Getting Towed In - Etiquette etc?

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Tim Lamb

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It hasn't happened to me, but I've always wondered.
What is the situation if you can't start the engine when you get back to the mouth of the river (as it is in my case), don't fancy testing your sailing skills by trying to sail back to your marina berth, so get on the radio and cadge a half mile tow?
Obviously, you owe the guy a pint (to say the least), but is there an unofficial protocol, or (much more serious, if you happen to be towed in by a rotter), are you potentially placing yourself at the mercy of the salvage laws etc?
If some decent chap responds to your request, and offers to help, you don't want to start negotiating contracts whilst bobbing about, so how would it/does it work in practice?
Thanks.
TJL
 
I towed a dutch registered yatch into harbour, he had sailed as close as he could to the entrace, so i towed him less than quarter of a mile. Then I held him into the wind whilst he dropped the hook and drifted back to moor stern to.
As soon as he had tied up he shot off and brought me 10 bottles of Amstel from a bar. I would not have wanted any reward, a thanks would have done, but I drank the beer!
 
Hi Most people would be greatful for the tow and would i imagine make some effort to show it.I have noticed a couple of mentions of salvage rites and have no idea as to what thease consist of.If as you say come across a bad en?who has towed you soley for what they can get out of it:eek:do they have any legal rites.
 
As soon as you accept a tow, youi are potentially opening yourself up to a salvage claim, although the 'salvor' might have to prove that your vessel would have been in danger if they hadn't offered their help. I have heard it said that this can be avoided by supplying the tow rope yourself, rather than accepting one from the tow - don't know how true this is though. Anyhow, the last thing you want is a writ served on you, so it clearly pays to make sure that both parties agree terms before the tow commences.
Having said that, I've both given and accepted tows on various occasions, and all that ever happened afterwards was that a bottle or two changed hands!
 
Tim Lamb said:
Obviously, you owe the guy a pint (to say the least), but is there an unofficial protocol,
Click to expand...

Whatever the protocol is it wasn't something that worried the speedboat owner I towed in a couple of years ago. Having towed him a mile up the fairway, I took him to the pontoons whereupon he just climbed ashore and walked off. Not a word of thanks, not an acknowledgement, not an offer of a pint. Nothing. :(

It takes all sorts.
 
And I still owe 'Vag Ke Danse' a bottle of Scotch

...after he towed us into Basse Sablon Marina a couple of seasons ago,from just off that isolated reef below the fort, having stood by us from the Rance lock(where we'd squeezed up tight and booted a couple of mobos forward, to get him in with us right at the back), until our over heating alarm went off again (:mad:, weed/mud in the intake and no wind!).

He then took our line smoothly and whisked us in, telling the marina dory driver(summer student) exactly what was going to happen in rapid fire French after she started mucking us about.

By the time we'd got alongside on the V pontoon, the hose out to cool the engine, and reverse flush, he'd turned his long keeler on the next but one hammerhead, and was on his way out again.
Despite waving a bottle of Scotch at him,he just smiled, waved, called out ' No problem' and carried on out again.

A real Seaman & Gentleman, impeccably bi-lingual, and a very nice yacht.
never seen him since.
If anybody knows which port he and his family sail from, we are determined to thank him properly someday.

Which is why most of us never begrudge helping another boater, no caveats involved- it goes around and comes around!
 
Back in Falmouth, in the late 50s, I was running back and forth from our cruiser in the dinghy. A couple launched their small motor cruiser, but forgot to secure the painter. I saw it drifting off and towed it back. They were exceedingly gratefull and pressed 5 shillings into my hand. Not expecting this, but my father suggested they were worried about salvage. Probably it was worth a bit more than 5 shilings (how do you spell that?..)
From more recent readng, I doubt I could have claimed. But they were probably also ignorant.
DW
 
...potentially opening yourself up to a salvage...

I'm sure this risk is something we're all aware of and whilst we've fortunately never needed a tow, we have been the Tower (is that a word?) a couple of times.

Sensing that the Skippers had enough problems without worrying about what I might charge/claim for the tow, so on both occassions I appraised them of my towing fee - one beer - before tossing across a warp.
 
Recipient once, tow refused anything we might have to offer: have given twice, beer on one occasion and profuse thanks on the other was all I needed. When accepting I'd rigged up my line ready but never any hint that it was a problem rather than a pleasure; when offering I said before passing lines that the tow was for free and that they need not worry.

I'd hope that any yacht would give a tow without a second thought and certainly not as a way of gaining income. I don't know but I'd be very circumspect before accepting a tow from a commercial vessel whose time is not for free. Don't mind paying a fair fee, for the time and trouble, but not a fee based on the value of my boat.
 
Private yacht or mobo towing you in - at least a drink but if refused then the delivery of a few bottles of wine or something nicer. If it is a fisherman then offer them £50 for fuel and time. If it's the marina launch then sit down when the bill arrives.
 
I have accepted tows and towed in my time.
However I have always appreciated help and rewarded with a bottle or tobacco.
But there again a lawyer called Andrew Phelan wrote a book in the seventies called "The Law and Small Boats".
In this book he expounds on the risks of not agreeing beforehand and in some cases as appropriate to get an agreement in writing because of the ever present risk of a salvage claim. Touch wood I have never had any trouble and would never give any trouble either. His book is worth reading however.
 
When we towed Sgeir into Colonsay and parked him safely alongside the Pier - endangering our very lives in the process, we got absolutely sod all from the stingy auld git.
 
Towed 2 boats in;

First, when we had a static caravan but a boat in the marina and had motored into the bay where the caravan park is A lot of boats launched from trailer there. A panic, a motorboat had phoned (!) people on the shore, to say they had broken down near the Skerries. Rapid journey to the Skerries, towed them in (2 adults, 2 children, all with lifejackets on, people from a caravan 3 down from ours). They were very grateful, surprised to find we had a boat (didn't like to mention we had a boat in the marina, in case people thought we were boasting ! ). Anyhow, later that evening a knock on the door and 2 nice bottles of wine. Towing their boat probably cost more, but it was an experience.

The second time a small unseaworthy boat with an outboard near Trearddur Bay. Towed them in (slowly) and not an indication of thanks at all. Should have towed them in at 40 knots !
 
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Interesting thing happened, quite a few years ago. I was traveling east down the south coast of Ireland. A mayday went off from a 45 ft mobo. I offered to help. The life boat from Dunmore East went out, and told me that as I was still 20 miles away, they would be there far sooner. Then the boat said he was underway again, so the life boat turned round. This happened two more times and the life boat kept turning back. Yet anyone knows that if two diesel engines are stopping at once, there is a major problem. Eventually I get to the spot, the boat is supposed to be. Eventually he comes on the radio and says, he's right under the rocks, but has now got the engines restarted. Then he zoomed out and stopped. I circled the boat, quite a few times, asking if he needed assistance. Eventually he said he did. So I towed him into Dunmore East, about three miles away. As it happened. It was some sort of life boat day, or other celebration and the life boat was far more interested in that, than rescuing people.

As I entered the Harbour, the Life boat said. Ok we will carry on from now. (Look good on life boat day)

I told them what to go and do and parked the boat up.

Never got a drink, or even a thanks, only that the boat now had 60 gallons of fuel in the bilge.
 
I have given a few boats a hand over the years and never asked for anything in return, on the assumption that I could easily be the one in need.

First was a yacht that lost its propeller in the Crinan Canal, and we had a very sociable evening as a result.

Second was a far larger boat than ours who lost power approaching Crinan in a bit of wind. I took her into the sea lock with an alongside tow without a scratch or drama, despite the audience we collected .. pleasantries were exchanged and I never thougt any more about it, until a bottle of Speyside malt was left under our sprayhood. [The only niggling thing about that event was the spectator who complained that scruffy old boats like that shouldn't be allowed out if they have to be rescued .. until it was pointed out to him who it was that nedded the help.

In Loch Nevis I came across a local mobo who had a leaky engine and was in need of oil, so we swapped a few cans of my oil for a few of his beer .. maybe not an equal trade, but I was happy to help. Coincidentally, not long after a few large mackerel appeared on our stern overnight.

I was asked if I could shadow a boat with a dodgy engine through Cuan Sound .. he didn't want a tow, but we both had lines ready in case. No big deal, but I would hope that they would respond in the same way if I requested similar help in the future.


Re. the OP, does a protocol exist? Don't know.
What's the going rate? I wouldn't expect, or ask for, anything in return .. other than request that they make themselves as amenable if the tables were turned. It's nice if something is offered, but at the end of a cruise it's likely that their lockers will only be full of dirty laundry.
 
I was reading the Ouzo/Pride of Bilbao MAIB report the other night...

...I was reminded that legally speaking, it mayn't really be a matter of pondering whether to accept assistance, because if one vessel is in real peril, it's actually the duty of any nearby skipper who can help, to do so - not for reward, but to comply with this obligation in the circumstances.

I recognise that a busted motor needn't spell shipwreck, but how mean-spirited would a towboat's crew have to be, to think in terms of salvage when the danger could be averted for the price of a few gallons of diesel?
 
I've towed in a few boats over the years who have needed assistance. Not once have I worried about weather I would get any thanks or some kind of reward. The simple fact is if a mariner is in need of assistance then I feel it is the duty of every mariner to assist if they are able to do so. I'm not bothered wether I get any thanks or not, I know I couldn't rest knowing that I left someone in potential danger by not assisting them. Who cares about the price of fuel when there could be lives at risk. The fact is most folk you will assist will be extreemly thankful but there will be the odd minority who wont.
 
I was once sailing on a friends boat at night, the engine had conked out and wind eventually died, so we were gently pirouetting in the tide near, but away from, the sands off Ramsgate (forgotten name for the minute). In no immediate danger, completely calm (in both senses!) but concerned we were near the ferries and other shipping who wouldn't know what to make of our apparently strange lights, the skipper thought to let the coastguard know. A slight lack of clarity in the communication resulted in the coastguard announcing he had called the lifeboat out to tow us in (much to our embarassment).

We reluctantly rigged up some lines for the tow, had a cup of tea, waited for the lifeboat, and soon saw it making good speed towards us. As it approached it put on searchlights and we were dazzled and couldn't see it properly but it approached close and someone on deck was swinging a line which I got ready to try to catch. At this point we saw 'another' lifeboat approaching at even higher speed, and quickly realised that the first 'lifeboat' wasn't one at all, but a fishing boat, presumably trying its luck after hearing the radio traffic:(. We made it clear we weren't accepting its line and it beat a hasty retreat as the real lifeboat arrived. Could have been an expensive mistake, and we didn't even consider ourselves in danger!
 
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