Mediterranean style mooring

You may have heard the term Mediterranean mooring, it means that boat is in its berth with either the bow or the stern against the dock, as opposed to alongside mooring which means either the port or starboard side of the boat against a dock.

Of all boating maneuvers, without doubt, this is the one that causes the most problems, don´t worry, we are going to look at doing it med style and you will wonder what all the fuss was about.

If you are making your way down here, The Mediterranean, some things you should know, a post on things I wish I knew before moving here.

3 lines

Two for the bow or stern and one to hold the boat off the dock, this third line is geographical, I will explain, most marinas in the med, supply this line, you pick it up from the dock, walk it along the side of the boat, tension it up and and tie it off on a cleat. This line is commonly known as a dead line, the end in the water is usually attached to a chain and then set into a concrete block in the seabed. When you are picking up the dead line be very careful, they can be covered in shells, this these can be sharp and very heavy, I have had the misfortune of trying to heave dead lines that weighed more than I do for all the mussels growing on them.

Top left: Dead line pickup on the dock Top right: Concrete block for dead line

Bottom left: Dead lines tensioned up Bottom right: A mussel family

I said geographical, not all marinas will have dead lines on their berths, there are two possible alternatives, one is dropping anchor and backing towards the berth, this is common in the south of France and Croatia, on very large boats, raising anchor will usually involve the port diver giving you the okay before you can leave your berth or retrieve the anchor.

The second option is a mooring buoy, these are usually for boats with permanent berths, if you don't see any boats with them, chances are they are not allowed in that particular marina. The major difference with mooring buoys is you usually pick them up first and make the bow of the boat secure, once the bow is held in place, backing into your berth is much easier, irrespective of what direction the wind is coming from.

If your boat has its permanent berth and the dead line is in shocking condition, talk to the marina staff, they are supplying the berth and it should be their responsibility to replace the rope if it is in poor conditions. You may find that the rope they have used for the dead line is far too thick, so makes making fast difficult or impossible, it is not uncommon to see small boats in large berths with smaller diameter ropes going from the dead line to the cleats, some people also get a lead lined rope and use it as guideline from the dock to the point in the dead line near where they will be tying off on their cleats, it is easier to use this guideline as it will be lighter and cleaner than a rope that lives its life in the water all the time.

Post and piling moorings

These are rarer in the Med but there are a few with wooden posts, the docking is the same, except instead of going in between two boats, you go in between two wooden posts, the stern lines are exactly the same as any other marina, but instead of picking up a dead line, you use a piling on the port and starboard side to tie off onto. One notable port with this setup for some berths is Sotogrande in Cadiz, the first Mediterranean port you come to on mainland Spain when entering from the Atlantic.

I really like these styles of berth, the pilings themselves are covered with a soft wood, a bit like balsa, they don't ten to do any damage to you boat if you touch them, a lot of people put protective fenders on them too. A bit like mooring buoys, you can if its easier (my mantra is to always look for the easier way), tie onto the pilings first and the stern after.

Distance is key, how far off the dock?

The Mediterranean has little to no tide, the most I have seen is a little of a metre (a bit more than three feet), the closer you are to the straits of Gibraltar and its proximity to the Atlantic, the larger the tidal range will be. You want to be far enough off so its not some leap of faith from the dock to the boat but far enough away that as the tides rise and fall the boat does not hit the dock, look around at the other boats to gauge the distance. You will see a lot of boats with fenders out behind them, their use is twofold, one to hopefully fend off if there is bad weather and the boats move too much and the second is to have a place for the boat to rest on when boarding.

Calculating the distance from the dock really is only necessary when you are moored on a fixed dock, more and more marinas are using floating docks, this is so much easier as the boats rise and fall with the tide.

For a lot of boats, a passerelle is a must, you can use the reach of your passerelle or gangplank to gauge the distance from the dock. If you have a hydraulic passerelle, remember to retract it before you go away for any length of time, or at the very least ensure its not going to hit the dock or any stern lines in your absence.

Stern to wind

If you have space to spin the boat round so the stern faces into the wind, it will make life much easier, I don't know why exactly, but for some reason, sailing yachts seem to be able to Med style moor much better than motor boats, even though yachts would normally be much harder to control when going astern. The real trick and the way to make your life easier is to avoid as much as possible exposing too much of the sides of the boat to the wind.

Touches of power

This is important, remember, easy to speed up, much harder to slow down. You need to apply just enough power to keep the boat moving in a controlled manner, nobody is impressed with boats mooring with all the power on. Once you are about half way in between two boats, you cannot really go anywhere other than forwards or backwards.

Fenders and boathook

You are going to need fenders deployed and a boathook at the ready, you way need more fenders on one side than the other if you will be getting blown onto the boat next door. The boathook is possibly the most useful piece of kit on board a boat, used is for pushing, picking up stern lines, dead lines or mooring buoys.

Thrusting into the forefront

So useful to have a bow thruster, especially for Med mooring, I know some people will say you don´t need one or you are not a real sailor or boatie if you can´t do it without, that is missing the point, we fit a lot of bow thrusters in the yard, Fitting a bow thruster post production, they are fitted to make life easier, remember though, a bow thruster is now meant to turn the boat, its used as an aid.

Joysticks, pod drives and a thrusting mess

Until you have tried one, you will never believe just how useful and effective joystick control for your motors is, outboards, outdrives and pods are all available with joystick control, some fixed shaft systems can also be joystick controlled and interfaced to work with bow and stern thrusters, amazing! However, all is not perfect. Some of these systems, most notably pod drives, generate so much thrust that they just create a maelstrom of havoc, deadlines bounce, all the silt and mud on the seabed is stirred up and creates clouds in the water, boats start being tossed around in their moorings like corks.

I know that there are a lot of boats now where pod drives are the only drive option, just get some practice in, especially at low speed in the marina around other boats before causing a problem, only this week of writing this post, two boats got dead lines caught in the propellers of pod drives, getting them untangled involved getting the divers in, in neither case was there any damage to the pods, one boat did get pulled tight up against the dock and will require some fibreglass and gelcoat repairs.

Final thoughts

If there is one thing I would always advise, stay calm, you may have gone astern in your mooring a hundred times, even with spectators watching you, in both calm and windy conditions, there will always be that one time that something unexpected will happen, staying calm and controlled, not using too much power and everything will be easier. I would also always say, as someone who gets more opportunities than most to be in situations with boats not doing as they should, I would say staying calm is the most valuable advice I can offer, do not be that shouty, angry one who blames everything and everyone, also, if you can tell that it is not going to go to plan, do not be afraid to simply start over again.

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