3 Rules for Hip Towing

Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

When I had my own company, and interviewed a prospective captain, applicants would relate their past experience towing a variety of boats; often boasting about all the milesthey had towed. But I was in Marina Del Rey, where all six thousand boats are inindividual slips; practically every slip with a floating finger on either side, and aconcrete pile at the end of each finger. So, I would explain to my applicant that anybodycan tow a 50’ yacht for fifty miles on a hawser – it’s the last twelve inches that separatesthe pros from the hacks. We averaged about 1 dock-dock tow per day, all year long; add another 500 offshore cases, most of which terminated at a dock. If you consider that eachdock-dock tow involves a maneuver both out of and then into a slip or work dock, you seethat my company was maneuvering over 1000 boats per year into tight quarters. Lets see, I had the company for over nine years…

Towing on the hip is something that we all have to do, but I have noticed that somecaptains are more reluctant than others to do it. I was surprised this spring to see one of our industry’s more experienced operators attempt to “slingshot” a 54’ full keel sailboatinto a slip. Things got a little tense when it became apparent that the sailboat was headingtowards the wrong slip. Suddenly, the towboat captain was struggling to manage towline,shift, throttle and helm: basically a four handed job with two hands.It is my belief that, unless there is an overwhelming reason not to finish a tow on the hip,every tow that terminates at a dock, slip or mooring should be completed with thecasualty securely hipped up. Attempting to tow a disabled boat on a very short hawserand then let go at precisely the rightmoment requires timing that is tooeasily foiled by tide, wind and poorcommunications. The “slingshot”maneuver where you rely on theskipper of the casualty to steer hisboat the final few yards as it barelymakes headway is a dubious plan atbest, and I shake my head when I see atowboat trying to check the forwardmomentum of a large yacht by pullingbackwards on a towline attached to theyacht’s bow.The reluctance to hip up probablyoriginates from an operator’s pastproblems with maneuvering, visibilityand the time it takes to untie. While Iunderstand these frustrations, most areeasily addressed with a little practiceand planning. One requirement for

successful hip towing will be your mindset; until you believe that being hipped up is thebest way to safely maneuver a boat in tight quarters and into a dock, I don’t think youwill ever really make the commitment to learn to do it well.As to the time it might take, it is really only a few minutes at most, and if the slingshotmaneuver doesn’t work exactly on the first try, the time to re-group for a second pass willtake more time than just hipping up in the first place would have. From a risk management standpoint, the two minutes it takes to hip up is time well invested.I developed a few rules for myself that I passed along to my captains-in-training, andperhaps you might find these useful guidelines for your captains. As with all rules, youwill discover exceptions.Rule #1: Always plan to be on the “inside” of the final turn. Before I hip up, I make sure Iunderstand exactly where we will be going. In particular, I want to know what (if any) thefinal turn will be. The final turn is the very last turn that the casualty makes as she entersher slip. If you’re heading to a T head or side tie type of dock, there is no “final turn”,and obviously you will want to be tied to the side away from the dock. Not only will youhave much better visibility on the inside of the turn, (see diagram #1) but using reverse toslow down will help to execute the turn at the same time. Single inboard towboatsgenerally don’t have the luxury of hipping on either side, so my solution was to back upthe last fairway so I ended up on the inside of the final maneuver.Rule #2: When towing boats equal to or larger than the towboat, always hip up with a“toe in” attitude. Toe in means that the centerline of your towboat points towards the bowof the casualty, (see diagram #2) rather than parallel with the casualty’s keel. Without toein, you are attempting to steer as if youhad a twin screw with one engine out,because your power plant’s thrust is stillin line with the casualty’s keel. Directingyour thrust across the keel with toe allowsyou to maneuver the entire raft-up morepredictably.Rule #3: You can’t be too far aft. Thefurther aft you are, the more leverage yourrudder and prop(s) will have.Rule #4: Avoid terminating linesanywhere except on your towboat, i.e.don’t knot off on the causality’s cleats. Imight take a few turns on a customer’scleats with a line that leads back to mydeck, but the knots are all on my cleats.Here is the logic behind this rule: when itcomes time to untie, you want to do it

of 00

Category:	Uncategorized.
Rating:
Upload Date:	02/10/2009
Copyright:	Attribution Non-commercial
Tags:	This document has no tags.

Documents

People