Tails or pennants will provide additional elasticity to wire and high modulus mooring lines and reduce the dynamic loads induced in the mooring line by allowing the ship to respond more freely to various combinations of wind, wave and current, as well as to ships passing nearby. Tails will also distribute the loadings more evenly among the various mooring lines. According to MEG4 the Tail Design Break Force (TDBF) should be 125%-130% of the ship design MBL. Tails are generally connected to mooring lines either through the use of mechanical connecting devices (i.e. mooring links and mooring shackles with steel wire ropes) or directly with the use of a cow hitch (with HMPE ropes).















