May 31, 2011
This month's survey comes at the request of a yacht captain looking for industry guidelines on towing tenders. Turns out, there are commonalities on some things, but not all.
More than 100 captains and crew completed our survey this month, most on vessels between 100-140 feet.
“Tenders are a great tool to have with the yacht, particularly largish tenders,” said the first officer on a yacht 121-140 feet. “However they do pose extra work, caution, stress and training particularly if having to tow one.”
We began the survey by asking Do you tow?
The vast majority, more than three quarters of respondents, do tow a boat, whether it be a dinghy, tender, or fishing boat.The largest group, about 44 percent, tows a boat 31-35 feet in length. Most of the rest tow smaller vessels. Only 14 percent of respondents towed anything bigger
Why do you tow?
The majority of respondents (57 percent) tow because they have to, either because there is no deck space for it or perhaps no crane.
“I am not a big fan of towing tenders in general but have to be honest in my admission that we do occasionally tow, only during the day and only short distances,” said the captain of a yacht larger than 160 feet who tows a vessel less than 30 feet. “This is purely as a time-saving exercise when on charter.”
More than a quarter of respondents actually want to tow, noting that it’s easy enough and convenient.
“It is a fairly easy task once everyone knows their duties,” said a captain who runs a yacht less than 100 feet with three crew.
“Coming from commercial escort tugs, towing was second nature,” said a mate in yachting less than five years. “I did find there are more corners cut in the yachting industry for the sake of time or lack of training.”
A tad more than 5 percent prefer towing to shipping the vessel or driving it to its destination.
A large portion of comments for this survey centered on the stress and manpower issues of towing. Many of the respondents said they dislike it in all cases.
“I hate towing this tender,” said a captain in yachting more than 20 years who runs a vessel 141-160 feet. “It takes crew away from the big boat when you need them most. I have to make arrangements to ship it back and forth to/from the Med, and that's a major hassle. Then in the Med we have to find a berth for it and sometimes pay a separate berth reservation charge for it. Had I known this yacht towed a tender, I wouldn't have taken the job. I'll never do it again.”
What distances do you tow?
The most common response was to tow coastal distances (up to several hundred miles), but the next largest group of captains towed their tenders bluewater distances (up to several thousand miles).
“We only tow to the Bahamas,” said a captain in yachting more than 20 years. “We would ship up north or south to the Caribbean to avoid the hassle of bad weather and the possibility of losing the boat. It’s just safer that way.”
“We have just completed four-and-a-half months cruising in the Bahamas and would tow the tender between anchorages,” said a captain in yachting more than 30 years. He runs a yacht of 141-160 feet. “If we were crossing a large body of water such as Exuma Sound and the seas were rough, we'd put the tender back aboard in its cradle.”
What hardware do you use?
The answers here were as varied as they could be, from single eyes and lines to redundant duplicate systems of bridles and eyes.
“Use as little metal in the towing harness as possible, have all loops rigged together instead of using shackles, etc.,” said a captain in yachting more than 10 years. “Measure bridle to yacht and have loops put in ends so they can go over bits on yacht. A float where the bridle attaches to the main line is handy to keep it floating when the boat slows down.”
Most captains use Spectra tow line, or a combination of Spectra and nylon in their harness. Several used Dyneema or Amsteel instead of the plasma line, but most suggest the flexible nylon to absorb shock.
Yet others have other ideas.
“We started out using Spectra and stainless fittings, both of which broke on a few occasions,” said the captain of a yacht of 140-160 feet that no longer tows. “We switched to single braid and galvanized test shackles and solved the problem.”
Responses were fairly evenly split on one eye or two on the tender, but most use two bits on the yacht. For more details of hardware, click here.
Do you tow with the engines up or down?
We offered only an “up” or “down” answer, but apparently there is an in-between response. Most, more than three quarters, responded that they tow with the engines up, but that might not reflect what they actually do.
“Engines up but skegs dragging slightly in flat water,” said the captain of a yacht larger than 160 feet that tows a tender of 31-35 feet.
“Engines are down just enough to put skegs in water to help with tracking,” said the captain of a yacht 141-160 feet that tows a tender of 21-25.
“In following seas, having the engine down and locked in the center position helps with fishtailing,” said a captain in yachting more than 30 years who pulls a tender of 26-30 feet behind a yacht of 101-120 feet.
Do you tie off the steering wheel?
Most, about 70 percent, don’t.
Who usually runs the tender in and out of port?
For 80 percent of respondents, the lead deck crew member (40 percent) or another member of the deck team (39.8 percent) handles this maneuver.
When a deck team member wasn’t in the tender, it was a member of the interior staff (9 percent) or the captain (6 percent).
“We don't run often enough or long enough to get my interior crew trained sufficiently to run the thing,” said the captain of a yacht less than 100 feet with a crew of three. “We run with a delivery mate who usually handles the drop off and pick up.”
“This is a smaller yacht, 112 feet, and we only tow during the day and only if it is more convenient for short distances,” said a captain of a yacht 101-120 feet who handles tender duty himself. “We are also only four crew and that limits our towing only during daylight hours and only if are going to an anchorage, not to a harbor because we cannot spare a crew member driving a tender into a harbor.”
Who is responsible for tender ops when a crew member is running the tender?
It was a toss up between the captain (42 percent) and the lead deck crew member (41 percent).
“We tow a largish tender behind a not so user-friendly tender towing yacht,” said the mate on a yacht of 121-140 feet who is in charge of tender ops. “We have to consider many factors when under tow as well as retrieving the tow. When we come into port or anchor, we have at least three crew manning the aft deck to drop the tow, climb in, protect the aft end of the yacht, pull in the tow line, un-do the shackles, etc. Everyone involved needs a clear, well-planned set of guidelines as to what to expect, when and how. Training is essential. Towing is not for anyone who has not had experience and or training.”
Do you ever hip tow in and out of port?
Most, 62.4 percent, have.
“We put the skiff on the hip when we come and go from port 99 percent of the time,” said the captain of a yacht of 121-140 feet that tows a tender of 26-30 feet. “The owner will run the skiff if we have to take it off the hip.”
“I try to leave port with the tender on the hip and drop out in the harbor,” said the captain of a yacht less than 100 feet with a crew of three. “The owner does the hook up if it is calm. Frankly, this is not the best and safest of operations with a limited crew and/or guests.”
Have you ever lost a tender?
Most captains in our survey, a shade more than 60 percent, have not lost a tender, but most of them (51.5 percent) agree it could happen any time.
Just fewer than 9 percent were confident it would never happen to them.
Of those who have lost a tender (39.6 percent of respondents), nearly all said it was recovered. Just 4 percent said the towed vessel was lost.
Among those who lost a tender, we were curious to know How did it happen?
In just more than a third of cases, the tow eye or shackle failed. In just fewer than a third, the tow line parted or broke. About 20 percent of respondents blamed heavy seas. About 8 percent acknowledged that the tender had been improperly secured.
“The crew being familiar with the procedure is the most important part,” said the captain on a yacht of 121-140 feet with a crew of eight. “The more you hook it up and unhook it, the easier it becomes. I would suggest practicing at anchor to get new crew members familiar.”
Do you have dedicated tow lights on yacht?
Captains were pretty evenly split on this one, with 52 percent saying they did have dedicated lights, 48 percent without.
“I installed a radar reflector on the tender,” said a captain in yachting more than 25 years. “It makes it easy to watch on the radar screen and if it is on a long tow at night it shows up on other ship’s radar as a tug and tow signature.”
Do you tow at night?
Most, 76.2 percent of respondents, do.
On night passages, do you run a tender watch, or is that an additional duty for crew already on watch?
Most respondents, 93.5 percent, said keeping an eye on the tender is an additional duty for crew already on watch. About 6.5 percent add a crew member to the watch schedule to monitor the towed tender.
What does tender watch entail?
In most cases, crew are asked to monitor a camera trained on the towed vessel. About a third are required to take a visual of the towed vessel at least once an hour, but some as frequently as once every 15 minutes. Twelve percent require log entries about the tow.
Do you have a security system for the tender?
Most, nearly 60 percent, do not. A quarter of respondents have a tracking system, and about 15 percent have had an AIS installed on the tender. Just 2 percent have an alarm.
How did you learn about towing tenders?
Most captains (65 percent) learned by simply doing it. About 30 percent learned from a previous captain. Just 5 percent learned by studying it.
We thought it might be interesting to learn how the captains who lost tenders learned about towing. The highest percentage of loss come from those captains who learned about towing from trial and error. Of the 62 captains who learned this way, almost half have lost a tender.
Among those who learned about towing from a previous captain, about a third have lost a tender. Of those who learned from course work or study, just a fifth lost a tender.
To read more comments from yacht captains and crew about towing tenders, click here.
We conduct our monthly surveys online. All captains and crew members are welcome to participate. If you haven’t been invited to take our surveys and would like to be, register for our e-mails online at www.the-triton.com.
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