>> There are some docking situations where you can't use a line with an eye, and a permanent eye might well get in the way, particularly one four feet in diameter. >Charles wrote: As in English and Spanish grammar there are exceptions to >every rule. In my experience that has never happened and we have tied up >in some, shall we say challenging places.....In Mobile , Al. during a >horrible set of thunderstorms we did tie to a strange quay where there >were, of all things, only mooring RINGS. We ran the lines thru the rings >and back to the boat, still using the eyes but set on the boat cleats. I think you will find that most of the Pacific Northwest, BC, and Alaska are exceptions to the rule. The most common mooring device used on docks in this area is the bull rail. Like the mooring rings you encountered, a bull rail requires mooring lines to be run under it and then back to the boat or simply tied off to the rail. As a result almost all boaters here including the smaller (under 60') commercial fish and crab boats leave one end of their mooring lines "permanently" fastened to their deck cleats-- either with a built-in loop or by cleating off one end of a non-loop line--- and take the other end ashore and under the bull rail. As the previous poster said, taking an eye (of any size) ashore in this situation is of no value and in fact the eye simply gets in the way. Some of the more upscale marinas in the Puget Sound area use cleats instead of bull rails, and in a few cases-- like our slip-- you'll find cleats mounted on top of the bull rails. But most commercial, city, government, fishing resort, etc. docks use bull rails only, as do the docks in Washington and BC marine parks. It's been our experience that the farther north you go the more basic the mooring facilities become. So while sending the loop of a mooring line ashore (or using it to lasso a piling or cleat) may make the most sense on the east coast, Gulf, etc., it's a technique that would be of very limited use out here. (to reply, remove Boeing jet from address) _______________ C. Marin Faure GB36-403 "La Perouse" Bellingham, WA

C. Marin Faure wrote: > >> There are some docking situations where you can't use a line with an >eye, and a permanent eye might well get in the way, particularly one four >feet in diameter. > > > >>Charles wrote: As in English and Spanish grammar there are exceptions to >>every rule. In my experience that has never happened and we have tied up >>in some, shall we say challenging places.....In Mobile , Al. during a >>horrible set of thunderstorms we did tie to a strange quay where there >>were, of all things, only mooring RINGS. We ran the lines thru the rings >>and back to the boat, still using the eyes but set on the boat cleats. >> >> > > >I think you will find that most of the Pacific Northwest, BC, and Alaska >are exceptions to the rule. > Marin, That is ****EXACTLY **** what I said in my article in PASSAGEMAKER. CCC M/V CC RIDER SUPPORT OUR TROOPS Charles C. Jr. and Pat Culotta Patterson, La http://www.geocities.com/charlesculotta/