T&T: Anchoring vs Existing Moorning

[Terry Neill]

I have a mooring in front of my house in the PNW. It is in good  
condition and adequate for my boat in storm force winds. It complies  
with all local, state and federal regulations and has its permit  
number affixed to the ball.
Jumping through all the hoops took almost two years and nearly two  
thousand dollars (excluding the cost of the hardware).
As far as I'm concerned it is available to anyone when I'm not using  
it. I hope they leave it in the condition in which they find it.
I would expect them to move if I wanted to use it (even in the small  
hours), and if they didn't move they'd find me rafted alongside.
This works well for me, even though once or twice a year a boatload of  
bozos uses it for a noisy, drunken thrash.

On the other hand, I have a good friend who also has a mooring ball in  
the harbor. It is also perfectly legal and he doesn't often use it. He  
most emphatically doesn't want others using it and has gone so far as  
to get the local Sheriff's Deputy to move boats off of it. Both have  
complied. I consider that his attitude is as reasonable as mine.

Also in the harbor are many mooring balls that have been placed by  
folks who haven't bothered to follow the rules. These don't carry  
permit numbers but often have signage suggesting that they are private  
or belong to a mythical yacht club etc. Your guess is as good as mine  
as to whether these things are substantial enough to hold in a breeze.

The point is, there are many regulations pertaining to these things,  
but there is almost no enforcement available in this part of the world  
(unlike the Eastern USA). Every few years the concerned State agency  
comes around and tickets all the non-permitted floating junk in the  
harbor. The tickets give them three weeks to move. A few months later  
all the red tickets have blown away and all is static for another year.


A few miles to the North, a recent article in  a British Columbia  
boating magazine stated that there were no Federal or Provincial  
regulations governing mooring balls so that anyone was able to place  
one anywhere they wished. Of course since they were unregulated the  
'dropper' could not regard the mooring as private. First come, first  
served. Don't know if this applies to all Canadian Provinces, or just  
BC. Also don't know if the magazine article was factual.

So this doesn't answer any questions, but might add fuel to the fire.

Terry
Tamarack