Racing Marks

For club fixed marks we've got some plastic or rubber marks which must have been bought 30 or more years ago. They're nothing like as big as a 45s - maybe a couple of feet across and 30 inches high I guess.

Difficult to comment on whether you system is OTT without knowing how wide/long and deep your pond is, but the system certainly doesn't sound underspecified...

 We used to have chains on our marks. Regularly lost ground tackle as the chains wore through, due to movement and rust at the top. The salt water caused very quick corrosion on the first two - three feet under the buoy. We've changed this year to using thick webbing lifting strops, big shackles onto the buoys and  cable ties to keep the pins insitu.  So far no ground tackle losses or buoys, and survived some big gales, which usually saw the buoys dragging their tackle then snapping the chains. 

Edited by crosby mafia - 18 Nov 11 at 12:14am

We've got some big buoys (sort of scaled up spherical fenders) that are permanently out on the reservoir, with other temporary marks occasionally being laid. They seem to work fine, don't cause any damage if you hit them and they're lasting well. :)

Edited by Mister Nick - 22 Nov 11 at 4:37pm

We use old 55 gallon cans sealed up, with a heavy chain attached to four points around one end joined together (far enough down that ropes coming from it are a good way down so they don't get in the way in the event that they go out horizontal), then a fair length of rope going down to the anchor chain and the anchor itself. It generally works well (except when someone got a little confused and painted one of them with the attachments at the top, so we've got a buoy that's upside down at the moment, but never mind), but you don't want to be doing it if you want to move them around a lot, at least not if you like your back.