How To Bow To

Cruising the River Maas. Mooring overnight on the river is generally not possible but at convenient locations just off the river there are large, former gravel pits which have been turned into picturesque nature/recreation reserves. There is usually a marina – can be expensive - but elsewhere you can moor either more cheaply or sometimes even free of charge (although there’s always a cost of sorts). These manmade lakes are very shallow around the edges which call for ‘Bow To Moorings’. This would be our first effort.

How To Bow To
1. Select suitable mooring spot depending on proclivities – easiness of mooring, isolation, wind conditions, convenience to bar/café, cycle track etc etc
2. Prepare anchor and mooring lines
3. Deploy crew at bow
4. Head for bank
5. Drop anchor
6. Stop boat at bank
7. Crew steps off
8. Crew secures lines
9. Reboard, relaxing evening on deck with glasses of chilled wine and beer

Idyllic Mooring at Leukermeer

(It may not look very high from the bow to the bank but it is in fact 2m +. I measured it.)

And now….

How Not To
1. Select suitable mooring. Main criterion no observers.
2. Find anchor and attach line and marker buoy
3. Deploy crew at bow
4. Head for bank
5. Drop anchor
6. Discover anchor line is too short and buoy is attached at wrong spot
7. Stop heading for bank, shout at crew and go back to step 2
8. Miss out steps 6&7 (hopefully) stop at bank
9. Resume shouting at crew for not attaching correct lines midships
10. Crew mutters mutinously (unlike skipper, doesn’t have pretty certificate to prove she’s rounded Cape Horn and may therefore be considered incompetent)
11. Crew enquires of skipper how to get ashore – reply, ‘Jump!’
12. Crew clambers over bow rail and valiantly leaps from great height across to bank.
13. Check for broken limbs, nettle stings, thistle barbs
14. Secure lines any way and to any thing handy – skipper to redo as per usual
15. Reboard. (there should be a whole heap of other steps here involving improvised rope ladders and so on but enough is enough!) Consume whole bottle of wine in sulky silence.


Resolve to buy bow ladder at first opportunity