Patent ID: 8561563

Claim:
A mooring system comprising: a station keeping apparatus which includes a turntable rotatably mounted thereon, wherein the turntable is operable to movably couple to a first vessel to provide the first vessel with one rotational freedom about a vertical axis relatively to the turntable, and wherein the station keeping apparatus is operable to dispose the first vessel and a second vessel in a side-by-side mooring configuration by movably coupling to the second vessel using a head mooring line such that when a heading of both the first vessel and the second vessel is caused to take on a new equilibrium position which is misaligned with a prevailing weather direction, a length of the head mooring line secured between the second vessel and the station keeping apparatus is adjustable to adjust an angular displacement between the station keeping apparatus and a longitudinal center line of the first vessel to align the heading of both the first vessel and the second vessel with the prevailing weather direction.