away using his little tender. Based on this, they are probably either using cement blocks sitting on the bottom or mushrooms that are not buried. In either case, it was easy to see why boats drag these things. It was also the last time we picked up a mooring at BI. We now only anchor on our own hook there.
 
Now that's interesting, I had always assumed a mooring was more secure then anchoring. I'm guessing Sea Gull you have all chain rode?

Given the wind that night, and the unbelievable pull on the mooring line, I'm thinking the my anchor with only 25 feet of chain, and the rest 5/8 line wouldn't have held. Although there were hundreds of anchored boats that didn't move.

Is there a better place to anchor that is more seltered?

I was right in front of the Boat Basin, mooring number 2. Which is lined up perfectly with the entrance to the pond.
 
I was in New Harbor two or three years ago on that Labor Day Weekend, when the winds were kicking up very strong, and boats (2 Sea Ray 380's) got blown up on to the sand near dinghy beach.

What gets me is that if this is a reletively common occurance out there, why don't they monitor and control the integrity of the moorings?

My feeling is that a mooring, (whether public, or private) should be regulated and meet certain minimum standards for the body of water in which it is located.

I always thought a mooring was safer than an anchor....obviously, that is not the case. From now on, I will always have my anchor down, to backup any mooring I am on, if the wind kicks up.

I hope others learn from my experience and do the same. Never rely on a mooring in heavy winds!
 
Here's something to think about as you deploy your anchor to supplement the crappy mooring. If these moorings fail so often, the seabed must be riddled with lost mooring "anchors," whether they be engine blocks, cinder blocks or cement shoes. Probably plenty of crap down there to get hopelessly snagged on.
 
With your anchor out, how do you keep from getting fouled with the mooring...especially if your boat swings with the tide. It would seem like your going for a swim to retrive. Is this common to set an anchor in addition to a mooring buoy?
 
In Western Australia all moorings have to be installed to a certain standard with the bouy marked clearly with the length of boat for which the mooring is rated and the maximum windspeed for which they are rated. Most are coded to a maximum of 40kts! Though I have never experienced a mooring failing and haven't heard of moorings failing so perhaps the wind rating is conservative.
 
It would be interesting to hear from people that have experienced high winds while at anchor, and didn't drag.

What type of anchor did you have, and what type of rode.
All chain, Chain and line, or all line did you have.

Could it be safer to anchor in a place like Block, then to grab a mooring?

I'm thinking unless you have all chain, you don't want to test fate in a high wind situation...
 
I think anchoring in a mooring field is definintely a no-no.

I would think I could not be faulted for "backing up" a mooring with an anchor in preparation for a storm.

I have a plow anchor.....all chain.
 
What gets me is that if this is a reletively common occurance out there, why don't they monitor and control the integrity of the moorings?

My feeling is that a mooring, (whether public, or private) should be regulated and meet certain minimum standards for the body of water in which it is located.!
Now that is sad. Sombody is gonna hook up a $100K+ boat to a $5.00 mooring! Sad thing is that you would never know the integrity of what you are hooking up to. Guess you are at their mercy. Kind of reminds me of some guys you see trailer their Harleys to Daytona or Sturgis. You always see a trailer with a $20k bike on it being held down by not much more than twine! There is always one who looses a bike in transit! But here they had a choice. With the moorings, you can only guess.
I learned somthing today...Thanks. This is somthing I never thought of.
 
It's been a wicked summer for winds in our area as well. Glad you made it through safe and sound.
 
Now that's interesting, I had always assumed a mooring was more secure then anchoring. I'm guessing Sea Gull you have all chain rode?

Given the wind that night, and the unbelievable pull on the mooring line, I'm thinking the my anchor with only 25 feet of chain, and the rest 5/8 line wouldn't have held. Although there were hundreds of anchored boats that didn't move.

Is there a better place to anchor that is more seltered?

I was right in front of the Boat Basin, mooring number 2. Which is lined up perfectly with the entrance to the pond.

I heard that the north end of the anchorage near the big gray tug is a good place to anchor. Supposedly anchors hold real good there because it is muddy. I have never tried anchoring at BI; I like to sleep at night:wink:
 

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