"I especially thought the items useful to the senior boater, the inexperienced deck hand or youth on board. The 'hook,' used in conjunction with the vessel's long handled boat hook, assists reaching a dock or low bobbing buoy without extensive leaning or stretching, avoiding the possibility of falling overboard. The simple latch hook permanently secures a vessel to a float buoy overnight. The dock hook provides safety and convenience for the crew when attaching a line temporarily to a dock until someone can get ashore and secure the lines. The low cost of the 'hooks' makes them affordable safety items for any boater's budget.
I definitely believe the 'hooks' will aid in minimizing the frustration and anxiety levels of the Captain and crew while securing a vessel to a dock or buoy."
Commander Sharron Hunter
United States Power Squadron District 16
23 October 1997 |
"These are ingenious devices meant to make docking and mooring a safer, less-frantic process. They are each, heavy-duty, stainless steel, uniquely shaped hooks designed to fit at the end of most standard boat hooks or collapsible poles.
The Larson Buoy Hook looks rather like a large safety pin, and allows you to catch a mooring buoy while greatly limiting the risk of falling overboard. Rather than try to hook that tiny eye in the buoy with your wrong-shape boat hook, or trying to hang over the bow and attach your line by hand, you attach your mooring line to the buoy hook, put it at the end of your favorite boat hook and reach for the mooring buoy while safely standing upright on the deck. The hook has a properly shaped leading point to catch the ring, and then it 'snaps' through the narrow section and into the steel loop with little effort, but securely holding your boat to the buoy. The tensioned mooring line in your hand keeps the hook on the end of the boat hook until you let go, now safely moored! It comes off just as easy with a push on the pole, but can't come off accidentally no matter which way you rock and roll on the mooring.
The Larson Docking Hook works in a similar fashion, held to the end of the boat pole by the tension you put on your end of the docking line. Then, you just hook the dock or cleat with this specially shaped hook and then easily pull your boat to the dock where you can properly secure all your regular lines. This prevents you from dangling over the side or making that 'big reach' as the boat drifts, floats, charges, careens, motors, or bumps into the dock and while you scramble to prevent it from doing so. Now, you can get that first line secured from up to 12 feet away!
Note: while the Larson Buoy Hook is intended to be a regular, full-time mooring device, the Larson Docking Hook is intended as a temporary, 'first tie' until you get the boat properly secured in the slip. I asked the manufacturer about this and received a very logical answer: The shape of the Hook was designed to make a quick and easy grab to the dock. It may not provide a secure tie down as wind and waves change over time. It could have been designed to provide a more permanent tie down, but then its shape would have made it harder to use on that 'first grab.' Most docks already have sufficient pilings and cleats for a secure tie down. What they don't have is a 12-foot arm to pull you in with and that's what the Larson Buoy Hook is all about!"
John Kenneth Bruce
Great Lakes Cruiser, Volume #7, Issue #6, pp.34-35
June 2000 |
