Technology
Too easy?
As yachts get bigger and bigger, simple tasks become more demanding. When you’re manoeuvring and then securing a superyacht in a tight anchorage there is no such thing as having too much help...
An important part of every voyage and one that is often overlooked is how we manoeuvre when close to land. This includes leaving a slip, a mooring, or even an anchorage. It is here in these settings that not only is skill needed in controlling the propulsion and direction of the boat at low speeds but the techniques and sequence of handling the mooring lines as well. NubeWay has developed two clever solutions to reduce this tension in dockside manoeuvres: the Butler and the Mush automatic folding fairleads. Done well, dockside manoeuvres look effortless. But when not done well they can create tremendous anxiety and tension – not a good way to start or end any journey – or even spell disaster, resulting in damage to the boat or worse, injury to the crew or the guests.
In the last decade there has been tremendous progress in technology for the easy shorthanded operation of boats under power or sail, with many controls reverting now to hydraulics or electrical power. Line handling has become an automated or semi-automated operation in most applications, allowing for small crews – either professional or the owner and his family or guests – to operate larger and larger yachts. This is a clear trend seen at sailing and boating venues around the world: pleasure yachts are getting larger, faster and they can be operated by fewer crew than ever before. Yet at marinas and anchorages around the world these same small crews are faced with having to safely
80 SEAHORSE
secure these large yachts in what can be tight spaces and in possibly rough weather. Safe and successful mooring is vastly easier in conditions of no wind, no tide and flat water. It can quickly become unsafe and potentially uncontrolled when these ideal conditions change. Equipment like bow thrusters and stern thrusters can certainly help, but not all yachts have these devices and there are some circumstances where even with their use there can be elements of risk in docking.
The Butler automated fairlead system helps reduce this risk for large yachts through a simple yet safe and effective line-handling method for the one-person operation of a loaded bow or stern line. The Butler can handle mooring lines of 12-40mm diameter,
Above: the Butler and Mush are hydraulic- powered fairleads designed to pinch and hold mooring lines at the touch of a button, making it easier for short-handed crews of very large yachts to moor up safely in
adverse wind and weather conditions
and is suitable for yachts from about 50 to 80ft in length.
The design resembles regular fairleads installed on the shear rail. It has two inverted L-shaped stainless stems that hydraulically rise from their flush seated positions with the push of a button on the remote. The mooring line is passed through the gap between the stems and led to a winch to take up slack as needed until the correct position is reached. When the line is ready to be made fast, a button push on the remote lowers the fairlead stems to then pinch the mooring line. Held securely in place by the Butler, the mooring line is now free to be safely tied off on a mooring cleat.
For release, the process is simple: the Butler stems are elevated
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