Boat Handling Techniques
Basics of a trot of moorings
We have all heard someone say “on the trot” or using some context “I’ve been to three Argyle games on the trot”. Basically it means in “succession” or “one after another”.
Anyway in our application a trot mooring is a string of moorings one after another all joined together. An individual trot mooring (or fore and aft mooring) consists of two buoys joined by a trot rope.
So in this trot of moorings there are five buoys. Now that could be four moorings or in areas with high tidal flow or constricted waters, one or both of the end buoys could be part of a stretcher. This acts to keep the whole trot in place and is NOT a mooring. For instance, both the Oreston Upper trots have stretcher buoys which are NOT part of a mooring.
Below you can see what happens if a trot rope breaks or is missing when a vessel is not on the mooring. NEVER leave your mooring without the trot rope in place. Vessels can swing about and be damaged.
This side view above shows what goes under the water to keep the Trot in place. The boats always move together regardless of wind or tide, unlike a swinging mooring. The boats can only move as far as the slack in their riser chains allows. The slack will obviously vary dependent on the state of tide. Viewed end on, vessels on the trot may seem close together. Viewed from the side, will always show the true gap between vessels. The ground chain is so heavy its unlikely to move and in some applications is fixed in place by anchors.
Mooring Lines
Mooring Lines are generally those used to keep the boat on its mooring. These are different for the different mooring you have, marina pontoon, swinging mooring, fore and aft or trot moorings. Your permanent mooring needs a set of mooring lines made up by yourself or any yacht rigger.
For a fore and aft or trot mooring, ideally, you need a pair of mooring lines to each buoy.
