About 12 mths ago now i remember we were inside the seaway and i was flagged down by the skipper of a red and white boat and his motor had failed.
Gawby to the rescue. out with the anchor rope, hitched up this boat and towed him back to the grand hotel ramp.
"Thanks gawby" brett said.
Well a few weeks ago we saw a tinnie with the cowling off and the motor not starting, we went and asked if they were allright and they werent. We towed them back to the boatramp which was probably only 300 metres away. It was the boats maiden voyage with new owners. The funny thing was that the boat had been on the footpath down the road from us for a couple of weeks and dads mate from work was interested in it. He missed out on the boat by a couple of hours the weekend before so it was in some way a releif for dad, but we still felt sympathetic for the owners.
Prob bout a year ago we broke down and got towd in with a bloke who had a 10 ft cartopper with a 3 hp motor. We slowly got back to the boatramp and just before we got there his motor fell off! all three of us grabbed it and pulled her back up. Started again first pull, wonder how its going
I have towed and been towed. Actually, the last 2 times that I've put in at the Logan River we've been stopped and asked for assistance. The first was a cooked motor, so took only a crew member back to the ramp (5km upstream). The second, some guys had run out of fuel and had to tow them to the boat hire place.
JB and I have exchanged tows... he towed me from the mouth of the Brissy River to White Is after we encountered engine troubles and I returned the favour from Couran to Southport after JB's 'mishap'I'm sure I'm forgetting another occasion, but, to answer the question, yes we have rescued someone in trouble.
Just a couple of questions of my own; What is the best way to tow/be towed i.e. where/how do you tie off to the tower? Should the towee try to steer or should the towee lift their motor out of the water? Should you try to minimise the weight/number of people in the boat being towed? Is towing bad for the motor?
Cheers,
DC
Interesting points DC. I'd also be interested in Ausfishers opinions on this.Originally Posted by DC
Good luck,
Mike
When we got towed the fella said it was better 2 tie the boats side by side weand as close together as possible. Whether its correct i dont know but theres an opinion for ya
DC - the best way to be towed is through your winch eye with your motor tilted up.I have towed and been towed. Actually, the last 2 times that I've put in at the Logan River we've been stopped and asked for assistance. The first was a cooked motor, so took only a crew member back to the ramp (5km upstream). The second, some guys had run out of fuel and had to tow them to the boat hire place.
JB and I have exchanged tows... he towed me from the mouth of the Brissy River to White Is after we encountered engine troubles and I returned the favour from Couran to Southport after JB's 'mishap'
Just a couple of questions of my own; What is the best way to tow/be towed i.e. where/how do you tie off to the tower? Should the towee try to steer or should the towee lift their motor out of the water? Should you try to minimise the weight/number of people in the boat being towed? Is towing bad for the motor?
Cheers,
DC
jason
... i only work to support my fishing addiction.....
Havent been boating for long and had to help two people out in rough waters a few weeks back and always keep an eye out for people in trouble.
I have also found boaties to be very helpful when having trouble with getting my boat on the trailer a couple of times.
A lot more help out there on the water than on the roads.
It is your legal oblication as a Mariner to stop and assist those persons on board. The only exemption is if it puts you, your crew, or your vessel at risk.
This is called barging or rafting.
It is usualy used when having to manouver a vessel in a restricted or confined area such as in to a marina, berth, jetty, pontoon or amongst other anchored boats.
It is usualy used for short duration in sheltered areas as damage can be caused to both vessels by the rocking of the 2 vessels together. The vessels must be correctly lashed together with good fender and vessel placement. Steering will be far superior in one direction to the other but still not as good as you will expect, you will be working at slow revolutions so your steering will be not good anyway. If you have not practiced this, be very carefull as you can cause serious damage to both vessels and anything else that gets in your way. Wind and current will greatly affect your vessel as opposed to normal operation. You will be tying your boat up to an accident waiting to happen. I advise strong caution to anyone who attempts this without training or at least some practice
Through the towing eye as someone has said. The vessel being towed, SHOULD ASSIST WITH STEERAGE when possible. This is particualy important with planing hull vessels as it is not to hard to flip a boat if it rides out and across your wake. This is no different to broaching except you can have the added problem of being sling shotted across the wake.
Depending on conditions, skill of the person being towed, size of the vessel, yours and theirs, can dicatate wether you take them aboard or leave them on their own boat. If conditions are good but you dont feel that the vessel is seaworthy for instance, you may suggest the children board your vessel, get them to put on l/jackets before transferring.
Some points to consider
Boats are not important, only the people are when it comes down to it.
If you do tow, test the vessel followings ability to stop when you do, Cats, Tri's, planing, non planing all stop at different speeds. A drogue may be required.
Can I release the tow line instantly if the need arises.
Familiarity with the area, if you run aground, so do they, or straight over the top of you.
Turns, if you arent able to make up a towing bridle, can I foul my prop and can I clear it in a hurry.
When approaching shallow water, do they need to raise their rudder, keel, motor etc, your draft may be significantly less than theirs
Communications between the 2 vessels, waving 1 or 2 fingers in the air is not communication, nor is yelling you f@%$^ng idiot, slow down, figure your signals out before you need to.
Their are a lot of other variables, things that should be done and or thought about, I dont intend on going in to this subject too much more, and I am not to sure that I havent already said to much.
The reason for this is because in the future if you do tow someone and you either damage your or their boat or even worse, I dont want to go down the track of "but this is how you told us to do it". Each situation is totally different so hopefully the above LIMITED INFO will be enough to make you think about a few factors that should be considered before hooking up.
I personally believe that wherever and whenever possible, YOU SHOULD ASSIST those that need help, but only if you are truly capable....
Lastly, DC towing a boat, same as towing a caravan, if its underpowered or overpowered, you get the same results.
The above info is not a full or proper lesson on how to tow, use the info at your own peril
Cheers
Lloyd
G'day all. A few comments...
As stated several times, it is EVERY mariners obligation to render assistance to any person or persons found at risk at sea, when safe fur us to do so. This applies to private craft as well as the commercial and heavy shipping vessels. The primary requirement is to prevent loss of life, not necessarily recover the stricken vessel.
Regards anyone who doesn't stop and at least check on someone having trouble, they should be shot. I make no apologies for being strong minded about this. I work offshore and spend more than half the year at sea, so I know more than most about the perils of the sea and about how quickly things can turn pear shaped in a very short period of time.
About rendering assistance, I can only imagine that those who just close their eyes and pass by someone in trouble by might just think their day will get ruined by taking the time out to offer help. Just turn the tables for a second. While offering assistance your day is still going to be a whole lot better that the poor bugger you have just helped, even if you did miss out on a good fishing spell. When it comes to fishing, there is always another day...
This bring to mind a significant rescue of a trawler deckhand in northern waters that I remember. The guy was in the water in heavy seas and had been swimming for about 10 hours, and the wind was blowing a very gusty hoolie between 30 and 60 + knots. The rescue chopper was in attendance, but was having difficulty being buffeted by the gusting as the wind wasn't very constant. The Coast Guard and Police rescue boats were leading the search, and a couple of freighters came to assistance and created a lee side upwind of the bloke in the water so that he could be recovered by one of the rescue boats. One of the freighters missed his berthing position at the next port of call due to the time out he took to help the rescue, and had quite a lot of scheduling problems that came out of it. BUT YOU DIDN'T HEAR THEM WINGING ABOUT IT. Its our obligation to assist if we can do so without risk to our vessel and crew.
There has been a lot of discussion focusing on towing of other vessels. You don't have to tow another vessel to offer assistance. You can get into a fair bit of trouble with a tow if you don't know how to do it, or your boat is not suitable. Ok if its a short tow close to the ramp etc, but much different if it is an open water tow or through areas that are not easily navigable.
Your ability to render assistance may be as simple as deviating from your course a little, and checking on the people in trouble. If they have a requirement for a tow, and are still in trouble when you get there, it probably means they don't have a functioning means of communication, and ALL of us can make a radio call for them. Call the Coast Guard or local Volunteer Marine Rescue organisation for them, or even the Water Police. As we are all serious fishermen, we all have good GPS units, and we can report their position for them. And then as a matter of courtesy, we can stand by for a while until assistance arrives for them. The worst it will cost you is a couple of hours and you will probably end up with a new mate for life. WE CAN ALL DO THIS.
Regarding our fantastic rescue organisations...
All Rescue units will make reasonable attempts to recover our vessel if we get into trouble, even though not obligated to do so. Just remember that most rescue organisations are volunteer organisations who get most of their fuel money through fundraising and donations - so they deserve a nice fat donation from us if they recover our vessel for us.
Mick
Myself and a few mates of mine had a sour experience back in 1991 we set off
to Quail Island a few hours run west of Darwin and we planned on spending one night there anyhow when we got there we set-up camp then decided to
head around to the back of the island and fish for GT's we anchored up and
for an hour or so we had no bites at all so we decided to move but the motor
decided it wasnt going to play the game well worse things were comming a very large storm was approaching and we had to get back to our camp and at
least anchor the boat close to us so walked the boat around the island what a
nightmare that was occasionaly one of us would dissapear we all would freak
that something got them but it was because the island use to be a bombing target and yes there were craters everywhere. We spent the night and the next morning tried to get the motor going but it just would not start our radio had crapped itself and it was until around 4pm that day a charter vessel was going by we set off flares and yelled they turned towards us but kept on going by we got the name of the vessel that night we knew our familie's would
be worried and that night we had a monster of a storm my mate tripped over
and knocked himself out we had to cover him then all our stuff had gone because of the fierce wind and water washing everthing away. The boat was completely submerged by now and when the morning came my first look out into the sea saw a fluoro red boat comming our way it was the marine police
comming to get us we had help bailing the boat and was then towed back into shore the skipper of the charter vessel was later fined and lost his licence i on the other hand got a taste of what it's like to be in trouble and am thankful that we all got back safely i cant thank the marine police enough for that and i did that by going down with a carton of beer and box of prawns they were happy. All the mahem was caused by a small piece of leaf caught in the fuel line how it got there who knows.
I'd be more than proud to get the chance to offer assistance. I did give up on trying to pull a sail boat off a sanbank in the GC broadwater but that would hardly constitute a rescue. I can understand if you get fed up with skippers with large craft who have spent all day draining their batteries chilling their champagne but someone in serious trouble I could not ignore.
I have sat in a storm trying to restart my first boat (water in carbies) I got so tired on the the pull start I was worried I would not make it if I fell overboard so I donned a lifevest sheepishly. Took 5 minutes a nd a ski boat came over to see if I needed a hand (figure they never seen anyone don a lifevest in Tipplers channel). Towed me in and I fixed the issue next day.
Can't see 90% of people ignoring a situation they thought might be serious. Thanks for helping me when I needed it and given 1/2 a chance I'd do twice as much.
cheers BB
Iv'e towed boats back to ramps 3 times and have had the favour returned when i once needed a tow.
I think this thread shows that boaties are bonded together in a brotherhood rather than as individuals.
We all share a simple desire to be on the water and chase what we find to be a pleasure activity we can share with friends, relatives and even complete strangers.
You may have a boat worth 100,000 or a thousand dollars but the level of enjoyment is still the same.
Generally to all
Yeah. I think it would be nice to know that those that have been rescued would be more than happy to return the favour when we may need it and that those who are willing may stay willing at all times.
And to those that do not help at all through stubborn denial of fact that there is a Maritime legal obligation that demands a response from those that can in an emergency lend assistance. I am sure we all wish you a safe trip.
We have all heard of tankers lending aid when asked to do so and I think that it shows that size matters not when a fellow man is in distress.
Jeremy
The red light was like a sparkler, bright red/pink fading out to the edges in pink as I remember and could not have been confused with a port light as it was daylight and on stopping and looking, it could not be seen again therefore demanding to be investigated
Safe boating to you and your crew
Angla
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