Find My Mooring

Why finding your mooring can be harder than it sounds

In a busy BVI mooring field, identifying your specific reserved ball is not always obvious. The numbers on the balls fade in the sun, get turned away by wind, or are hard to read in glare and chop. Fields like North Sound or Great Harbour can have dozens of moorings that look nearly identical from 100 yards out. Add dusk or an approaching squall and the ball you’re looking for can be harder to pick out than you’d expect.

Your phone can help. Both the BoatyBall Reservations app and the BoatyAlarm app have location features that show you exactly where your mooring is relative to your current position — and they’re much easier than squinting at faded numbers.

The two tools you have

There are two apps that can help you locate a mooring. Each has real strengths and one real limitation.

• BoatyBall Reservations app (boater.boatyball.com) — shows your reservation as a red flag on the map so you always know which mooring is yours. The location-services aid is less GPS-accurate.
• BoatyAlarm app — uses precise GPS coordinates for the most accurate positioning in the mooring field. But it doesn’t show your reservation flag — you have to remember which mooring number you reserved.

The recommended workflow

The workflow most experienced BVI captains follow:

The reason this is worth it: BoatyAlarm has the more accurate GPS position, so it gets you to the correct ball with less guesswork. And by staying in BoatyAlarm through arrival, you’re already in the right app to arm your drift alarm — no switching later, no forgetting.

Using the BoatyBall Reservations app on its own

If you’d rather stay in one app and skip the BoatyAlarm step, the Reservations app has its own location feature that works well when you’re already close to the ball.

One-time setup

When you first log in, the app asks whether it can use your device’s location services. Say yes — without it, the location aid won’t work.

Finding your mooring in the app

• Your reserved mooring shows on the map as a red flag. Every mooring you reserve appears this way.
• Tap the red flag if you want to see the mooring details, refresh your memory, or cancel the reservation.
• In the bottom right of the map, you’ll see two icons: a legend icon and a steering wheel icon.

The legend shows what the different mooring types and pin colors mean in the app.

• The steering wheel centers the map on your current location and shows you where you are relative to the red flag. This is the “find my mooring” feature.

Using BoatyAlarm to locate a mooring

BoatyAlarm was built for setting alarms, but its map is genuinely the best tool BoatyBall has for locating a specific mooring in a crowded field. GPS accuracy is tighter, and every mooring in the field is labeled with its BoatyBall number so you can visually match against your reservation.

How to use it

• Open BoatyAlarm as you approach the bay.
• The map shows all the moorings in the area, each labeled with its number.
• Your position appears as a blue arrow pointing in the direction the device is facing.
• Locate the mooring with your reserved number, then use the blue arrow to navigate to it.
• Once inside the mooring’s geofence, a white anchor icon appears above the ball — see the BoatyAlarm guide for setting the alarm from there.

The drawback vs the Reservations app is that BoatyAlarm doesn’t show a red flag on your reserved mooring — you have to know which number is yours before you open it. That’s what makes the two-app workflow above worth it.

A tip on the blue arrow

The blue arrow (in both apps) points in the direction your device is facing, not necessarily the direction your boat is heading. Two ways to use this:

• Point the phone toward the bow of the boat. The blue arrow then shows the boat’s heading relative to the mooring, so the map matches the view over the bow.
• Rotate the phone toward the mooring. Spin the device until the arrow points at the mooring on the map, then look up in the direction the phone is pointing to spot the ball.

Both work, and most boaters end up using a combination depending on the situation. Try both and see what feels natural.

If you still can’t identify your mooring

If the numbers are unreadable and the location aids aren’t giving you enough certainty:

• Approach the ball slowly and get close enough to read the number by eye.
• If a ball’s number is genuinely worn off, report it through the app so it can be re-marked. It happens — moorings live in the sun and salt.
• If you’re worried you might tie up to the wrong reserved ball, call BoatyBall or ask a nearby boater. Better to slow down than to end up on someone else’s reservation.