Here's a link for the harbormaster:
Harbor Master's Office
If you are talking about the physical act of picking up an empty mooring:
1. Approach the mooring from a downwind position.
2. Station a bow-person with boathook on the pointy end of the boat.
3. Head straight for the mooring ball at dead slow and arrange stop/left/right signals in advance with bow person.
4. Goal is not to run past the ball but to put your bow at dead stop right on it so that the bow man can hook the mooring
line and affix it to a bow
cleat. Be prepared to give a short burst of forward power if the boat starts to drift backwards before the
line is secured.
If the bowman cannot get the
line on board tell him to release it and simply let the boat drift backwards until clear and circle for another go at it. You don't want to try to force things and you don't want to run over the mooring
line with your prop...so let it drift back.
Once secure, if the mooring
line has an eye in it, I generally make a couple of docklines into a bridle through the loop leaving one a bit loose and ready to take up the load should the primary
line chafe through in a blow.
If the
line does NOT have a loop I generally take a dockline to the ring on the mooring ball from the other bow
cleat...again as backup.
Hope that is clear!