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Towing and salvage
Sooner or later the engine stops, or another boat needs help. Towing looks simple and is not: it carries the highest loads on board, and it has a legal side worth knowing before you take the line.
The line
Long and stretchy, so nylon, not the shortest end on deck. Length takes the snatch out of the tow, and in a seaway both boats should sit on the same part of the wave at the same time.
The strong point
Not the nearest cleat. The load belongs on a point that is tied into the structure, if necessary a bight around the mast foot or the samson post. A cleat that carries a mooring load is nowhere near carrying a tow load.
During the tow
Take up gently until the line comes taut, then pull steadily. Nobody stands in line with the rope: if it parts, it snaps back. Both boats need a way to release the tow instantly, ideally a knife within reach.
Tow or salvage
A neighbourly pull in calm water is a tow. But where real danger exists it becomes salvage in law, and the helper may claim a salvage award measured against the value of the boat saved. So settle beforehand what you are talking about, best of all over the radio where others hear it.
What this has to do with insurance
With us salvage costs are covered up to 2.5 million euros, wreck removal included. That figure is why the word in the paragraph above matters: a salvage award can be many times the repair bill. Accept help, but report the incident, and sign nothing on board without speaking to us first.
