[Public-list] dinghy tow or not?- I vote tow!

[Elaine and Brian Timmins]

Jack,
  With a RIB with no convienient space to safely stow it on deck, I think 
you know your answer.
  I've towed both inflatables and a hard dingy offshore for the distance 
your talking about without blinking. The inflatable has been towed behind an 
A30, a 34' displacement cutter, and my current 39' displacement cutter from 
NYC all along the southern coast of New England. To be honest, I rolled it 
up and put it on deck for our trip to Bermuda and back. The hard dingy was 
towed behind a Tartan 27 all around Long Island and then to Florida / 
Bahamas and back to NY. You just need to know how. The dingy must have it's 
drain plug out, be towed far enough back to be on the second wave behind the 
boat AND in sync with the boat on the wave form. (ie: boat is going up the 
wave, so is the dink. The boat is cresting a wave, so is the dink. etc.) I 
use a polypropelene (sp) line to tow with. It needs to be watched vigilantly 
since polypro is not very strong or chafe resistant. The advantage is that 
it floats and can not get down to the prop. Most people will boo hoo the use 
of polypro, but I've had tow lines last for years.
  The worst story I can relate is getting caught offshore going south, 
between the Chesapeake and Hatteras, getting caught in a strong storm with 
15 - 20 ft. waves, (stupidly, trying to go around Hatteras in late October). 
The tiller head on my T27 broke and I had to lay a hull waiting for the 
storm to pass. The hard dingy lay downwind hanging and jerking on it's 
polypro tow line for about 18 hours before I was able to jury rig a tiller 
and get underway. (went in Oregon Inlet !!) That same tow line remained on 
that dink for the rest of the one year trip. Everything worked just like the 
books all said it would and besides being a fun story to tell, it turned 
into a non event for me, the T27 (after a new tillerhead was made), and the 
dink.
  24 hours from the Cape May inlet to New York should be no problem. Just 
watch the weather when you go.
Regards,
Brian  ex#497


> Jack Vanderloo wrote:
>
>>> The scene: mid-May, upper Chesapeake - say Annapolis.
>>> The goal: make NYC in a timely manner.
>>> The dinghy: 9'6" RIB, ~145# w/o outboard.
>>> The dilemma: never been there, never done it.
>>> The question: see subject.


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