In March, 2023, my wife and I were sailing in the British Virgin Islands.  One afternoon we were moored and enjoying watching boats come into the bay.  I'll admit that I get a little entertainment value watching crews struggle to snag the line and get tied off, but in truth we've also had to take a couple passes at moorings once in a while. On this particular day, we watched a 50' sailing catamaran motor in and head toward a mooring buoy.  As the crew started to reach for the pennant, the helmsman did not slow the boat and the crew leaned over the forward edge of the trampoline and watched the buoy disappear between the hulls. 

This seemed odd, so we watched as the boat headed for another buoy.  This time a different person was forward, and rather than taking the buoy in the center of the boat the helmsman lined it up with the starboard hull.  The boat slowed in the approach, but as they came within a couple feet they turned to port and the two people forward watched as the buoy quickly went out of reach.  This was tried a few times, but the boat never stopped when the pennant was within reach and kept turning to port.  After half an hour they gave up and left the bay.  We were a little concerned because they did not seem to know what they were doing and the sun was getting lower in the sky.

They came back about 45 minutes later and tried the "drive by" method once more, then came around for another pass.  An interesting pattern was that when they missed a buoy they wouldn't try the same one again; they would randomly pick another as if the problem was with the buoy.  In the next pass, we noticed a person standing amidships with a dockline run back from a bow cleat.  I said to my trusty first mate "oh no!"  And she said "what?  What is he going to do? He's not going to..."  The guy leaped into the water, holding the bow line in his hand.  As the boat pulled him along, he came nowhere near the buoy so he let go and somehow swam to stern ladder and made it back on board.  We later learned that he was the captain, and the only person of the three who knew how to operate the boat. Can you imagine, being the only person who knows how to pilot the boat and deciding to leave the boat?

Once back on board, they motored by us and another monohull and asked if we would help.  I was torn between the boater's ethic of helping a fellow mariner in need, and the maxim of "don't hang around crazy people; they'll get you in trouble."  Our neighboring boat's captain jumped in his dinghy and went over to hold up the pennant for the crew of the catamaran to grab, and they tied a 50' line to it.  Very concerned about their swing arc, I went over and helped them rig a line from one cleat through the pennant and back to the other bow cleat.  This of course is not proper technique, as we know to run one line through the pennant back to the same cleat, and another (redundant) line to and from the other cleat.  But I was happy to have their arc considerably shortened.

As this was unfolding, I remembered my ASA103 class when Captain Robin Bauer spent several hours making each student take turns controlling the boat, guiding the helmsman from the bow, and practice hooking the pennant.  I greatly appreciate the thoroughness of the Maryland School, and how my training with you has enabled us to enjoy many a Caribbean sunset.

~ John Falconer