I will never tow another boat with my little bugger. Don't have the horses.
However l have been on two tow tugs from Sarawak to Jakarta and Labuan to Singapore with the most professional captain that you can imagine. So, I have seen how a tow is done.
The stress on the towed vessel is immense. In the old days there was a winch man. When the pull was too much the tow line would release like on a fishing reel. Then the winch man would haul her back in. The winch was manned 24 hours a day. Now it is all computer controlled, but many towed vessels are still lost. The towing vessels were built to tow and the towee vessels were built to be towed. Three tow lines connected to three bridels connected to independent bollards.
I observed heavy shallow draught constitution barges. They wallowed.
Towing a sailboat raises all sorts of questions.
You would probably tie the tow line around the mast and lash to the hawsers. Chafe would be a big problem.
The stress of the sudden pull in high seas would be bad.
I could see being tied parallel working in cal
m conditions, but not in a heavy sea.
Finally, l think a light sailboat being towed in heavy weather would be ripped apart in no short order due to the constant tugging.

You need a tyre in the middle of the tow line that spends time in the water.

You must never be towed at speeds above your hull speed.
If you are towed above your hull speed, that's when all the extra stress is applied to your vessel!!

Having being towed and towed other sailboats there are 2 things.
Length of tow rope and keeping the tow rope always in the water and that is function of speed.
Start at 100m.
Sailboats tows are very slow like 3 knots is good
keep the tow line in water and the shock loads are not an issue.
if it coming clear of the water lengthen the tow.
Tow point is difficult as a bridle to main winches loads the bow in a direction it is not designed for.
mast is often least worst option.
Quite comfy been towed if the tow operator is good.
Never get towed by the local coast guard ever, they think 7 knots is slow

This all makes me think of the sad plight of Tony Higgins and his wooden boat who when first found was towed at above the hull speed of his boat back to Victor Harbour. He pleaded for his "rescuer's " to slow down. The correct way to tow a wooden vessel is to fashion a cradle around the hull from rope and to tow this. While anchored at Victor harbour there was no effort to repair his prop. A second example of a belligerent attitude of 'rescue' team was here at the entrance to the Rip when a mahogany H28 was swept onto Nepean reef in mild conditions when the engine failed. The damage to the vessel was done when Parks Vic employed needlessly rough tactics getting the vessel off the reef and then towing the vessel under due to excessive speed. Through considerable support from locals the vessel was repaired and 18 months later the owner was able to continue their journey. Back in the 70's I know of two instances of successful yacht re floats in conditions that today would be total wrecks because of the attitude of those tasked with vessel reflating. One was the Winston Churchhill off the beach at Kilcunda and the other a wooden Aitken yacht off Thirteenth beach. Early last year a virtually undamaged cray boat was just about wrecked when removed from the rocks at Flinders jetty. adjectives like arrogant aggressive ignorance aoply. Yes it can be dangerous and risk mitigation is an essential element but in these cases I refer the belligerent attitude is at a toxic level. Gone is what I recall the previous Australian attitude of finding a way against the odds witnessed many times by me since my childhood around Portland/ Port Fairy

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garymalmgren said..
I will never tow another boat with my little bugger. Don't have the horses.
However l have been on two tow tugs from Sarawak to Jakarta and Labuan to Singapore with the most professional captain that you can imagine. So, I have seen how a tow is done.
The stress on the towed vessel is immense. In the old days there was a winch man. When the pull was too much the tow line would release like on a fishing reel. Then the winch man would haul her back in. The winch was manned 24 hours a day. Now it is all computer controlled, but many towed vessels are still lost. The towing vessels were built to tow and the towee vessels were built to be towed. Three tow lines connected to three bridels connected to independent bollards.
I observed heavy shallow draught constitution barges. They wallowed.
Towing a sailboat raises all sorts of questions.
You would probably tie the tow line around the mast and lash to the hawsers. Chafe would be a big problem.
The stress of the sudden pull in high seas would be bad.
I could see being tied parallel working in cal
m conditions, but not in a heavy sea.
Finally, l think a light sailboat being towed in heavy weather would be ripped apart in no short order due to the constant tugging.

In1966 I was on a Type 12 frigate when we ran aground on an uncharted rock in the Malacca straight. Two day tow back to Singapore behind a tug in fortunately flat seas. It was actually quite pleasant. 3 months in a floating dock not quite so pleasant!

Good article on Facebook.

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