My answer to What are some hacks when picking up a mooring ball in a sailboat?
Answer by Desmond Last:
Number one most important tip is to go against the tide. The tide, unless it is at the point where it is about to change, will either be going in or out.
You need to approach the mooring ball with the tide against you. This means if you overshoot, the tide will slow you down.
It also enables you to run up to the mooring, put the engine in neutral, and leave the helm to pick-up the mooring on your own.
As a boat broker and owner of Sydney Boat Sales for 12 years I must have put hundreds of yacht onto their moorings and found this was the best way.
Once the mooring ball and the rope were in reach I would retrieve the mooring rope with the boat hook and walk up the side of the yacht and tie it onto the cleat.
What are some hacks when picking up a mooring ball in a sailboat?
