Med style Mooring in South Florida

Opposed. Wouldn't like. Would try to avoid. I don't own anything in the 50+ meter range, max is 40 meters but do have one in the 20 meter range.

I would think a lot of yachts here are not equipped for stern boarding. And no pilings for the smaller boats to work with? I can see it would be good for local painters.

It wouldn't attract nor deter me. 50m

Opposed. Aggressively opposed. Would avoid marina to avoid med-moor. Med-mooring gives you less view of anything but the next door yacht and substantially decreases the feeling of sequestered solitude aboard. Prior 23m. Planning 30m.

If we're talking about Lauderdale, it would be a hard sell to the Corps of Engineers, not to mention the Coast Guard and local city/county commissioners. If anyone can pull it off, I suspect it would be the original poster. I doubt it's feasible around the 17th street Causeway based on the width of the channel, not to mention the current! Bahia Mar on the other hand is a prime candidate. With the new hotel and planned renovations, it will certainly attract more boats to a place where space is already at a premium. To facilitate, I suppose the face dock would need to be recessed on both the north and south ends for med-style mooring, while leaving the fuel dock for side mooring.

I'm sure any of the captains on YF running 50-meter (plus) boats have the talent and crew to med-moore, but if pilings are in place to back down (no balls, no chain), this shouldn't be an issue.

I think you're more inclined to see some modified forms where there is space. As Carl points out, it's not practical in a lot of areas. But especially in smaller boats there are too many owners who dock by feel or bump. When I say no to med-mooring I mean what I would considered the full version. Now when I say modified, I mean like some places that have stern mooring but have some combination of pilings and finger piers. We talk about the additional revenue but people pay for quality and convenience too. You put stern boarding against a seawall and pilings with only a 3' or maximum 4' wide finger piers between every second slip (two boats one finger) and you don't lose that much on larger boats.

Even med mooring you have to have some space between. If you're talking 28' or larger beams, that arrangement only costs you 4% or so in terms of spaces. And space and breathing room is very important to most owners of large yachts here. They already complain when they feel too crowded and lack of privacy. Oh and you have the closest thing to med mooring already for small boats here. Just go to the Isle of Venice and Hendricks Isle. The boats are packed in. I don't see how true med mooring would pick up any space in some of those docks.

Now when I voiced my opposition to med mooring that was to med mooring, anchors out (which I can only imagine what that brings with those inexperienced in med mooring and the others coming by), no finger piers. I don't have the same opposition to stern mooring. When cruising I prefer side ties simply as they provide the most privacy. But when docking permanently I don't care if it's stern.

Last time I was at Ocean Reef the med mooring area had some smaller boats packed but there was one larger boat that was med moored, but had at least 25' empty to either side. Passing through we've always been lucky enough to get on C dock. Side Tie, lots of traffic, but nice and relaxing.

And it takes a long distance to truly squeeze the extra boat in. In getting more boats in it's most useful on smaller boats where the relationship of finger pier width to boat width is much higher.

Most captains of smaller boats have no practice in med mooring and I don't really want them learning beside me. I've practiced it but never done it at a marina. But the place it benefits a marina the least is the 50' and up boats. They can get nearly as much out of just stern mooring and minimizing finger piers.

My first experience with it was in Jamaica, just after we arrived at midnite after a miserable crossing from the Bahamas it was med moor time, was not too bad, dropped the hook where suggested, backed in real careful and there we were, not something I would like to do on a continuous basis but, if necessary I would tolerate. 22m.

Tolerate is one thing. Choose to do so if everything else was equal, no. One note too is that even if space was to be gained, there really isn't an overall space problem in South Florida right now. The issue is large spaces and wouldn't be surprised to see more spaces converted to larger boats.

Taking the convenience factor out of it, med moor is not really a good choice on the east coast. The biggest reason is the tides, very hard to get the mooring lines at the right tension with 4-12' tides. Nantucket works as all the boats are big with crews aboard to tend and watch the anchors and the passarelle.
I do not think it will be an option for any portion of the ICW in Ft. Lauderdale, there is just too much current flowing by, ever watch the boat show set up, lot of tugs assisting!
I do think you will start to see it more and more as marina space is getting harder and harder to find. In a way I feel sorry for the Jr. Captains out there with out the track record and contacts for berthing reservations. I have found the past few years all the marinas I frequent are busier than ever, word to the wise, be nice to the dockmaster and dock crew. Don't be the guy they talk badly about when you leave. If they need you to move a few feet, or take a non optimal berth, do as they say with a smile and move on. Trust me, marinas have black lists and enjoy using them!

All businesses have, if not black lists, some form of gray list. Generally not formal. But we pull up to one specific marina in Miami regularly and always the dock hands come quickly to us to greet us and ask how they can help us. We contact them in advance and always get preferential slip treatment.

I learned long ago in dealing with hotels to get to know the person who runs the front desk, not the 800 number. You've heard the joke which goes "do you have a room?" Answer: "No vacancies"... "Well if the President came tonight would you have a room for him"? Answer: "Of course". ... "Then I have it on reliable sources, he's not coming, so I'll take his room". Now many hotels refer to these held back rooms as Presidential rooms. Typically they book full and always they have some people not to show up so those are the rooms they know they can play with. I remember making friends with an older woman named "Mary" at a hotel we gave many nights a year and she always had a room for us. Furthermore, none of our employees were ever put on the back side near the train tracks. They were saved by transient travelers.

In our case, when we started our Captains had excellent rapport with marinas and shipyards and now my wife has made friends with every employee of everyone we visit. Oh, and while saying that, customs agents too. The ease and speed of clearance is much better if you're a smiling returning visitor they like.

One big problem you'll run into is getting permission to have boat's sticking 150' and more out into the navigable waterways. Another problem is the borrowing of Gray Poupon. The only place I've seen it is in Nantaucket and it made me chuckle that these people would pay all this money for a mega-yacht and be forced to spend the weekend one fender width from their neighbor. Zero privacy. Then there's the scraping of paint due to currents, tides and guys who just don't dock well.
All that said I think it's been proven that people will put up with all sorts of inconvenience and abuse when traveling, and med-mooring will increase profits. So, since profits are all that matters today, I'm sure it'll come.

I know we keep saying med mooring will increase profits, but for megayachts that's really quite minimal versus more traditional stern mooring. If you're talking boats with 32' beams and assuming even in med mooring you already require a minimum of two feet between them (and really need more as two feet is almost rafting). Then for two boats you require a total of 68'. Add distance for piling and finger pier you only add 2'. So for every 16 boats moored you gain one. That's 6.7%. For an owner of a 50 meter boat, paying an extra 6.7% to have a finger pier and piling on one side is nothing. In fact even if you disagree with my numbers and say you need double that, 13.4% it's still something a yacht owner wouldn't hesitate to pay.

You tell an owner of a 180' yacht that he can med moor for $16000 a month on an annual contract plus $3,000 for utilities or he can get a stern mooring with finger pier for $18,000 plus $3,000, he's going to choose mooring with a finger pier and a bit of extra space to his side.

On smaller boats the math is different. On a 30' boat with a 10' beam then there is much more savings with med mooring. But then those are the operators who are least prepared to handle it.