Another Towing Question

[Summer Wind]

On my cruise home yesterday, I was flagged down by a fellow boater asking for assistance. He told me that a sailboat was being pushed on the rocks by the wind and tide and he was unable to pull him off using his 34' Scarab. I was operating my father's 35' cabin cruiser with a single diesel engine. We were told that Sea Tow had been called, but there was no estimate on arrival time. The sailboat was being held off a jetty by a few guys standing on the rocks. I offered to help and attached a towing line. Unfortunately the water was too shallow for me to tow from the ideal direction, so I had to pull at an angle. Initially, I was able to pull his bow away from the rocks, but as the wind and tide caught my boat I was beginning to pull him in more of a straight direction that would have dragged him across the rocks. I decided to ease off the power and take another crack at it. At this point, Seatow arrived and was able to get into the shallow area to pull him directly off. My question in this is should I have been involved in this in the first place. I felt that I should because the wind and tide were both pushing the sailboat on the rocks, and without knowing when Seatow would arrive, I was not sure if the people on land could hold it off. Secondly, if somehow he had put a hole in his boat on the rocks, but was asking for assistance from me in being pulled off, then do I have any liability if his boat sinks when pulled off? In the end, he came off without issue, though he was anything but polite to work with. I have never been sworn at while trying to help someone before. I was very tempted to continue on my way home but I knew that the people holding him off the rocks were innocent folks who were just trying to help as well. Anyway, any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KnottyBuoyz]

IMHO towing is something best left to the pro's unless there's no choice and it's a matter of life and death. Damage to a boat well that's another thing that would involve a difficult decision before getting involved. I've been involved in a number of towing incidents and refuse to do it anymore unless it's as mentioned above, life at risk. I will help to "secure" the vessel but will not try to tow it. The liability is too great if someone gets hurt or the boat suffers severe damage. You might want to check with your insurance underwriter on that point. Very few of us carry towing hawsers that are of sufficient length to do tows safely. A single engine boat, especially a large one is hard enough to control without a sailboat securely fastened to it's towing bit.

In your situation I might have, dingied over, if a dingy was available, and brought his anchor out to deep water so he could warp himself away from the rocks until Sea Tow showed up or barring that gotten a long line to him so you could take the strain off the people holding the boat off the rocks until Sea Tow showed up.

 

[In the know]

I think you did the right thing. As for the liability - no idea not a lawyer.

I think the people on land were insane - I would rather repair fiberglass than limbs.

What I find odd is that a 34' Scarab could not pull the boat off, but yet people on shore could keep it off the rocks?

 

[PascalG]

i think that was a situation were amateur towing is too risky. it's not about power, its about maneuvrability too and with a single engine boat, shallow waters, wind and current... it's asking for it.

if the boat is hard aground, and you don't know what rocks that keel might stuck between, you can't pull unless you have the right gear... the last thing you want is a cleat or line to snap. that will kill someone. actaully the last thing i want is too endanger my boat, so messing around in shallow waters and rocks isnt' something i'd be willing to do.

launching the dink and helping them to set an anchor, or even setting your my secondary anchor and getting them the line, is an option but by the time it's done, seatow woudl have been there.

 

[TomKat]

I would always help out until I was "sworn at" then I would cut loose and leave the "idiot" to his own devices. Those helping to hold off the rocks need to know when to walk away as well. NO one should have to put up with abuse when trying to help someone out... Tom

 

[Veebyes]

I guess it comes down to the amount of experience that you have & you can't get experience without doing a few tows.

Liability aside I will not stand by & watch somebody else's boat get wrecked if I can do something about it without jeopardizing the safety of my boat or the people onboard.

Sooner or later everyone gets a turn at needing help. I have helped others more times than I can remember over the 25 plus years of boating &, yes, I have been assisted a time or 2.

Far too often these days our harbourmaster/CG calls for help for a vessel in need of assistance in a busy area & recieves no offers at all. One can only hope that those who heard the call & were able to help, but chose not to, will get their turn someday when NOBODY comes to help them.

 

[onthecreek]

i've never come across someone who needed help and needed to be an a$$ too. no doubt they're out there.

personally, i'd have left him there to swear at the rocks. at best, i'd pull back and wait for seatow. he'd probably still have some choice words for you. also sounds like you met the guy that never does anything wrong and blames everyone else for his problems. if you had helped and something didn't go smoothly, think you'd hear from him again?

i've gotten/given some tows, i just can't imagine yelling at someone trying to help.

 

[lanbuilder]

My worry would not be my cleats, but the cleats or attachment point on the boat being towed. The last owner of my boat pulled away from a dock with a spring line still attached and took out the pile it was tied to. No damage to the boat.

Too many modern boats have no strong point or cleats that could withstand a heavy pull such as might be required to get them off a soft grounding. I look at some boats and wonder what they use to attach an anchor line that might hold the boat in a strong breeze. A small cleat attached with two 1/4 inch bolts, and possible no backing, does not seem up to it for me.

 

[thataway4]

Some really excellent points. We will help, if there is no commercial assistance available, or if there is danger to life or serious damage to the boat. The swearing at you makes things difficult at the best. We once had a situation where 4 of us had gone to attempt to secure a large boat during a Hurricane (it was damaging other boats and docks--if nothing else we were going to run it aground) Then the owner arrived and started swearing us for boarding his boat. We pulled back, until he was practically crying, pleading for help. We eventually got him safely secured. He appologized to each of us later.

Back to the boat at hand--deploy an anchor from your dinghy or anchor your boat securely, and let the sailboat use his winches to pull out. Primary cockpit winches have an amazing amount of power--especially when operated by an owner whose boat is banging on the rocks! You can fairlead the anchor line to the bow/chocks, and use both cockpit winches to pull off. We once worked a chartered CSY 44 which was hard aground off a reef with its own winches--and anchor lines. That is much more sensable than trying to get in with a single screw power inboard power boat. Generally if I have to try and pull a boat off, I will bridle that boat. My own boats have very sturdy towing bits--but the average boat does not--and you might consider bridling the towing boat. Also, the towing point is best in front of the prop, which will allow much better maneuverability--again boats are not generally set up for that. Lacking that, I have a SS cable with a snatch block between the towing bits, which allow the towing boat to pivot. If you cannot maneuver the towing boat, in a single engine, the prop torque will walk the boat one way, and often it is not the right way!

You are acting as a good samitarian--but there is still the chance of being sued. You were in a very difficult situation--which could have gotten much worse if Sea Tow had not arrived. Chris Casswell wrote an article for Boat.com which discusses the Good Samiratian law--basically If you decide to tow another vessel, you become a "Good Samaritan" in the eyes of the law and are thus protected from liability as long as you "act as any prudent person would". He goes on to suggest that if you have any qualms about your ability, not to proceed. He also mentions that your insurance company may deem that you did not exercise "good seamanship" if you endanger your boat. Not only is there a risk of being sued, but of having an insurance claim denied if your boat is damaged in the process.

I have stood by vessels until commercial towing assistance arrived--and that seems like a prudent thing to do. We had one situation where we had gone about 36 miles at 8 knots to aid another vessel (In Canada, no commercial towing available, no fishing boats out that day, and the Coast Guard was many miles away.) We had to deploy our RIB, and use it to work the boat out of the shoal water, so we could safely tow the boat in distress. "Reward": half of a 55 lb halibut...but the family with four children ended up in a safe place for the night with warmth and food from the natives. In another case, we anchored our boat securely, then ran several 300 foot lines to the boat on the beach, and worked him off with our winches (the owners had gone for a hike--not setting their anchor properly).