Bow mooring is great, and it is for numerous reasons: simpler maneuver with strong winds, greater privacy, fewer risks of damaging the rudder blade or catching lines and traps with the propeller. In short, bow mooring allows for an increase in safety for the most delicate part of the boat.

This operation, although easy, is not so elementary and you need to pay attention to the wind’s action, specifically in this case, on the bow. It’s important to keep in mind that while mooring forward certainly has many advantages, at the same time you expose yourself to the wind with the most vulnerable part in terms of maneuvering, the bow.

Bow mooring with wind towards the dock

Let’s now analyze the situation where the wind blows strongly towards the dock where we need to perform the bow mooring.

From this perspective, the action of the wind is a potential ally. It will allow us to more easily rotate the bow and bring us closer to the marina dock; our speed will be controlled with a few reverse strokes if we get too close.

In this situation, the rule of staying as upwind as possible to have maximum maneuvering space still applies. At this point, the antagonist is the wind pressure on the side which can push us onto the bows of the downwind boats. Therefore, some quickness is needed.

Once in front of the center of the berth, we proceed slowly with the rotation to moor. Slowly because the wind’s action will help us in the maneuver. While approaching, as shown in the drawing, we should stay a bit upwind, pointing the bow towards the moored boat on our starboard. Once assured we can enter, we complete the approach with the wind perfectly astern.

At the bow, we should have a person ready to pass a line ashore and then use the boat hook to grab the mooring line to come aft to secure the mooring buoy.

When alone and the wind is blowing from astern, a trick is to prepare a spring line tied at the bow and brought to the cockpit within reach of the helmsman. Once at the mooring and alongside, we’ll secure the spring to the stern cleat of the boat next to us. The boat subjected to the wind’s push won’t move forward because it’s held back by the spring, so we’ll have time to go to the bow to put a line ashore and grab the mooring buoy.

Bow mooring with crosswind

In the case where the wind blows across the berth, there will be no problem in approaching for bow mooring; however, we should be careful during the docking phase to enter.

When we have the bow in front of the center of the berth, we’ll start to turn, positioning ourselves decidedly upwind, pointing the bow towards the boat on the left as shown in the drawing, to prevent the bow from falling off to starboard. Then, with the help of a good amount of engine power, we complete the approach to enter.

This way, we’ll have the wind pushing us to starboard. Finally, one person will have passed a line ashore from the bow and grabbed the mooring buoy, but in the cockpit, it’s advisable to have a second person, or the helmsman himself, who can hook the gunwale of the upwind boat with a boat hook or, better yet, pass a line to the cleat of the same boat to prevent our stern from falling off.

When the wind blows strongly from the berth

Bow mooring may not succeed. One particular situation where this possibility is high is when the wind blows very strongly from the dock and our bow, under pressure, doesn’t have the necessary thrust to complete the approach.

As depicted in the drawing above, we’ve chosen to move by entering the berth bow-first. The crosswind pushes us sideways, so we maintain a good speed to be able to control the direction. When we need to turn to starboard, we instinctively try to reduce speed, which is a mistake, because the bow can’t climb into the wind and tends to fall off while the boat moves forward with its momentum.

The dock is now close, and the desire to redo the maneuver from the beginning fades. And instead of letting the bow turn the necessary degrees to be free and giving engine power to move away, we try to complete the maneuver: we give engine power and turn the rudder to starboard to counteract the wind’s action on the bow and straighten the boat.

The collision is inevitable. Too much power, speed combined with lack of maneuverability always lead to the worst situation.

In difficult weather conditions, mooring can be stressful. At our Genoa marina, everything is structured to allow you to reach your berth safely. Are you looking for a mooring in Liguria for your boat, sailboat, or superyacht? Contact us, and book your berth in Genoa!