Helping a fellow stranded boater at sea

[Greg2]

What Roger Rat said!

Braided rope no good for much apart from halyards.....I know many use it for mooring lines due to ease of handling but it has insufficient stretch and is certainly no good for towing. The RN use polyamide multi-plait for tow ropes on larger warships (or at least they did in my day) but three strand is fine for smaller boats IMHO.

The RYA recccomend a tow of two wave lengths on the Powerboat Level II course but for larger boats I suspect it may need to be more than that.

 

[RogerRat]

I once did an 8 hour tow! Mid channel to Dartmouth.

Way to go Mark, you need a CDM! :encouragement:

That's a crazy length of time to have a boat in tow, well done tho.

RR

 

[Elessar]

Way to go Mark, you need a CDM! :encouragement:

That's a crazy length of time to have a boat in tow, well done tho.

RR

Yeah and we started in Dartmouth so we were towing the wrong way!

Hardest bit was transferring the line.

 

[macnorton]

How many fellow forumites have on board suitable rope for towing a fellow boater to a safe haven.

If so what length do you have assuming your boat is 15 metres long - I was looking to purchase a single rope around 45 metres so will that be long enough x 20mm thickness braid on braid to reduce the snatching effect

If your mooring line is 18mm then what thickness of tow rope would you have on board assuming your boat weighs 15 tonnes for example.

Lastly would you use braid on braid to reduce the snatching effect.


Thanks All

Terry

I carry two 30m 12mm nylon (with give) lines and a mud weight.
The ropes double for moorings on a quay.

 

[macnorton]

Hardest bit was transferring the line.

I carry a danbouy??

 

[sailorman]

Yup
Towed in a (hush)sailor whose gearbox had failed about a month ago, against a strong spring tide.
Just joined 2 of the longer mooring warps to give about 50m and made up a bridle across my stern cleats to spread the load.
no big deal, the fun bit was entering the marina across the tidal flow.

Oh i have also towed a MoBo :encouragement:

 

[Elessar]

I carry a danbouy??

Danboys have a drogue usually which isn't helpful?. Or do you throw it? I have transferred a line since by tying it to a jerry can.

The mid channel incident was in a lumpy sea. All we did was throw the line as I hadn't given it any thought in advance.
It took quite a few scary approaches to be successful.

A heaving line or a floating something are the tools in my armoury now.

Would love to hear tested solutions.

 

[Nick_H]

Danboys have a drogue usually which isn't helpful?. Or do you throw it? I have transferred a line since by tying it to a jerry can.

The mid channel incident was in a lumpy sea. All we did was throw the line as I hadn't given it any thought in advance.
It took quite a few scary approaches to be successful.

A heaving line or a floating something are the tools in my armoury now.

Would love to hear tested solutions.

If you watch "Trawlermen" on TV, the pair trawlers use a lightweight throwing line which I guess is what you mean by a "heaving line". If they haven't come up with a simpler or better way, then I doubt there is one.

 

[macnorton]

Danboys have a drogue usually which isn't helpful?. Or do you throw it? I have transferred a line since by tying it to a jerry can.

The mid channel incident was in a lumpy sea. All we did was throw the line as I hadn't given it any thought in advance.
It took quite a few scary approaches to be successful.

A heaving line or a floating something are the tools in my armoury now.

Would love to hear tested solutions.

it is a weighted handle with a thin line inside, you throw it like a hand grenade over the casualty,(mob or breakdown) the end you keep hold of is attached to the tow line to haul over.
Not sure of name but it works..
I have used it twice to pass a tow line.

 

[fireball]

Oh i have also towed a MoBo :encouragement:

So have I - but with the club rescue boat - gave us something interesting to do for 10 minutes ... poor mobo had engine/gearbox failure and was trying to anchor over some notorious sands whilst awaiting the arrival of Seastart - being in a 5m rib with my Dad we were in a good position to get them back into deeper/safer water.

A boat in trouble is a boat in trouble - I'd want help therefore I don't hesitate to offer it.

 

[Elessar]

it is a weighted handle with a thin line inside, you throw it like a hand grenade over the casualty,(mob or breakdown) the end you keep hold of is attached to the tow line to haul over.
Not sure of name but it works..
I have used it twice to pass a tow line.

I would buy one of these. I thought the purpose of a danbuoy was to float next to the casualty with a flag on. I didn't know they have throwable properties. Thanks for the info. I wonder if they do smaller ones without flags.

 

[Elessar]

it is a weighted handle with a thin line inside, you throw it like a hand grenade over the casualty,(mob or breakdown) the end you keep hold of is attached to the tow line to haul over.
Not sure of name but it works..
I have used it twice to pass a tow line.

I would buy one of these. I thought the purpose of a danbuoy was to float next to the casualty with a flag on. I didn't know they have throwable properties. Thanks for the info. I wonder if they do smaller ones without flags.

 

[Divemaster1]

A heaving line or a floating something are the tools in my armoury now.

Would love to hear tested solutions.

Made up a weighted (rubber ball) monkey fist (floating) for that many years ago ... still on-board today, and used in anger once... idea is to tie this to 30m thin line (floating) and throw monkey fist to casualty with other end tied to my 50m 20mm three strand nylon rope that I keep as a "spare". A 15m 20mm nylon mooring rope makes for a nice bridle for the stern cleats...

 

[prv]

I thought the purpose of a danbuoy was to float next to the casualty with a flag on. I didn't know they have throwable properties.

They don't, he's thinking of something else

I know the ones he means, but can't seem to find a picture of it. A light moulded plastic case, sort of like a big cup with a handle on the bottom. The cup is stuffed with line, and the handle is supposed to give you leverage to be able to throw it further. Sometimes seen alongside the life-rings on piers and bridges.

For what it's worth, I suspect I could throw a coiled mooring line very nearly as far as I could throw a proper ship's heaving line. Certainly far enough to reach another boat without having to pass dangerously close. Ships have to have heaving lines because nobody can throw a 9" hawser

Pete

 

[prv]

I have only been boating for a couple of years and have not, as of yet, been asked to give a tow. Reading the piece from gjgm has annoyed me enough to make a comment. If you are unlucky enough to break down at sea and lucky enough to be offered a tow, perhaps a bit of civility and gratitude at being towed to the nearest safe haven would be in order. If what happened to gjgm were to happen to me, assuming no danger to life, then you can sit at anchor until the tide goes out as far as I would be concerned.
There, got that off my chest!!!

I've been sailing on and off all my life, and I agree with you on this one . Amazing rudeness to demand that someone tow you in the opposite direction to their own destination.

Be interesting to know how much wind there was on that occasion - quite possible he could have sailed home (even if needing a tow up the harbour) and just wanted to go a little faster

Pete

 

[henryf]

As has already been mentioned as a coded boat we have to carry a second anchor. We use the length of rope attached to its chain as our towing line. Depending on the size of boat to be towed that really needs to be attached via a yolk which runs mid cleat, stern cleat, attachment to the towing line, the other stern cleat & the other mid cleat.

In terms of transferring the line we also carry a throwing line (normally used to recover a man overboard). Throw that having first attached the towing line to its handle loop and have the casualty vessel haul the towing line over.

A dan buoy is a marker thrown in the water to mark the position of a casualty and provide a bit of buoyancy. I can't see you'd use it as a throwing line. Whilst there is a line attached the rest of the device would get in the way.

I know there are compact versions which pop open on contact with the water but not designed as a throwing line.

Henry

 

[ctva]

A good tow rope is an old climbing rope (if you know any climbers). 50m long and 11/11mm, dynamic so no snatching and cheap or free. Once you get the length and speed right there is not a lot of strain on the tow rope so a high breaking strain is not needed as long as it is dynamic.

 

[gjgm]

I've been sailing on and off all my life, and I agree with you on this one . Amazing rudeness to demand that someone tow you in the opposite direction to their own destination.

Be interesting to know how much wind there was on that occasion - quite possible he could have sailed home (even if needing a tow up the harbour) and just wanted to go a little faster

Pete

From memory, it was pretty calm. He claimed some tanker had almost run him down -this was about a mile offshore, and his engine had broken down. I guess CG felt there was nothing imminently dangerous, so why not first check is some is passing by...yes, he certainly felt entitled to boss me about, but I think he was very stressed out.
I suppose we had just done 4-5 hours and had 2-3 more to go so I wasn't exactly delighted to add probably another 3-5 hours on top of that sorting this guy out.

 

[macnorton]

They don't, he's thinking of something else

I know the ones he means, but can't seem to find a picture of it. A light moulded plastic case, sort of like a big cup with a handle on the bottom. The cup is stuffed with line, and the handle is supposed to give you leverage to be able to throw it further. Sometimes seen alongside the life-rings on piers and bridges.

For what it's worth, I suspect I could throw a coiled mooring line very nearly as far as I could throw a proper ship's heaving line. Certainly far enough to reach another boat without having to pass dangerously close. Ships have to have heaving lines because nobody can throw a 9" hawser

Pete

you are right thanks, still can't think what its called? but it works!

 

[ontheplane]

One thing, would it not make sense to have a "sacrificial" section in the tow rope where you WANT it to break, in preference to your really expensive 50m heavy duty rope, and/or ripping a cleat out of the deck!

I'd personally use a decent main rope and a section that had a breaking strain of around half the main rope, perhaps just a 2m or 3m section, so if it snaps you can just put another bit in....