As drilling rigs move into deeper waters, riser hangoff operations increase. In the Gulf of Mexico, severe weather can develop rapidly, leaving little time to secure a well and pull the riser. The soft-hangoff method, hanging the riser on tensioners that act as springs to absorb heave motion, is an attractive alternative to hard hangoff. The full-length paper compares performance characteristics of the drilling riser in soft- and hard-hangoff configurations.