Embossing on buoys is not a technique used in every harbor, far from it. A glance at other boats or your nautical reference book will tell you whether buoy mooring is done on a single mooring or embossed. If the harbor is located on a river, the chances of finding embossed moorings are greater. The objective is to set up a maneuver that will end with a boat at rest moored fore and aft.
First the bow, then the stern
To take a motor embossing, it is a question of coming to take the trunk which is the most upstream of the current. We position ourselves, with a half-turn if necessary, to come against the current to recover it at the bow. Playing with the throttle allows to regulate the speed for a smooth arrival.
We come then to moor to the buoy, and once the boat stabilized, we leave some slack on the hawser. The boat will then gently move back with the current.
When the second buoy is close enough to the back of the boat, a hawser is passed through the buoy and attached to the back cleats of the boat.
To complete the maneuver, the slack on the fore and aft hawsers should be taken up so that the boat is positioned in the center of the embayment, with hawsers stretched out on both sides. A conscientious sailor will pass two hawsers through each buoy to secure the mooring, in case the first hawser breaks during the night.
This technique should be used without moderation, as the motor against the current allows you to stabilize the boat's speed easily, or even to tread water during the maneuver by spreading the current with the motor. If there is no current, the same maneuver should be performed against the wind. If there is neither wind nor current, then the choice of the first trunk is not important, and a small reverse will help to recover the rear deadrise.
Other techniques
However, there are other ways to take an embossing on a buoy. It is common, in ports, that a member of the harbour master's office suggests you to pass your hawsers with a motor stroke with his RIB, which allows to save time. A common technique is to inflate the dinghy once the first mooring is taken, to pass the hawsers in the second mooring. Finally, it is also possible, if there are several of you on an embossing, to come and moor alongside an embossed boat, before going on board to pass your own dinghies in the buoys.
If the embossing on a buoy can be complex and even if it requires several attempts, it will allow, once the boat is moored, to fall asleep on both ears, without having to fear a night collision: to try it is to adopt it!
