Double Mooring Without Permission

[Broads01]

I've heard from a reliable source that there have been recent instances of boats coming alongside moored boats and double mooring without permission from the occupants. I believe this has even happened on wild moorings. Has anyone seen or experienced this? 

[BroadAmbition]

Not personally to date 

Griff

[Smoggy]

Cough loudly, they'll go.

[trambo]

Never without and only been asked once in the last couple of years if double mooring ok (Hotel Wroxham).

Fred

[Cockatoo]

I've heard of it but always thought it was an urban myth type thing.

[MauriceMynah]

10 minutes ago, Cockatoo said:

I've heard of it but always thought it was an urban myth type thing.

Yes, me too, very much "me too"

[Smoggy]

Last time someone moored against MM they thought it WAS the bank.......

[addicted]

We had experience of double mooring with out asking at Stokesby a few  years ago. We had had a meal in the pub and when we came out a hire boat had tied up to  our friend's boat. He asked the occupants to move elsewhere and received a load of abuse in reply.  He than informed them that we would be departing at 00.5 am and they reluctantly moved off with more abuse hurled at us.

 

 

Carole

[TheQ]

I'd have been extremely tempted to drive off with their boat still attached...

And left it on the other side of the river...

[CambridgeCabby]

The trouble is the signage , it simply states 

“please double moor at busy times” 

no mention of with boat owners consent 

 

even if they do double moor , there is no legislation that states you have to permit them to use your boat as a land bridge  

[Guest]

My reply to a double mooring request is that "I am meeting friends who are going to double moor with me."...works ever time.. 

[vanessan]

50 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

The trouble is the signage , it simply states 

“please double moor at busy times” 

no mention of with boat owners consent 

 

even if they do double moor , there is no legislation that states you have to permit them to use your boat as a land bridge  

Small print at the bottom of the sign reads ‘please seek agreement with those on board the other boat before mooring alongside’. Trouble is nobody reads that far down! (I believe that phrase was added as an afterthought.)

[CambridgeCabby]

Indeed it was added to some signs , but many never read the small print and I don’t think it’s on all signs , Stokesby has a small sticker that has also been added to the top of the sign 

 

[Helian]

I think it was rife back in the 70s. My father was often asked (and sometimes) by usually rather large hire craft if the could moor alongside. Response was usually directly proportionate to politeness of request and demonstrated handling skills....

More hire boats about then

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

[CambridgeCabby]

Many years ago we were on Fair Diplomat and had moored up on Horning Staithe , a hire boat passed us at 21:00 seeking a mooring first downstream then upstream , it was obviously a hen party boat , Katie wasn’t overly amused when I waved them over and tied them up alongside .

They were in fact a very nice bunch and after a couple of drinks in the Swan (and they bought one for us too) they reboarded and were soon asleep , only waking when they smelt our bacon in the morning 

[Paladin]

1 hour ago, vanessan said:

Small print at the bottom of the sign reads ‘please seek agreement with those on board the other boat before mooring alongside’. Trouble is nobody reads that far down! (I believe that phrase was added as an afterthought.)

No, it wasn't an afterthought. It was as a result of something of a revolution among private owners and representations from the NSBA. The BA originally issued a diktat (about 6 or 7 years ago) that double mooring would be allowed at a certain number of their 24hr moorings and that anyone not wishing to permit such double mooring should leave and find somewhere else to moor. This went down like a lead balloon, with issues such as insurance cover, liability for injury/damage, comparative sizes of boat, being raised.

The BA performed a U-turn, saying that the instruction was only intended for hirers and that is how it now appears on their website.

 

[vanessan]

22 minutes ago, Paladin said:

No, it wasn't an afterthought. It was as a result of something of a revolution among private owners and representations from the NSBA. The BA originally issued a diktat (about 6 or 7 years ago) that double mooring would be allowed at a certain number of their 24hr moorings and that anyone not wishing to permit such double mooring should leave and find somewhere else to moor. This went down like a lead balloon, with issues such as insurance cover, liability for injury/damage, comparative sizes of boat, being raised.

The BA performed a U-turn, saying that the instruction was only intended for hirers and that is how it now appears on their website.

 

Yes, I was actually aware of the reason for the ‘afterthought’ as I chose to call it, mainly because that’s exactly what it looks like with the clarification either tagged along the bottom or taped across the top. Incidentally I haven’t come across anything on the BA website to the effect that the instruction was only intended for hirers, other than a leaflet about double mooring being produced for hirers. Is there guidance elsewhere Paladin?
 

 

2 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

and I don’t think it’s on all signs

It isn’t because only 20 moorings have been designated as double mooring areas. 

[Paladin]

37 minutes ago, vanessan said:

Yes, I was actually aware of the reason for the ‘afterthought’ as I chose to call it, mainly because that’s exactly what it looks like with the clarification either tagged along the bottom or taped across the top. Incidentally I haven’t come across anything on the BA website to the effect that the instruction was only intended for hirers, other than a leaflet about double mooring being produced for hirers. Is there guidance elsewhere Paladin?

 

You won't find it because it has been removed from the BA's web site. However, this is what Trudi Wakelin, Director of Operations , wrote, back in 2012:

"Any vessel who is not prepared to allow double alongside moorings should make alternative arrangements, rather than mooring at one of the sites where it is permitted.
It is for individual boat owners to make appropriate insurance arrangements, and use their boat accordingly. We are advised that a comprehensive policy will cover this issue, but you should satisfy yourself of the position with your own insurer.
Our policy is clear that any vessel moored to one of the trial 24hr moorings must allow another appropriate vessel to moor alongside, and the guidance that we have produced makes that clear. If you are not prepared to allow any vessel to moor against you then you should not be moored at this location... "

After the U-turn, she explained that the cost of providing new signs was too high, so vinyl strips with the revised wording (to include the bit about getting permission) would be used.

[Davydine]

Interesting, when we owned a sailing boat (on the sea not on the Broads) rafting up was always considered the norm and it was very rare that anyone would refuse permission, but you were expected to take your own lines ashore and not rely on the other boats lines.

It was always the done thing to walk round the bow rather than stern when crossing a boat to go ashore, so you couldn't see down the companionway into the cabin,

 

[JennyMorgan]

I've long regarded rafting up/double mooring as a matter of mutual courtesy and co-operation. Common courtesy that the outside boat skipper asks and common courtesy that the inside boat skipper says yes. Such is the spirit of boating  as ably highlighted by Davydine. I go along with the sadly departed Trudi Wakelin on this one. Nice people ask and nice people say yes, isn't that how life should be?

[vanessan]

Thank you for the explanation Paladin, however you did say 

9 hours ago, Paladin said:

the instruction was only intended for hirers and that is how it now appears on their website.

I took that to mean there is something current on the website but have not found anything specific. 
 

 

5 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Nice people ask and nice people say yes, isn't that how life should be?

Oh that life was like that! As Addicted pointed out above, common courtesy is not always in evidence. 

[grendel]

I am happy to allow any boat the same size or smaller to double moor, not that there are many hire boats just 25 foot long, and Water Rails high bow does present a formidable problem for some craft as we found at the wooden Boat show stern moored, when it was within an inch of the corner poking into someones porthole, additional fendering was produced to prevent this occurrance.

[Ray]

I see flappy things as a fraternity, a physical joint venture and imagine that unless there are unusual circumstances rafting up would be welcomed on a give and take basis

Motor cruising is (generally) a sedate past time, involving relaxing with friends and family in a convivial and peaceful manner or, partying like it's 1999, to each his own. The point is that double mooring in those circumstances is a bit like gate crashing, imagine sitting in the garden of a beautiful country cottage, hired for a weekend with family, where it turns out that said garden is used as a shortcut to a near by pub!

In an emergency then of course it's OK, other than that perhaps the really polite thing to do is not ask at all and move to your plan B.

[Lulu]

The delight of boating for us is to have a nice view especially in the evening. We rarely stern moor as i feel hemmed in and want peace and quiet.   We moor up early and leave early in the morning so it would be a nuisance for the people mooring up beside us when we need them to move.   Ok, Im just anti social! 

[MauriceMynah]

This topic has come up in the past on this, and on at least one other forum. It caused strong feelings to be aired, not always in a manner conducive to good fellowship. 

I find myself wondering why it has raised it's head again!