Download Boating Tip #38: Mooring (PDF format, 28KB)
Double Point Mooring @ Catalina Island
Instead of anchoring, your boat can be attached to fixed underwater ballast and secured in
place, or “moored”. Each double point mooring (or also called fore and aft moorings)
consists of a mooring ball, wand (pick-up pole), chains, lines, and two concrete anchor weights
for ballast – one at the bow and one at the stern. Each weight is attached to a chain and then
a large diameter line. The lines are then attached to the boatʼs cleats at the bow and stern to
hold the boat in place. This is a different system from the more commonly found single point
moorings that only secure the boat at the bow, and allows the boat to swing.

Picking Up a Mooring
• From the bow of the boat, pick up the wand.
• Pull in the small diameter line attached to the wand until a larger diameter loop in the
mooring line (bow hawser) appears.
• Reach under your lifelines (if any) and attach the loop to the bow cleat or other secure
deck fitting.
• Continue to pull on the smaller (slimy) sand line that is attached to the bow hawser and
quickly walk toward the stern of the boat. The sand line connects the bow and stern
hawsers. The sand line is sometimes referred to as the slime line or spreader line.
• Continue to pull on the sand line until you see the larger diameter stern hawser. Attach
the second loop (stern hawser) or the sand line itself to the stern cleat. Make sure you
pull the hawser under, rather than over your lifelines.
• Drop the sand line back into the water.
• Check the stern line tension
• If it is too tight, it will be difficult to release and may cause the weights to drag
• If it is too loose, the boat will move with the water and may drift and collide with a
neighboring boat
• For security purposes and to prevent the bow hawser from accidentally falling off the
cleat, use a small diameter line to tie a cleat hitch over the hawser.
• Check and adjust the lines with the tide, if necessary. For ease of adjustment, tie a
spare dock line to the stern hawser and cleat off the dock line on your boat. This will
make it easier to pull in or let out line when the tide changes.
• Secure the wand on your boat where it wonʼt get stepped on and broken, or throw it
back in the water where it will float next to your boat.

Leaving a Mooring
• Make sure the engine is in “neutral”.
• Remove the stern hawser first, then bow hawser from the boatʼs cleats and drop them
into the water.
• Allow lines to sink clear of the propeller before shifting into gear and moving.