Many cruising yachts seem driven to pick up a mooring, any mooring, as long as it’s close to their desired destination, without any apparent regard for who owns it or whether it is adequate. Remember, all moorings are not created equal. Nor are they equally maintained. Nor are they unused just because they are empty. Here are some suggestions on the subject of mooring etiquette:

• Find out who is in charge of moorings. In harbors with mostly pleasure boats, it may be the yacht club or the harbormaster, or one or more of the boatyards. Often transient moorings are marked “rental” or “guest” or identified by a special color or by a club or yard’s initials. In working harbors, there is usually a harbormaster. If not, you can inquire at the lobster co-op or ask a fisherman nearby.
  
  

• If there is no one around to ask, either anchor or else pick up a mooring temporarily and go ashore to inquire. Leave aboard crew competent to move the boat in case the owner of the mooring returns.
  
  

• Never leave your boat unattended on an unknown mooring. Imagine a fisherman or yachtsman coming home late at night and finding your boat on his mooring, locked up and silent. What does he do? Cut you loose? Where does he moor his own boat? In certain harbors along the southern coast and in Casco Bay, there’s no one in charge, and it seems to be first-come, first-served. If there is room, we still prefer to anchor unless the holding ground is tenuous.
  
  

• There used to be guest moorings everywhere, maintained by yacht clubs or towns for the convenience of visiting yachts. Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions, the day of the free guest mooring has passed. Expect to pay a mooring fee of $15 to $25 a night.

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