Med-mooring in a crosswind with a fouled lazy line
At 17:30 the 16 m sloop Nisos enters a small Cycladic harbour to med-moor between two yachts, leaving gaps of about 4 m. The wind is north 20 knots gusting 28 across the harbour from the starboard beam, and a 0.4 m swell rolls in through the entrance. A lazy line hangs from the quay near the intended berth; its condition is unknown. The yacht has a single 110 hp engine, a bow thruster, a 25 kg anchor with 60 m of chain, and three on board, only one of whom has handled mooring lines before. The skipper decides to go in. While reversing into the gap, the lazy line is drawn into the propeller; the engine stalls and cannot be restarted. The yacht is 12 m from the quay, drifting downwind toward a moored ferry, and the anchor is down with about 25 m of chain out.
1. Critique the decision to enter and set out how this mooring should have been planned.
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Critique. Entering a 4 m gap, single-screw, with 20–28 kn on the beam, a swell in the entrance, a fouled-line risk and effectively one competent hand is a compound risk. The error is not the mooring itself, it is the absence of a stated abort criterion.
Planning that should have preceded entry:
- Reconnaissance first. Slow pass outside, look at the lazy lines (chafe, age, whether they are actually made fast), the gaps, the swell and the other boats' mooring scope.
- Crew briefing on deck, before the approach: who does the anchor, who handles the lazy line, who handles fenders and springs, who relays hand signals; nobody in the water, nobody holding a loaded line, no hands in a bight, no jumping ashore.
- Approach geometry. Anchor out to windward of the berth (roughly 40–50 m, 4–6:1 scope), keep the wind on the beam that blows the bow off rather than onto the neighbouring boat, reverse using the bow thruster in short bursts, and let the wind do the sideways work rather than fighting it.
- Better position. A berth on the windward side of the harbour, or a berth with more space, or a different harbour entirely.
- Abort criteria, decided in advance. If a lazy line cannot be visually verified, if the crew cannot be positioned safely, or if the first attempt does not go cleanly, go around and try again, or leave. One retry, then out.
The decision to enter in these conditions was defensible only with a firm abort plan; there was none.
2. The engine is dead with a line round the propeller, 12 m from the quay and drifting onto a moored ferry. Give your immediate actions, in order, with the reasoning.
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Order matters because of the drift.
- Do not restart the engine. Every rotation wraps the line tighter and can bend the shaft or the cutless bearing, and can damage the gearbox seal. Leave it in neutral, engine stopped.
- Control the drift first. The anchor is already down with 25 m of chain out – that is the one thing holding the bow. Take up on the windlass to get the bow into the wind and slow the drift; if the yacht is still going down onto the ferry, veer a little chain to increase catenary rather than dragging the anchor out.
- Protect the hull and the other vessels. All fenders over on the downwind side, someone forward and aft with a boathook to fend off; get long lines across to the quay or to the ferry if you can reach, and take a turn rather than hold the line.
- Nobody in the water. Not the crew, not a passing swimmer, not a diver – the propeller can still be turning in wash and the hull is moving.
- Call the harbourmaster or port authority on VHF, explain the situation and ask for a launch and a diver; also warn the ferry's crew.
- Log the time, the position and the actions. Then wait for help in daylight or calm; do not attempt to cut the line from a tender unless conditions are genuinely safe.
3. Next morning the propeller is cleared, but a rigging check shows a cracked swage terminal on a lower shroud with two broken outer wires. The forecast is north 6 and the next port is 20 NM away. Decide and justify.
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Do not sail for the next port today. A lower shroud carries the mid-mast panel; when it fails, the mast pumps, the upper rigging takes shock loads and you can lose the rig, which in 6 Bft near a lee shore is a serious emergency and can injure crew on deck.
Options, in order of preference:
- Repair locally. A local rigger can swage a new terminal or fit a mechanical/Marine-grade replacement in a day or two; the delay is trivial against the risk.
- Temporary support, if a rigger is unavailable and a sheltered daylight passage is unavoidable: tension/lash the panel with high-modulus (Dyneema) line round the mast above and below the failure and down to a strong deck point, reduce sail area drastically, motor in sheltered water, and inspect every hour. This is a jury rig, not a repair, and the passage must be genuinely flat water.
- Stay. Anchor in shelter, monitor the damaged terminal, reduce rig tension and wait for the forecast to ease.
Reasoning about 'the engine works'. Motoring does not protect the rig: the mast still flexes in the seaway and any slack in the damaged shroud increases shock loading on the others. The decision criterion is the consequence of failure, not the probability – losing the mast with three crew aboard outweighs a two-day delay. Also record the defect, the decision and the reasoning in the log, and inform the owner/charterer.