Give Me A Tow

[67hat34c]

I made the mistake over the last weekend to volunteer to pull someone off of a shoal. We pulled our boat into Banana River to do some sanding on the top side, anchored by the Port Canaveral Lock. There are a bunch of abandond sail boats there along with a barge and an old freighter. This guy in an inflatable came up to us and wanted to know if we were going to be around for a while to watch his inflatable as he goes to get SeaTow to pull a sail boat out that someone gave him. He did not have phone with him or radio that worked, he was goin to hoof it to the port and hire them. My brother told him that we would do it after we finished our work. The guy said fine and he would kick in 50.00.

Well we gave it a try later that afternoon after the wind had picked up to around 25kts plus. Hooked up a 2 poit yoke across our rear cleats and hooked up his 100' line to that. The guy tied it to the bow cleat of the sloop, approx 30'. I tried to pull 90 degrees from his bow, with no success, keel was burried. Tried to pull strait from his bow, seemed to give a little then his large bow cleat broke out bolts and all. only recoiled about 50'. Then instead of quitting we were determined to get it done. Tied rope to his main sail winch which healed the boat 20 degrees, kept up pressure and it pulled out. however this was after swinging in to within 6 inches of the freighter, close call. Anyhow we towed him across the Banana river on our way back to our marina and left him off, he gave us some cash that only turned out to be 40.00, guess he cant count. Bet we burned more than that in fuel. Oh well never again, next time I will simply call sea tow for them and mind my own. Gave those new 4 blade props a little work out, alot of torque.

 

[smoothmove]

I can't count the number of people I've towed in. Some more succesfully than others. On balance, I'd say it's ususally a positive experience. If nothing else, it's always a good topic of conversation later when we're sitting around with a couple of beers. I'd have to think hard about trying to extricate a sailboat off a shoal though. So far I haven't been at the other end of the rope, but I hope some of the good karma I've stored up will be there when it does happen.
Eric

 

[DLCameron2]

In the 1960's a steel house boat ran aground near Harsen's Island in the North Channel of the St. Clair River. The Coast Guard attempted to pull it off and in the process the cleat pulled/broke out and due to the tension on the "nylon" line it shot back aboard the 41 ft Coast Guard boat killing one member of the crew.

After that happened we became VERY gunshy of pulling anyone off that was really "hard aground". I am truly thankful you guys didn't get hurt. I guess next time you won't be so friendly.

DC

 

[SeaEric]

You lucked out with that recoil. I know of a "good samaritan" boater who perished when the 1/2 inch nylon tow line with the broken cleat attached recoiled into his forehead.

 

[67hat34c]

We were aware of potential recoil. we kept the guy on the sail boat away from the rope and kept my brother out of the way as well. Rope was cotton/nylon mix so it was not that bad, otherwise the bow cleat would have made it all the way. I will in the future give someone a tow but most likely will not pull off a grounded boat.

 

[34Hatt]

We were aware of potential recoil. we kept the guy on the sail boat away from the rope and kept my brother out of the way as well. Rope was cotton/nylon mix so it was not that bad, otherwise the bow cleat would have made it all the way.

I don't think you can ever be out of the way when that cleat come's out towards your boat who know where it going to stop. All the tow boats are set up with protective nets behind them. Also what about the liability these days you start off by doing a favor something goes wrong and then they sue you??

 

[jim rosenthal]

A few years back I was out in Eastern Bay here on the Chesapeake when I came on a guy with a disabled jetski adrift out in the water, quite a ways from land. I towed him in. He was a tourist, and drunk, and from the NorthEast, and the minute he was on my boat I was sorry I'd stopped. If he'd been a fish I'd have thrown him back. And we could only go six knots because otherwise the PWC started porpoising around. Boy was I glad to get him back to shore and unload him. Without a thank you, as I recall.
I don't think I would try to pull off a boat that was hard aground. Too dangerous. The pro tow guys have all that insurance for a reason. It's different bringing someone in who's just stranded out there, I'd do that, but I sure hope the next one is sober.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

We were flagged down once while passing through the Straits of Mackinaw early one spring by a couple of guys in a 28' or so Chris Craft. The lakes were flat and they were in no danger except from themselves(drunk). They had run out of gas and then cranked the starter until the batteries were dead. So they wanted a tow. I offered to call for help since their radio didn't work(no battery power). The CG wanted me to stay with them until they arrived but I did not want to be around these guys any longer than I had to. So after giving the position of the disabled vessel and answering the stupid questions, like "how much fuel do they have?" and how much water do they have?" (billions of gallons is the answer--it's the Great Lakes!), I told the them that since they were in no danger, I was going to continue on my way. The CG didn't really make a big deal out of us leaving them and they did arrange for a tow. I'm just glad I didn't have to get involved anymore than I did with a couple of drunks. If they have been sober, I probably would have towed them in.

 

[REBrueckner]

When trying to free a sailboat aground, get a halyard (run from the top of the mast) and use that to heel the boat over which reduces underwater draft. The leverage and heeling requires far less power than a deck level pull and greatly reduces the chance for an errant cleat to come flying loose.

Some sailboat owners don't understand and initially object....I tell them it's either that or they are on their own....Have not had a refusal yet...

 

[Reelin]

You need to be very cautious doing a halyard pull. Unless you know what your doing I wouldn't try it. Have you ever seen a mast snap?????? Not very pretty. Are you smart enough to know if the boat has a winged keel, which you don't want to halyard pull, you only will bury it deeper! Sea Tow and Boat US are both trained and insured to do this and well worth the membership price.

Signed a Ex-Sea Tow Captain

 

[garyd]

I stopped to help a sailboat stuck off the inlet to Sarasota. I tried to expalin he had to go toward shore to get off not out to sea. Big pass. He finally got it.

I had a go fast boat with lots of power and manueverability. I wrapped a line several times around the transome bracket and handed it to my wife. She looked at me like I was crazy I told her she could hold it. I learned a long time ago never to tie directly to a disabled vessel, else it may drag you into the same plight as it has many others over the years. If you wrap and have someone hold it then by simply releasing the line you can drive away.

Anyway It was hard aground the captain said lets tie one off the Halyard he gave me 1/4" s/s halyard and I placed a line in the turnbuckel and wrapped it. WE gave it all we had and the 1/4" ss halyard line snapped in the middle not much spring just kinda dropped in the water. After that I suggested he wait for high tide and call sea tow.

That all happened around 12:00 noon at around 10:00 pm I could still see Sea Tow fighting to get her off.

Have Fun Boating

P.S. I will gladly give you a tow but I will never tie to your vessel until we are clearly out of danger!

garyd

 

[Capt K]

One of my sons has been a Sea Tow captain in the Northeast and Fl for the past 3 years. I also hold a master's license with a towing endorsement. My "real job" is the owner of an insurance/financial services agency. My experiences with both occupations have taught me that it is not a good idea to be a Good Samaritan unless risk of life present.

It's too bad, but today's society seems to want some else to always be responsible for their actions and the consequences. People are quick to point fingers to place blame and there are a lot of "sue happy" people out there (no offense meant to our JD's out there).

Reporting the incident and standing by, if possible, is really the way to go.

Let the better equipped, educated, and insured people do their jobs.

Too bad, but it's the way it is these days.

Happy almost spring!!!

K

 

[DickB]

Are there any marine "good samaritan" laws out there that would protect us? Just what is the liability?

Dick

 

[Passages]

Reporting the incident and standing by, if possible, is really the way to go.

Aren't mariners required to render assistance to vessels in distress? Exceptions being if conditions might reasonably put assisting vessel or crew at risk? There's some big water out there and delays in assistance might mean the difference between life and ...

Yeah you might get sued if things don't go according to plan, but what's worse - I stood by and did nothing and someone got hurt; or I tried to help a fellow mariner and got sued?

There must be someone on-line who can cite the legal requirement of rendering assistance.

Moral requirements are different. If someone needs help and in my judgement I can provide it without unreasonable risk - I'm going to help.

 

[Capt K]

You can really tied up in a long, drawn-out mess if the situation turns bad. Like many of you have stated, the distress many times is caused by people that probably should not be out there to begin with. If a problem arises, or damage occurs, chances are they will not step up and take responsiblility. The time and money involved just to clear yourself (hopefully) would not be worth it in most cases.

If it really gets messy, maritime law can come into play. You don't really want to play this game at all! I was briefly introduced to this years ago caused by a vessel purchase that was not totally "clean" due to the previous owner owing some $$$ for prior work done.

Quite an interesting thing, that maritime law stuff. Need a maritime lawyer to properly address it. Makes regular lawyers' fees look quite attractive!

Seriously, just be careful and choosey when trying to "help".

K

 

[Genesis]

Federal and international law requires you to save people.

If life is in jeopardy, you are required (under the law) to assist. But only to the extent where there is risk to persons. Not property. When it comes to property there is no duty to assist.

Now let's say you come upon a disabled, sinking boat. You happen to have a portable pump and a lot of things that can be stuffed into holes.

You are under no obligation to use them. You are, however, under obligation to offer the people on board a dry deck to step up to.

The only exception to the above is if assisting would put your vessel or the people aboard her at peril. You are not required to place your complement or vessel at an unreasonable degree of peril in order to provide assistance.

So, for example, if someone is going up on the rocks, and you cannot get to them without risk of grounding on the rocks and losing propulsion yourself, you are not required to assist. But if you can get a line on him and stop him from going up, or take the people on that boat off BEFORE you are at significant risk of peril to your own vessel you must at least save the people.

This gets dicey if you come upon a disabled boat 30 miles offshore. There's a real problem here, in that unless they actively decline assistance and you can prove it you cannot leave them out there, as if they subsequently get killed you're in deep kimchee. Your alternatives are pretty much to take them on board (if they'll abandon the vessel), stand by until other assistance can reach them, or take 'em under tow. Leaving them in peril is not an option!

A couple of years ago I was coming in from about 30 miles offshore when a nearby boat came up on the VHF asking if anyone had a couple of quarts of 10w30! I hailed 'em back (we were the only boat to respond) and asked them why they needed it - the response was that they had one engine completely dead and the other low on oil and threatening to die. I had no 10w30, but had some straight 40wt on board, and told them that while I did not have the proper oil, they were welcome to what I had if they wanted to use it. I headed that way and gave them some oil; they put it in one of the powerheads and putted off on their remaining motor.

Legally, if I had ignored that radio call and it was later determined that I had done so (after they met their demise out there) I would have been in serious trouble, as I could have easily picked up the guys on board without risk to my boat.

With that said, my personal view is that I will assist a boater in peril to the extent I'm able if I can do so without unreasonable risk to either his vessel or mine, regardless of whether or not the peril he is in is one to property or life. I will attempt to save persons in all cases unless it means unreasonable risk to my own vessel, but when it comes to property I will first assess the other skipper and crew(s) capabilities and state, along with the vessel.

I've provided tows to disabled boats before with everything from my Hatt to my PWC, and have ungrounded a couple of boats. I also picked up a guy who sunk his center console right in front of me a few years ago trying to pull a hung anchor tied off at the stern - but declined to attempt to tow in the upturned hull, referring that to the folks with the proper gear and insurance.

Its all about risk assessment. If the guys on the grounded boat are drunk and clearly clueless, SeaTow can come get 'em; I want no part of that. The bad part of it though is that under the law, if they're in danger of breaking up or sinking, you have to take the people off if you can do so without risking your own vessel..... even if they're drunk.

I'm aware that this could lead to trouble, but that's why we have liability insurance. I'm not a commercial skipper nor am I acting as one - if I'm rendering voluntary assistance it is my understanding that my liability policies stand ready in the event something bad happens - so long as my acts are reasonable. If some day I have to fight that fight, I will.

 

[mgglover]

I have been told that if you accept any money for the tow, you are now a professional tow company. Any good samaritan rules are null and void and liability increases for personal or property damage.

 

[Passages]

Got my Connecticut Vessel Registration Certificate in the mail today.

On the face, it states:

"Operator shall render assistance to anyone in danger on the water as long as neither operator's vessel nor any individual aboard is endangered."

The intent seems clear but leaves open the issue of liability if actions results in damage or injury.

 

[Norm Mayer]

I am coxwain certified with the Coast Guard Auxiliary and as an Auxiliarist, and also as a citizen, I have assisted and towed many vessels. I just want to say that even with all the training and experience I have, I agree wholeheartedly with Genesis. Assist to save lives, or when you are very confident you can assist with little or no liability exposure! Otherwise, call the professionals, then stand by till they arive.