Can somebody explain to me Bahamian style mooring. From what i remember it's a buoy off the bow with stern lines on a wall. Am i correct?
Richard

A Mediterranean style mooring is the bow to the seawall and a stern anchor. A Bahamian mooring is two anchors to the bow, with one ahead of you and one behind. I tried this once in the reversing current at Chestertown and ended up tangled in two anchor lines instead of the usual one :( There must be a trick to this that I am missing!
Joe Della Barba

In my experience, including in the Med, a Med mooring is stern lines to the dock, wall or land with a bow anchor.
Ken Hirsch Pukalani 36XL - Stamford, CT

Joe-
I thought the "usual" Bahamian style was two anchors out at about 45 degrees from the bow. And that in a tight channel or reversing current (like you describe) the two lines went forward and aft instead--but were both supposed to be *taught* so you stayed in the middle. Maybe one of yours slacked or dragged?

You can't have them both taught without snagging the rudder and keel as you rotate. After years of fighting with the reversing current I have decided that all chain or maybe sending a heavy weight down the anchor line is the only way.
Joe Della Barba

Perhaps things have changed in the 20 years since I visited the Med. but a Med mooring used to be one bow anchor or sometimes two at a 45 degree angle (or a mooring bouy) with the stern backed into the pier and stern lines crossed to the pier bollards with a brest line. I've conned a destroyer in that way and believe me its not easy, even with tugs, when there are ships on either side. I've watched sailboats do it in Naples harbor and have seen some pretty excited Italians hollering, waving and frantically moving fenders. It is not exactly the easiest way to moor anything that floats.

Nope, Hank,
It (Med mooring) hasn't changed, at least as recentrly as a summer ago when I chartered in Turkey, in the Med. Could regale you with stories as to my misadventures with this little exercise until I got the hang of it. Wind and strong currents can make for an interesting time of it. But it does enable a lot of boats to fit into a small space. You haven't lived until you've seen an 80-foot gulet squeeze in next to you in a space that does not seem wide enough to accomodate a 25-footer. (I think they greased the hull first.) ;-)Ken Hirsch Pukalani 1996 36XL Stamford, CT

Hi Ken,
I suppose the Europeans would find our custom of rafting a little strange too. At least with the Med moor (assuming you pull in the gang plank or companionway at night) you don't have drunken sailors clammoring over your decks at 3 am :)
Do dah - Hank

Hank,
I ran a 48 foot caique (traditional Greek hull, with a traditional big Perkins diesel) in the Aegean 30 years ago. I don't remember ever mooring any other way than stern-to. It could get very interesting with the meltemi blowing force 7 across the quay, only one narrow space left, charterers hovering anxiously during the manoever and screaming Greek skippers on the boats on either side.
We used to keep our skindiving gear handy and make beer money unwrapping stray mooring lines from props.
Smaller sailboats often anchor bow-to so they have some privacy in the cockpit, but that means clambering over the bow. Most boats of any size have gangplanks that reach the quay from the stern.
The biggest problem with med mooring is crossing anchor chains. When you try to crank in your anchor you find you have picked up your neighbour's chain.
By the way the Norseman was made by Noorduyn, not Grumman.
Regards - Bob Skene - ASTARTE