TOWING: ALONGSIDE, AHEAD AND WITH A DINGHY

It is only worth trying a side-by-side tow in flat water. The main load is taken by springs with a fair lead from the bow of the towboat(s) to the stern of the towee – bow lines and stern lines being adjusted only to make sure that all boats are pointing in the same direction. In the trimaran formation, the towing boats’ rudders were fixed fore and aft, and the towee took care of the steering. Use a lot of fenders, and watch them closely in case they ride up.

Towing with an inflatable driven by a small outboard is different. Attach the dinghy so it tows from its quarter nearest the towee, and control the bow angle with a bow line. It may be useful to prevent the dinghy from looping the loop by weighing down its bow. Experimenting will reveal the ideal steering angle of the outboard. Starting from a dead stop, the course will be wildly unpredictable until you achieve steerage way; so give yourself plenty of sea room and hold your nerve.

A line-ahead tow is best used in anything resembling a sea. Conventional wisdom is to tow from a bridle on the towboat to a bridle on the towee. In fact, we discovered that as long as the towee steers, the towline is long and stretchy and the sea slight to smooth, a stern-cleat-to-samson-post setup works pretty well, with figure-of-eights without locking turns on the Samson post to make casting off the tow easy. In any kind of a seaway, a bridle will spread the loads around the boat better.