Most mooring balls have a pennant with an eye spliced into the end. The correct way to tie your boat to it is to run one line from each forward cleat through the pennant eye and back to the cleat it started from — two separate lines, each making its own loop. That setup is far less prone to chafe than the method most boaters try first, and it’s what kept our boat secure through numerous 50-knot squalls in Boot Key Harbor.
Why the Obvious Method Fails
The method most boaters try first seems logical: take one dock line from a forward cleat on one side of the boat, pass it through the pennant eye, and cleat it off on the other side. One line, job done.
The problem is chafe. As the boat swings and moves with wind and current, that line saws back and forth across the pennant eye. It doesn’t take long — especially at night when it’s blowing — before it chafes through and parts.
When an anchor drags, the boat drifts slowly. When a mooring line breaks, the boat moves fast downwind. It’s actually worse.
The Right Way To Tie A Boat To A Mooring Ball
Run two separate lines — one from each forward cleat. Each line passes through the pennant eye and returns to the same cleat it started from, so each one forms an independent loop.
Step by step:
- Take a line from one forward cleat, pass it through the pennant eye, and bring it back to the same cleat.
- Cleat it off securely.
- Take a second line from the forward cleat on the other side of the boat, pass it through the same pennant eye, and bring it back to that cleat.
- Cleat that one off securely as well.
Now there is far less chafe at the eye as the boat isn’t sawing back and forth on the line with every wind and current shift.
The marina staff at Boot Key Harbor taught this method to every boater who came in, and it showed — most boats stayed put because most people were doing it right.
Use Three-Strand Nylon Line
Three-strand nylon is the right choice for mooring lines. It stretches under load, which absorbs the shock when the boat surges in wind and waves. Double-braid doesn’t have enough stretch for this — or for dock lines either. Three-strand is the right tool for any application where you need the line to absorb shock load.
Protect Your Lines From Chafe at the Boat
The two-line method handles chafe at the pennant eye. But you also need to protect the lines where they contact the boat itself — at the cleat, the bow roller, the hawse pipe, or wherever the line bears against something hard on its way back to the cleat.
The best chafe gear is fire hose. Most fire stations will give it away free — they may also donate it to local marinas or the Coast Guard Auxiliary, so it’s worth asking around.
Cut a piece about 10 inches long and slide your mooring line through it so the hose covers the spot where the line contacts the boat.
Here’s the critical part: tie the chafe gear to the cleat or boat, not to the mooring line. If you tie it to the line, it moves as the line stretches and ends up out of position when you need it most. Tie it to the cleat and let the line slide freely through it — the protection stays exactly where it belongs no matter how much the line stretches in a gust.
For more on choosing and installing chafe protection, see Chafe Gear for Boats.
Adding Extra Security for Storms
For a tropical storm, hurricane, or any serious blow, the standard two-line setup needs reinforcement.
Use lines with eye splices. Pass the eye of each line through the pennant eye, then pass the bitter end back through its own eye to form a cow hitch — this cinches directly to the pennant with no room for chafe at that connection point. For a third line, use an eye splice and cow hitch if there is room on the pennant, or the standard doubled-back method if there is not. Add plenty of chafe gear where each line contacts the boat.
Use new three-strand nylon sized one step up from your everyday mooring lines. The extra diameter adds breaking strength and abrasion resistance without losing the stretch you need to absorb shock loads. For more on sizing and choosing storm lines, see Hurricane Prep: Your Lines.
After Hurricane Irma hit Boot Key Harbor, our mooring lines held without chafing through. Many boats around us broke free. The difference was preparation — the right line, the right method, and chafe gear tied to the boat rather than the line.
What Other Cruisers Report About Specific Locations
Mooring setup varies by region. These are reports from other cruisers about what they’ve encountered.
Some mooring fields, including Fort Myers, require you to use only their pennant on your cleat — no additional lines from the boat. If that’s the rule, tie it short enough that you aren’t floating up over the ball or swinging too far, particularly if your freeboard is low. Always wear gloves when handling a mooring field’s pennant, which may be weathered and rough.
Catalina Island, California requires bow and stern attachment, not just the bow. Some California locations also require stern-to mooring with the bow pointed toward shore.
New England moorings often have a pennant with a simple loop spliced into the end. You loop it directly over your bow cleat — no additional lines needed.
New Zealand moorings work the same way as New England.
British Virgin Islands mooring balls in many fields use the same two-line method described here.
A note on snorkeling the mooring: If you’re in an unfamiliar mooring field and you have the ability, snorkeling down to inspect the mooring ball connection before turning in is good practice. Several experienced cruisers recommend it — it gives you an honest look at whether the hardware below the surface is in good shape.
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Samm Souvigny says
EXACTLY what we did
The Boat Galley says
What are the ones there like? All that I’ve run into in Mexico, east coast of the US and in the BVI have been pretty similar to this — not necessarily identical, but not far different.
Rick Osborne says
Rick Osborne says
You motor up to the Pole (Wand) and pull it in – grabbing the forward Loop & attach to Bow Cleat.
Then you pull the line attached to the Stern Loop – walking along the side deck toward the boat’s stern – and when you get to that Loop – you attach to Stern Cleat.
In some places – like the Isthmus – boats lay stern-to the mooring buoy – with the boat’s bow pointed to shore.
Carl Stevenson says
That’s at Catalina. I’ve never seen the fire and aft mooring anywhere else.
The Boat Galley says
Thanks! Never seen one like that, so it’s great in case I ever should . . .
Laura Armstrong says
Thanks, Rick! I lived on Catalina for 17 years. The Boat Galley, now you can understand why I was so perplexed by your post… ha ha!
Carolyn Shearlock says
And I would have been perplexed had I seen one like that!
Carolyn Shearlock says
In some places, mooring balls are really the only choice, unfortunately. I’d prefer to be on my own anchor!
The Boat Galley says
That is the pennant on the mooring ball. It’s not ours. Our lines pass through that thimble.
The Boat Galley says
I sent you an email 🙂
The Boat Galley says
It helps if the mooring ball has a long pennant, but basically the way we do it is for Dave (stronger, longer arms) to be on the bow with the boat hook. I’m at the helm (it’s what I’m best at). I sloooowly motor up to the mooring ball, with Dave using our headset to talk me right up to it. He has one end of the dock line already cleated on the boat, with the free end passed over the gunwale and looped back onto the deck with the end easily “grabbable.” He uses the boat hook to pull the pennant up (I am at the wheel keeping the boat in position — using a little reverse first to stop the boat’s motion, then perhaps just a touch of forward if it’s windy), grabs it in one hand, quickly sets the boat hook down and grabs the end of the line, passes it through the eye and cleats it. It doesn’t matter how long the line is at this point. Then he will pull on the first line to get the eye in reach again and put the second line through. If it’s windy, I may have to use a little forward so he can get to the eye in the pennant again. Once both lines are through and cleated, I leave the engine running but in neutral and go forward to help adjust them, put on chafe guard, etc. When it’s particularly windy, we only adjust one side at a time so both are never uncleated at the same time.
Sandra says
This is our method too but I’m the one with the boat hook. Sometimes easy, sometimes less so. But we’re switching tactics. We watched a couple on a big Selene with high bow. She used a grapple hook on the end of a length of rope to catch the pennant. It worked a charm. Will be trying this soon.
Remy Mann says
The Boat Galley thanks!
Michael Carstensen says
The eye in the picture is made up using a nylon thimble. Nylon thimbles properly spliced are strong and serve to avoid chafing and damage to fiber glass better than galvanized steel. The nylon thimbles come in a variety of sizes and are very cheap to purchase through the internet.
Brad says
I agree Totally with this system up here in Victoria BC Canada we have very nasty storms and quite exposed mooring fields. Many boats have hit the beach and of all the boats I have secured with putting the bite [loop] through the eye and then the ends back to the cleats have never failed…. one boat had 2 lines through the eye… All 4 lines broke under pressure @ the cleats but the mooring EYE with this lines did not suffer anything and was easy to remove the ropes. NOW on my boat I have the same system and have a “positive” length of chain hanging loose but attached to Shackles and to the mast through the bow roller just in case the two mooring lines fail.
Keith Davie says
Properly rigged none is needed, as the two lines don’t work in the end of the pennant.
The Boat Galley says
There’s enough wind and current here that we’ve had it bang.
The Boat Galley says
You might want some on the boat end — depends how it attaches to your boat and whether there is a bobstay that the bridle could rub on. With our catamaran, none is needed.
Sherry Matas says
Our set up, we never bang…. or do donuts. Better set up for cats.
Carolyn Shearlock says
My concern would be how long it would take to get the shackle off in an emergency.
Ellen Jacobson says
That’s what they’re like in New Zealand too
The Boat Galley says
The loop technique that you mentioned is used for hurricanes. With this method, the lines do not move as the boat moves — each line is led back to the same cleat it came from, so the length does not change as the boat moves.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Ask whoever built the mooring how they intended for boats to attach. My guess would be to use mooring lines and tie to the chain with a rolling hitch and then take one to cleats on each side of the bow.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Can’t wait to meet in real life!
Carolyn Shearlock says
Marathon City Marina, also known as Boot Key Harbor! It’s basically a buoy with 3-strand line through it and then an eyesplice around a thimble. I don’t think it comes pre-assembled — you can find 3-strand, buoys and thimbles at almost any chandlery and build your own. Building a mooring takes a fair amount of engineering to ensure that it will hold a boat in a storm, and there are numerous resources online with information on how to do so. Make sure that your insurance company will cover your boat on a DIY mooring.