Regarding towing the dinghy: I was towing a 310 RIB behind my 46-ft sailboat on the passage between St Vincent and St Lucia heading north in December. Conditions were boisterous, but not outrageous, winds 25-30 knots, and seas 10-12ft. Probably the biggest seas we've tried towing the dinghy through, and we very much should not have been. We have davits, but I was lazy.
The tow line was connected to the U-bolt strong point under the bow, where Avon recommends it. It was about 15' back. We were motorsailing into the wind when I noticed our speed drop to 3knots. Turns out the dinghy had flipped. Of course just then we hit a squall with winds 30-35knots. Try to right a dinghy in those conditions! I hove-to and cut the engine, but even the drift was enough to make it impossible to pull the dinghy up to the boat as it was upside down with the engine still on the transom. Made the decision to cut it loose, and I still think it was the right decision, despite the rather huge hole it made in our bank account to replace. Don't be towing dinghies if you don't have to! Ken S/V Aurora, lying Long Bay, St Thomas, USVI Hylas 46-41 _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
