‘Towing risks damage, so plan the process carefully'

Ken Endean advises ‘Consider, Communicate and Connect’ when towing, particularly when under sail, and reflects on lessons learned from six incidents

- Ken Endean

The 14ft dinghy was in a nasty trap. With the other sailing school boats, its crew had sailed across Plymouth Sound, around Devil’s Point and up-river past the naval dockyard, but on the return passage they misjudged the ebb tide and were drawn against the bows of two moored lighters. Luckily, they managed to grab the heavy Admiralty mooring buoy to prevent themselves being sucked between the hulls, where the mooring chains and churning current could have capsized the dinghy and pulled them under.

I was on the sailing school launch with Jack, the senior instructor, for a kind of floating interview as I had applied for a summer job. When he asked: ‘Can you throw a rope?’ this looked like being the key assessment test.

Jack throttled back to just stem the tide, beginning a cautious ferry glide to a point upstream of the dinghy. We warned the trainees that one of them must keep hold of the buoy, leaving the other to deal with our rope, even if it was fumbled or missed.

I took my time in coiling the warp; my throw apparently earned me employment for the next two summers, and one trainee secured the line before returning aft to his tiller. Then Jack carefully towed them clear of the steel jaws and into open water.

Sailing education traditionally includes set-piece exercises, such as reefing, anchoring, picking up a buoy, entering a pontoon berth and man-overboard drill, but towing a boat out of trouble is probably neglected by many training courses.