Responding to a Pan Pan

[kcrane]

Again, thanks for the advice and helpful comments.

Yep, it was a lee shore and I think by instinct I kept my boat on the outside of the Larson, so if things went pear shaped we could drop lines and get back out.

A big learning was how caught up in the moment you get and things happen while you concentrate on what seems to need doing, so you find yourself surprised, e.g. by how quickly we drifted in on the swell, then you react to that and so on in sequence.

 

[bobgarrett]

Well done, indeed. I hope in your situation I'd remember I also have a floating line on board for use in situations where there is a risk of it getting near the prop.

 

[lpdsn]

Well done for giving it a go. And if you can learn from the experience even better.

I carry a spare anchor warp and I find that handy to use as a tow line (it's 100m so keeps me well clear). A bridle is handy as prv says - spreads the load and helps you retain manouvreability. I also find it handy to attach a fender (round ones work quite well) to the other end of the tow line, which means you can let it drift down to the boat you're towing if you can't get in close enough to pass the line - you may have had to use a lighter line in really shallow water in your case to stop the tow line dragging on the bottom.

 

[prv]

I carry a spare anchor warp and I find that handy to use as a tow line (it's 100m so keeps me well clear). A bridle is handy as prv says - spreads the load and helps you retain manouvreability.

Elaborating on the latter point - a bridle will only help with the steering if the tow line can slide from side to side (or rather, the stern slides from side to side under the tow). A typical hasty one will have a knot in the middle, in which case it only serves to spread the load (which is still beneficial).

Like lpdsn, my spare anchor warp is also my tow-line, and I have deliberately spliced a shiny stainless thimble into one end (instead of the rough galvanised thimble I already had handy) so that it can slide from side to side along one of our slippery polyprop mooring warps rigged as a bridle.

So far though, I've only used it to tow a mate in his Wayfarer when there was no wind

Pete

 

[crazy4557]

This weekend I'm going to make up a bridle with a towing eye and dedicated a tow line to keep for emergencies like this. No harm in this and I'm not being over cautious but I think this thread has brought home what could happen to any of us when we're not expecting it.
I've been towed by the RNLI when there was no time to make up a bridle and the snatching did all sorts of damage to my foredeck where the cleats got pulled almost totally out of the deck through continuous snatching.

 

[kcrane]

This weekend I'm going to make up a bridle with a towing eye and dedicated a tow line to keep for emergencies like this. No harm in this and I'm not being over cautious but I think this thread has brought home what could happen to any of us when we're not expecting it.
I've been towed by the RNLI when there was no time to make up a bridle and the snatching did all sorts of damage to my foredeck where the cleats got pulled almost totally out of the deck through continuous snatching.

We are going to practise rigging a bridle - starting at the mid-ships cleats, round the stern cleat, other stern cleat, other mid-ships. I think that would spread the load so long as maybe only one turn on the aft cleats so they can 'slip' a little and pass on some load to the mid-ships. Will have to check whether there any guidance on how to make sure you share the load, i.e. use the cleats in parallel, not just in series (with one popping out, then the next etc).

I had a look at the front of the Larson, and it only had very small cleats, suitable for string not mooring lines and IIRC it had no fitting at all at the sharp end (no anchor). Snatched loads would have done those flimsy fittings quite a bit of damage I suspect.

 

[Firefly625]

http://www.pbo.co.uk/seamanship/prepare-lifeboat-tow-19073

 

[kcrane]

http://www.pbo.co.uk/seamanship/prepare-lifeboat-tow-19073

Excellent, ta