Ron Ackerman writes: <<I would strongly disagree with the suggestion by Marin Faure to use a karibiner to attach a vessel to a mooring buoy. Ask the question what is the SWL of a karibiner? and what is the weight of your vessel? A Karibiner is not designed for this purpose.>> ================ The weight of a boat has little to do with the load on a mooring line. Air resistance and the drag of the underwater portion of the hull are much more important. The mooring ball supports the weight of the chain and a long painter attenuates the stress of wave action. A good meaty karabiner should be adequate for temporary mooring in anything less than a full gale. We have been using a system similar to Marin's for picking up a mooring for the last 10 years except that we have substituted a big Ronstan SS snap hook for the karabiner. Larry Z