The sun is sitting low on the horizon and just a gentle breeze ruffles the water like a lace cloth thrown casually over the table. Small craft cut through the water with just the slightest froth curling at their bows as they beat upwind to those multi coloured buoys bobbing on the surface like so many wise old men nodding in agreement. Suddenly one of these yachts approach an awaiting buoy and 'come about' in a tangle of deck ropes that whip and curl like pythons in a pit. A yachtsman leans over the bow with his boathook, lifting the buoy up and onto the foredeck. Commands are shouted, the sails are lowered and the boat settles to face into the breeze; home again, home again, safe from the sea..........So what the heck is holding this boat in place out in the arms of the water?
"It's a mooring", you cry; "Everyone knows that." Sure, you're right; but how to they get there? What are they made of? And, more importantly, who really cares? Well lots of things are used from old engine blocks and large anchors to lumps of concrete and recalcitrant spouses. However, the Victorian Ports and Harbours have specifications which (like all good yachties) are usually ignored or adapted ad hoc. For craft up to 50 feet in Port Phillip and Westernport Bays (and other waterways), P&H recommend two train wheels joined by 10 metres of two inch chain with a centre bull ring. From the bull ring another length of 2 inch chain rising to a second bull ring followed by a length of one inch chain to a swivel followed by a length of half inch chain terminating at a suitable buoy joined by six feet of suitable rope. The three lengths of rising chain should each be one third of the depth of water at high tide. Sounds simple, (#@*!?) we only need to ring Metro for our wheels and a yacht chandlery for our chain, rope and buoy.
With our first call to Metro (VicRail when I did it), we are greeted with the question of whether we want 'tyres' or not....... Okay????????? (It turns out that those flanges on the wheels are 'tyres' which are replaceable due to wear, much heavier though). We opt for the heavier 'tyred' wheels and arrange a pick up date. A call to the chandlers is received with full knowledge of what we need and why. They even have the water depths for many mooring areas around Victoria. Things are getting easier. We jump in the trusty (and fairly new) HK wagon with the big 186 engine, borrow a robust trailer from a mate and off we go to the West of Melbourne for our (as yet unassembled) mooring.
We collect the wheels first, loaded on with what appears to be an oversized (for the job) fork lift. The trailer sags on its suspension and the HK lifts alarmingly in the front; this doesn't look good. But no worries, things like GVM and Combined Mass hadn't been heard of, let alone legislated for back then. $10 per train wheel later and off we go for our chains and buoy. This is loaded on and the trailer is even lower, the front end even higher...great for bird watching from the front bench seat. It's O.K. only 30 miles to get home and another 50 miles to the Bay. Car into first...not moving, is the handbrake on? No, just needs more revs. Aahh, yes there we go. Discussion in the front seat as to the estimated weight on the back. Well, the boat is rated 2.5 tons and this feels a lot heavier. She'll be right! It's a Holden HK Wagon, only three years old with front disc brakes, the 186 engine and equipped with those little chequered flags below the 186 badge on the fender. Never noticed the smell from the brakes or clutch before though. Wonder if that's a warranty item?
Finally home where older brother (an Army Mechanic) is ready to weld it all up for us. Successful assembly is achieved and the purchase of mechanical trailer levellers help almost as much as the 50psi we put in the back tyres, (it's a Holden, 186, chequered flags, chrome trim on the door linings, coloured co ordinated knob on the column shift.) Off to the Bay and the Yacht Club with the floating flat top that can float our mooring out to the designated position. (Must get the dealer to check out those strange smells from the clutch and brakes).
Arrive at the club and about a dozen onlookers assist with the sliding of the mooring from trailer to flat top which is then run down the winch operated boat ramp and into the water where it promptly falls off, successfully blocking the ramp to all other users. One old salt who's done this all before tells us that we should have lashed the train wheels to each side of the flat top and piled the chain on top for better balance. (Really!!! D'Ya think so?) We will have to wait for low tide to do this...six hours in which the boat ramp is out of operation makes us awfully popular fellas. Anyhow, the passage of time and the cooling of tempers finds us following the directions of the old salt. A further few hours brings in a sufficient rising tide to float the flat top off the ramp and on to out final destination. "Remember," calls old salty, "when you cut one side loose, the other side will flip over. Keep clear of the chain as it drops to the bottom." Sound likes good advice.
A friend has his twin 75 h.p. power boat and tows us into position where the wheels must align with prevailing winds. We line up and cut the first lashing. The flat top flips over at incredible speed and my offsider is thrown up into the air and overboard. "Told ya", floats a voice from the beach 300 yards away. "Now don't cut the second rope until you've stretched out the chain." (The same floating voice). So we follow instructions and our friend with the power boat opens the throttles until his boat is swaying and bucking like some demented rodeo rider. Old salt give further advice from the beach..."Cut the rope ya goof." A flash of my knife and the second wheel drops, perfectly into position and the flat top bobs back level. The power boat is quiet. "I think I've seized the engines", our friend informs us. The sinking feeling in my stomach is finally relieved when the power boat roars back into life. "No, just got a little overheated which tripped the cut out". We sit back and admire our 'blue water' grade buoy bobbing up and down in unison with the other wise old men dotted about in their colourful display of mutual agreement. We finally moored the boat onto our creation for the remainder of the season and pulled the boat out for a repaint in late Autumn. We return the following Spring to join our boat to the umbilical cord of the mooring below. No buoy!! What's going on?? Enquires at the clubhouse reveal that a power boat was playing slalom with the various unattended buoys and cut several ropes. The chain and wheels have sunk into several inches of the sandy bay floor.
Weeks of dredging, scuba diving and prayer were to no avail. If you want to moor your boat then my advice is to use a jetty berth.
Ones recommended by Victorian (and possibly others) Ports and Harbours Authority. P&H was my lazy way of repeating the term Ports and Harbours in my original post. I tend to go on an on for long enough without using full honourifics. (See! I'm doing it again.) Anyhow, specific types of anchors are specified for different jobs on different boats where there is a different bottom surface such as sand, mud, rock etc etc. Mooring anchors are a modified anchor similar to those found of deep sea vessels and act upon the Danforth Anchor principal. (Just as an aside, a Danforth anchor is very handy out in the desert or similar terrain for winching a vehicle out of a sand drift.) The post was pretty long but I felt I had to 'set the stage' in order to narrate an incident and I was attempting brevity which, as is now evident, I have failed abysmally at. I've also gone overlong on this post....sorry.
Then there are the inspection fees where you need a diver to go down and certify that the mooring and fittings are in good order and not corroded through . In Morten Bay QLD around Russel Island, that bottom is all mud and the actual mooring block is under meters of it but has to be inspected at the point of attachment . Just another way of pleasure of sailing like standing in the shower with a rain coat on throwing fifty dollar notes down the drain every thing that flaps or bangs can tear or snap and break on a sail boat is expensive to the extreme
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Pets are welcome but children must be leashed at all times
I have to say I found the story funny I think Keith has a talent for telling tales would be great too hear him around a camp fire while having an ale or three
Ya spot on. Having watched others look for their beloved mooring your story had me chuckling.
The anchors came from a set of drawings by Melb Ports & Harbours from the 70's I believe. For me they work a treat. Hold the boat in its spot thru some of the the worst Port Phillip can throw up.
Many years ago (early '80's) we laid a mooring in the Bne river using a railway wheel. No problem, put it on a slide on a 12 plywood dinghy with a slide across the gunwales tipped it in no problems. Transported it with an old falcon ute. The beauty of the railway wheel, is with its spokes it settles its way into the mud and then provides incredible holding power. Held a 38' deep keel yacht through all conditions (no floods at that time). Will admit we worked out the logistics beforehand and there were a number of experienced people on hand.
