Our autumns are marked by the disappearance of leaves and sailboats and the appearance of Vulcan. Not Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and forges, but the moorings vessel Vulcan owned by Brooklin Marine, LLC. Here you see Vulcan on Tuesday morning removing mooring buoys/balls in Great Cove that were used in the summer and early fall by WoodenBoat School's fleet and visiting boats:
You may have noticed that Vulcan is not exactly your graceful, slick-profiled Luders or Herreshoff racing boat. She’s not a racer; she’s built for slow, tough jobs and apparently does them well. I’m told that she has a drum winch that is rated for hoisting 10,000 pounds. Mooring anchors/bases need to be heavy to be secure.
The basic parts of a mooring setup start with an anchor or anchor-block weighing up to thousands of pounds, depending on the boat and water conditions. Where the sea bottom is soft and the boat is not huge, a mushroom anchor usually will do the job, but many boat owners prefer more permanent anchors in the form of a block of granite or concrete with a galvanized (rust-proof) eyebolt on top for the chain.
Galvanized chains run from the anchors to the mooring buoys. Unless the boat is large, a nylon rope-like pennant usually is attached to the buoy to be hooked up to the boat via shackles and swivels. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on October 22, 2024.)