We motored over to Norman Isle in a 20-25 knot blow on our first day out during a Feb charter in 2015. We didn't get out of the charter base until noon time and had "that no mooring ball feeling" by the time we got to Norman. Sure enough, we entered the bite, made our rounds and found no empty mooring balls. As we exited the field, a man sitting at the helm of his moored monohull, yelled at us: "I'll give you this mooring ball for $200!" We smiled and made no reply. All the boats around him were doing more than a little bit of bouncing. We exited the bite, turned left into Privateer bay and anchored in calm water. As many boats as we saw coming and going, the man may have been able to sell his mooring ball.

As for Cooper, a man shared with me that he found the mooring field to be full at midday. So, he dinghied into the shore, went to the bar and asked the bar tender to point out which boats were just there for lunch. He, then, asked where the captains were/ asked one of them when they were leaving and was first in line for the mooring ball.