Towing and Being Towed
By Dag Pike
When things go wrong at sea, a tow back to port may be the only solution. Whether yours is the boat being towed or the one doing the towing, this can be a tricky operation, particularly in lively seas. Hopefully, you will end up being the one that does the towing rather than the boat being towed. But either of these situations is something you may have to face at sea and neither operation is an easy one even in relatively moderate conditions. In calm water, towing is still quite a skilled operation if it is going to work successfully for any distance and in rough seas, it can be an operation fraught with difficulty and danger.
When you have to be towed then you have probably suffered an engine or gear failure or both, although towing could also be necessary for a steering failure situation. With your boat immobile all the manoeuvring has to be done by the other boat, but you can help by getting things ready and making sure that the tow line is secured fast at the first attempt to pass it across.
There is a heavy strain on a tow line, so you need somewhere strong to make it fast. Ideally, this should be a good, strong central mooring post at the bow, and the anchor capstan could provide this. However, the stresses on the tow line can be very high indeed and even if you have a central mooring post the best solution is to take a couple of turns of the towing line around this post or the capstan and then take the end of the line back to a second securing point such as a mooring cleat. In this way, the load is spread throughout the hull instead of being concentrated on one point and this gives a better chance of the heavy snatch loads that can occur on the tow line being absorbed safely.
If you don’t have a suitable capstan or mooring post and some modern boats do not have these features then you can use a rope bridle strung between two of the mooring cleats and hanging clear of the bow. Finding a safe set-up for making fast a tow rope is something that you can work out long before the event occurs and on a fine day you might even like to try out the exercise using a friendly boat as the tow boat. Once the tow line is made fast, then you may be able to help with the towing operation if you have steering available. This can be used to prevent the boat being towed from sheering about wildly which will increase the strain on the tow line.
Towing a boat is not something to undertake lightly. It calls for skilful manoeuvring and rope handling. The first stage when you have everything ready is to pass a tow rope across and this is best done with your stern level with the bow of the other boat but alongside it. Maneuver close enough for the line to be thrown across, using a lighter line for the initial contact if this is going to be easier to throw. If the sea and wind conditions are difficult and you are reluctant to get this close to the boat being towed, as could be the case if he has gone aground, then you could float the line down to the other boat using a fender tied to the end of the tow line to keep it afloat and make it visible.
At all times when you are passing the tow line make sure that the rope does not end up around your propeller. You certainly don't want to compound the situation in this way and this means that the person handling the line on the stern of your boat must allow just enough slack line to enable the line to be passed across and never allow a bight of rope to lie in the water. Try not to go into astern gear in this situation and like when being towed you may have to use a bridle for this in order to spread the load between the two stern cleats. It is rare to find a good strong towing point on leisure boats these days and an alternative solution could be to take a couple of turns around a stern cleat and then back it up with further turns around a bow cleat.
Once you have the tow line fast take up the weight gently on the tow rope and try to keep an even strain on the line, not an easy task in rough seas. With so many leisure boats there is no view astern from the helm so radio contact between the two boats will bring an added measure of safety to the towing operation. You should be able to find a speed of towing at which both boats are comfortable without too much snatching on the line. In calmer conditions, you can keep a reasonably short tow line, but in rougher conditions, you need to have a longer tow line between the two craft which will give a bit of spring in the tow line and you can experiment with the length of tow line to find a length which gives a compatible motion between the two craft although if you are using a bridle then adjustment of the length of the line can be challenging.
If the boat being towed still has steering then holding a position somewhere just on the quarter of the towing boat can often be a comfortable place. Heavy sheering about of the boat being towed should be avoided because of the great strain it puts on the tow line and the fittings, and the potential that will exist in this situation for the tow line to suffer chafe. Chafe on the tow rope is the enemy of towing operations and rags or other anti-chafe gear should be used where the rope rubs.
Finally, what type of rope is best for use when towing assuming that you have a choice? Nylon rope is definitely out because it is a bit like elastic so you will find the boat being towed springing back and forth putting extra strain on the line. Polypropylene rope is best because not only is it strong but it floats so there is less chance of it ending up in the propeller. It has good abrasion resistance so is less prone to chafe but it does not have much stretch so does not absorb shock loading so well. Once you are in sheltered waters towing alongside might be the best option in the tight confines of a harbour or marina and we will look at that is a later article. Towing or being towed is all common sense really and something to think about before it actually happens so that you are prepared.