From what I hear they are currently installing new moorings with Moorseacure that are to be used in conjunction with the Boaty Ball app. The other moorings will remain first come first serve. Its up to the mooring ball owner, but the app will allow them to enter their first come first serve moorings, allowing boaters to pay that way if they wish. The whole concept of the app was to make the payment process more secure for the boater, less labor intensive for the bay owner, and safer overall (all moorings entered into the app must be maintained, installed, and insured by Moorseacure).

May have seen Anegada Reef Hotel posted on their FB page support of BoatyBall coming their way.

I saw them inspecting the mooring balls in CGB last week but couldn't tell if they were different now. I don't think they changed them out yet.

I know that James Leonard had 10 mooring balls at Cooper, since his passing in May, 2017, not sure who owns those, or if they are even still there? I'm guessing no one has maintained them since his death?

The Boaty Ball moorings are going to be orange, conical shaped buoys that are marked with the a Boaty Ball logo and website name so they should be pretty easy to identify. I think they are planning on launching the app in mid December so the moorings should be installed by then.

Maybe they will issue a unique code to unlock the painter stored inside the mooring ball.

After your 50th booking you can become a gold member.

Gold members qualify for the upgraded mooring balls will have a remote control arm that lifts the painter up to your deck.

I think they are trying to install all the mooring balls and launch the app early to mid December so it might be up and running by then.

Platinum members have special moorings sporting a Chimp complete with Captains hat who salutes you and jumps aboard and ties you off

Orange mooring balls are going to be a problem on Anegada as the new 20 balls going in will be orange also

This is going to be sheer entertainment. We will be down next July. I am going to sit with a rum drink and some popcorn.
Just watch the show.

Take videos please!
G

Given the influx of power vessels in the BVIs, reserving in advance a good idea if monitored properly. Takes the stress out of rushing to an anchorage by noon to get a ball - coming from a sailing perspective.

Personally I’d rather anchor, not too many places left to anchor.

Looks like they have put more info on their web page.
Can reserve only on the same day (starting at Midnight)..Reserved balls $35.
First come: $33

Boatyball posted a pic of their mooring on facebook. Anyone used them yet?

https://www.facebook.com/1796466317074806/posts/1928549467199823/

No, but right now I'm enjoying looking at the picture, and imagining that I'm the one who just tied up to that ball.

Dan

So the open balls, not the reserved ones, are now $33?

Right now it doesn’t look like they have any first come first serve balls in the app. I think they’re making sure the reservation moorings work first before they start installing the first come first serve moorings.

Let the BoatyBallBattlesBegin

I do agree

I said I before, Let,s set the stage. Boat #1 arrives mid afternoon and picks up a ball.
they are hanging out enjoying the day and having a few drinks ect. Hours later boat #2 shows up and
states, hey that is our mooring, we have reserved it. Let the fun begin. I am sure boat #1 is happy to move.????
We will be down in july and I will have popcorn and a drink ready to enjoy the show.

So what happens when you are enjoying your popcorn and Boat #2 pulls up?!

What a great reason to sail the islands.....

Invite them for a drink?? Wait for the mooring ball police ??? Just a opinion . On a serious side we have been coming down as early as the mid 70s. This seems quite problematic

Many charters are so afraid of anchoring they will pick up a water jug tied to a cinderblock before they will anchor. If they see a open mooring near sunset they are going to take it, reservations will not be a consideration. I propose the skippers each get in their dinghy’s with boat hooks. The boat hooks will be used like lances in a joust. First one knocked out of the dinghy has to move to another anchorage for the night!!

I sent a message to the Boatyball owners on FB a couple of days ago, I mentioned this thread in that message. They responded that they were watching, maybe they can jump in here and make us all feel better about using this service? Just an idea.....give us an update on how it their system is working so far?

If your Boatyball mooring is occupied......

1. Grab another mooring or anchor. YES
2. Advice your new friend of the situation. YES
3. Wait for the mooring ball police. YES
4. Request refund from Boatyball. YES * (maybe not)
5. Invite them for a drink. NO **
6. Have a drink yourself. YES

* Within twenty-four (24) hours of the start of the Reservation, all Reservations are non-refundable, regardless of your use or non-use of the reservation and regardless of any circumstance surrounding the use or non-use of a Reservation.

** If in response to #2, your new friend relocates, the response to #5 is YES

Good news for us sailors and Cooper Island's mooring ball situation.

I emailed the good folks down at the Cooper Island Beach Club, via their web site.

Not to worry, it will be normal procedures for us sailing folk as to mooring availability..

We have 40 moorings , first come , first served.

There is a PILOT PROGRAM , for advance pmt, and reservations, but only there are only SIX orange mooring balls at the far south end of the bay in the program. . A wonderful lady at the Cooper Island Beach Club answered me back in less tan one hour. She even sent a photo of what those six new Reserved Pay Ahead mooring balls look like. cannot miss them, they are nothing like 'more seacure' . The Res. balls are ORANGE with a sort of blue wavy band, and they have Reserved printed on the top end.

I hate to confess this, but once we finish up with our boat systems check out at Conch Charters, we are going see if we can work with the wind to sail from Road Harbor to Cooper, but, if not, we will roll in the jib, and use the main as a steadying sail, and crank on the Iron Jenny. We will be able to pick up a mooring, be all squared away, and the good times are on.

Now, , we now are going to spend two days at Cooper , before actually sailing from Cooper, up the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Leverick Bay, north sound, VG.

Thank you all for the heads up, and getting me off my okole. Life is good !

I was down in the BVI this week helping the BoatyBall guys get up and running. They got moorings installed in Leverick, Anegada, and Cooper and have had the app launched for about three days now. So far it seems like the system has been working pretty well. The Moorings and some other charter companies have been talking about the app and the moorings in their briefings. Apparently they’ve had quite a few boaters sign up and for the most part their moorings have been close to full each night. From what I saw at Cooper, they haven’t had any problems with people “stealing” reservations. A couple boaters tied off to the moorings but relocated once they realized they were reservation only. I think the guys know that there are going to be some stubborn captains who disregard the whole reservation thing, and they’ve been working with the mooring owners at each of the bays to combat that, but for the most part they’re relying on the good nature of most sailors to follow the system.

Six at Cooper and ten at Leverick Bay.
and Looks like five at Anegada. (did not see those yesterday)

I think the Boaty Ball guys are planning on installing two more at Cooper as well. It’s important to note that some of the moorings at Cooper (the ten on the far right side towards Salt island) are owned by a family and aren’t in a regular maintenance system with Moore Seacure. The BoatyBall team is partnered with Moore Seacure and all of their Balls are maintained and insured by Moore Seacure.

can someone point me to the location of an iPhone app, if there is one, or is simply done via their web site?

It’s done through their website. You can open the boater “app” through the website and then save it to your home screen and it will function similarly to a downloadable app from the App Store. I belive they did it this way to provide compatibility on various devices.

Looks fairly simple...and a win, win for us all..

For those who want to reserve one of the boatyball moorings, super, it will be waiting for you. The six at Cooper are far off to the south end of the mooring field. Some distance away from the dink dock area..

For the rest of us, we can get there early and pick up a moor seacure ball upon arrival. No change in our normal procedure. Cash to the collector .

For years, the mooring field at Coooper starts filling up by late afternoon. Plus, our general rule is to get in to an anchorage before 3 pm, I think the bare boat companies reg is around 4 pm . We like a little earlier as the situation demands.

We like better visibility to see any coral heads, and shallows , without the setting sun's reflection bouncing back to reduce visibility for our bow watch.

So, .no we have no need to hassel with any of that app, eelctronic device, pay ahead to reserve a ball. We have moor seacure balls just like we have had for 16 previous BVI bareboat sailing vacations. Good stuff.

Staying with the positive, with the tech advance now, the tech boaters can reserve a boaty ball mooring. That is good for us since it will provide a few more open moor secure balls for us, with other boats choosing the reserved balls.
That is good for everyone.

It is a win - win situation. And , those orange balls have RESERVED painted on them, and it is very evident.

In Cooper's mooring field, the reserved balls are way further to the south from the Beach Club, moor seacure's mooring balls, are as normal, out front, or closer in to the dink docks.

For those who enjoy a confrontation, without exposing themselves to physical harm, looks like you need to pick up a moor seacure ball that is in the south end, next to the orange boatyball moorings. If you want company, we can dink over and
bring the rum and join in some sea chantys. Harggghhhh.

What the heck, you can run up the black flag, roll out the cannon with the bio degradeable nasties, fire off a broadside at the two contesting boats, and prepare to be boarded. After windups on Peter Island, drove off the Willy T, why not
resurect the pirate life . Hargghhh mates, you are beginning a new tradition.

Well, maybe no nasties in the cannon, but a few loud reports from the muzzle should work just fine.

.

At anegada. Moorings 1 and 5 were reserved and occupied. 2 3 and 4 were vacant.

I might have reserved one of those.

2 of the vacant were occupied.

Had I paid for one of them I would have demanded they move.

Boatyball is responsive to emails.

Warren

I think this can be a tremendous positive, especially at Cooper Island which has been off my overnight itinerary for several years simply because I prefer to be sailing at 2 pm and not racing for the last mooring ball. I would return to overnighting at Cooper Island if I knew I had a mooring ball waiting for me with a close-to-sunset arrival.

I'm interested to hear of any experience with boaters encountering a squatter on their reserved mooring ball and how it gets resolved, especially if the squatter is ashore.

This just in...a close-up of their buoys, looks like there can't be much mistaking the reserved markings.....unless english is your second.

And they paid Barry from the lobster trap $30 to use the red boaty ball


So, if I made a stink about it, they would have said that they paid for the ball

I really don't understand all of the negativity towards this new start-up company! Let me stipulate to the fact that I hate moorings - cuz I remember the days when there were none. Well there were a few, here and there. But they were 'maintained' by the same guy who served you your Mount Gay and tonic, and if you had any brains you wouldn't even consider hooking up to them. The only exception was BEYC, who really did maintain their moorings, and as I recall, they were free.

Are you suggesting that the typical sailor is retarded and doesn't comprehend the words 'Reservation Only'? It's the same as a private mooring, right? And there are many of those all over the BVI. Would you even consider using them? When we had our private mooring in Soper's Hole, over the many years, there were only two or three interlopers. And they were mortified when we showed up.

Furthermore, isn't this EXACTLY what you electronic generation wants? It seems that this is precisely what you kids love (and by kids, I mean anyone under the age of 50 who are inexorably tied to your chart plotters, your tablets, your e-charts, and all of the other silliness that you use to 'navigate' around the BVI,) In my day we 'navigated' using a souvenir placemat, but it seems that you kids call for a chaseboat if your chartplotter takes a dive.

I predict that this idea will catch on, and that in a couple of years, MOST moorings will be available in this format. Why not? It's better than two idiots racing towards the last mooring ball in a crowded anchorage.

Three things, I think people are being negative because they see these Moorings taking over from good Moorings that currently don’t require a reservation. As far as private Moorings charter boats take them all the time if there is no other option. The last point that I suspect will become a reality and I once wrote a April fools spoof about it is that boatyball will sell out to one of the larger charter companies and their boats will get first shot at the balls. I give it three years before this happens. Money talks!

I think George is on the right track. When I started sailing in the BVI 50 years ago, I considered The Bight to be crowded if there were as many as six boats anchored there (usually in the northeast corner) because it was pretty deep to anchor elsewhere. Planning my itinerary more recently has been part trying to avoid peak days for popular anchorages (e.g., Tuesday/Wednesday at Anegada) and part giving up other daytime activities to insure I arrive early enough for a ball. What a blessing to be assured a ball regardless of arrival time. And as an econ major, why shouldn't the cost be tied to supply and demand? Ever tried to book a hotel room on a holiday weekend?