With regard to the notion of securing a line to a mooring buoy from a position midway or more down the side deck of a trawler it's important to note the state of the tide before you do this, at least in an area like the PNW that has a wide tidal range. We use this method to pick up a buoy-- in this area the ring on top of the buoy is the one you moor to, the buoy is there to hold the ring up out of the water making it extremely easy to clip a line onto it from the side deck--- but if the tide is low, or worse, a minus tide, there will be a lot of slack in the line between the buoy and it's anchoring system. If, as in this area, the bulk of the buoy line is actually line with only the top ten or twelve feet being chain, it can be very easy to suck the slack buoy line into a prop or get it around a rudder, particularly with a twin engine boat. If I have a need to reverse the boat after my wife has clipped the line onto the buoy ring as it moves down past the hull I always use only the engine on the side of the boat opposite the buoy and even then am very cautious about engaging the transmission. I have seen countless boats in the marine parks we frequent get the slack of a mooring buoy line around a prop or, on a twin, tangled in the rudder when the tide is low or minus. ______________________________ C. Marin Faure GB36-403 "La Perouse" Bellingham, Washington