Mooring Safety

The captain is responsible for the vessel

Before anything else on this page: the safety of the boat and crew is the captain’s job. Mooring balls in the BVI are used at your own risk — most are provided under terms that make inspection and judgment the captain’s responsibility. When in doubt, don’t stay on it.

If any crew member has a concern about the mooring, weather, or nearby vessels, they should tell the captain immediately. Someone should be aware of conditions at all times. That’s how mooring safety actually works — not by trusting the gear blindly, but by staying attentive.

Before you tie up: inspecting the ball

As you approach the mooring, look at the ball itself. Most BVI moorings look worn — that’s normal, not a problem. But a few visible signs are worth noticing before you commit.

• Cuts or gashes on the ball itself. A ball that’s clearly been run over by a prop suggests the lines below may also be damaged. Doesn’t automatically mean unsafe, but worth a closer inspection when you dive it.
• The ball sitting oddly. A mooring ball should float upright with the pendant on top. If it’s cocked over or partially submerged, something’s wrong below.
• Position doesn’t match the app. The BoatyAlarm app has the original GPS location of each mooring loaded. If you’re tied up and the ball is meaningfully off from where the app expects it, the mooring may have dragged — which usually means damaged ground tackle.

Stickers peeling off or numbers faded from the sun don’t mean the mooring is bad. Those are cosmetic. Focus on the ball’s shape and position.

Attaching to the mooring correctly

How you attach to the mooring matters as much as the mooring itself. A well-maintained mooring rigged badly is still a problem.

Two lines, run redundantly

Run two lines through the pendant — one from the port bow cleat, one from the starboard bow cleat. Critically, each line should come back to the same side it started on: port cleat → through pendant → back to port cleat, and same on starboard. This gives you redundancy (if one line breaks, the other holds) and reduces chafe compared to crossing the lines.

Use the correct end of the pendant

Always run your lines through the thimble end of the pendant — the distant end (top), not the end where the pendant attaches to the mooring. Boaters sometimes try to shorten their swing by attaching to the wrong end, and it can pull the pendant braids apart. The pendant is engineered to be loaded from the thimble, not from anywhere along its length.

Never tie knots in the pendant

Do not tie knots in the pendant line to shorten it. Knots become weak points and can cause the pendant to fail under load. If a pendant is too long or too short for your boat, report it — don’t modify it.

Keep the pendant close to the bow

The pendant should not be more than 3 feet off the bow. BVI mooring fields are tight, and short scope limits how much your boat swings — which limits collision risk with the boats around you.

Diving your mooring

Once you’re tied up, before you settle in for the evening, get in the water and look at the mooring gear underneath. It takes five minutes and it’s the single best thing you can do for a good night’s sleep.

What to check, top to bottom

• The pendant line. The most common failure point. Look for fraying, obvious chafe, or cuts. UV damage isn’t a real concern on modern pendant lines — visible wear is what matters.
• Barnacles and seaweed growth. Common early in the season when a mooring hasn’t been used in a while. Growth doesn’t mean the mooring is damaged. But: be careful grabbing the pendant with growth on it — barnacles will cut your hands. Wear gloves.
• Shackles and connection points. Check the shackles and every transition — pendant to chain, chain to ground tackle. Look for open shackles, missing pins, or obvious deformation.
• The ground tackle. Most BVI moorings use a ground screw. You should only see the head sticking out of the sand. If you see much more than the head exposed, or the screw is at an angle, it may have started to pull.

When wind and weather matter

Most BVI mooring balls are rated for winds up to around 30 mph as a general guide, but every mooring owner sets their own terms — check the specifics for the mooring you’re on. Above that rating, staying on the mooring can damage it, and if you damage a mooring you may be responsible for the repair.

In practice, when a serious storm is forecast, most charter companies will call captains back to the docks. You may decide to stay on a mooring instead if you judge that’s the safest option for your crew and vessel. That’s your call as captain — just be aware of the terms and the risk.

Standard wind — spacing usually works

In the standard northeast trades, most bays have enough spacing between moorings that boats swing together and don’t collide. This is the design assumption of a BVI mooring field.

When the wind or current shifts

The problem comes when wind and current change direction. Boats on adjacent moorings can start swinging differently and end up too close. Short pendant lines to the bow help, but it’s worth having a loose fender ready to deploy in case you need to keep a neighboring boat off yours.

If something goes wrong

If you have any concern about the mooring

Vacate. Move to another mooring or seek shelter elsewhere. Then notify BoatyBall — we’ll refund your payment and get word to the mooring owner so they can inspect. Don’t stay on a mooring you don’t trust to save the fee. It’s not worth it.

If you accidentally damage a mooring

If you run over a mooring or otherwise damage one, contact BoatyBall so the owner can inspect it before another boat ties up. Reporting damage isn’t punitive — it keeps the next boat safe.

If your BoatyAlarm goes off

The alarm means you’ve drifted outside the mooring’s geofence. Either the mooring dragged, you didn’t tie up correctly, or something failed. Wake up, assess the situation, and start engines if needed. This is exactly what BoatyAlarm exists for — the early warning that lets you act before it becomes an emergency.

Marine emergency

For a marine emergency in the BVI, call VISAR. Dial 767 from a mobile phone or call 284-499-0911. See visar.org for more. If you haven’t already saved these to your phone contacts, do it now — before you need them.