Caleb, We had a Bristol 27 (1972) for several years. For a while we had a hard dink, which lived overturned over the foward hatch when underway. Rarely towed. Then we got the inflatable - 7' avon. Again, underway we never towed her. We deflated her and put her in her place, behind the quarter berth. The dinghy motor went on the stern rail sometimes, but on any passage, it went into a cockpit locker. We took our Bristol from Lake Ontario out the St. Lawrance, to Cape Breton, back to Cape Cod, Woods Hole, NYC. Spent a winter season at City Island, then back out into the Atlantic, NS, Newfoundland, Ireland, UK, France, Azores, and back to City Island. (My son did the 2 Atlantic crossings solo). The inflatable is still with us, still never towed. After that, the Bristol went back to Newfoundland where a fierce winter storm destroyed her. We still have the dink, it now proudly serves the new boat, a mini-Transat, which at 21' still has a place to stow her. Thinking of getting a larger inflatable. I will say that sometimes, when day hopping (inland waters) we put the dink over the forward hatch, as we had done with the hard dink. I grew up around New England and LIS, and yes people tow all the time, but it just isn't a good practice. And if you live aboard, and you loose your dinghy, how are you going to get in and out from anchor, etc, or into those places a Bristol 27 can't get into at low water, etc. As others have said, towing is bad seamanship. So is not having celestial nav back up on long passages, BTW.
Looking forward spring, Corinne Beyond, lying Newport On Mar 9, 2008, at 7:18 PM, caleb crosby wrote: > > >> that I have done it safely for many years and thousands of miles. > > I'm exhausted from my winter trip. It's amazing how much sailing > takes out of you physically. My father ruined a beautiful old wooden > dory towing > it behind. In 1969 or 70 we sailed his Queequeg from Boothbay to Cape > Cod. > Made it in 23 hrs to the canal. He had a masters ticket and was > experienced but > nothing would save that dory! weather said 3 foot seas but we got out > there and they > were mountains. he guessed 15 foot. I was 7 or 8 years old and they > looked bigger than that. > we surfed down them in a 45 foot ketch. I helmed most of the way, and > it was fun steering. > (he tied me to the mizzen- a practice I should self inflict today). > the seas were following us > and at night the dory started to surf down them and smash into our > double ended stern, thud. > > He tried taking it in along side, but she would swamp. He let her way > out, I think 150 feet > but she'd still catch up. we got her there and back but she ended her > time overturned > beside the fish house on the Sheepscot river, broke. > > I think it was then that he bought a small avon raft. but he hated it > and it became a toy. > > years later I luckily got the identical avon and use it as my dink. on > my first 50 mile solo trip > last spring I hauled in in over the fore deck. but it made a mess of > things. I towed it from > then on last summer. I never found fault with towing it- but stayed > put in nasty weather. going to > cape cod last summer my son and I were 30 miles offshore and I pulled > it in and deflated it halfway > but didn't like the feeling of having no immediate back up. though > what a raft would avail offshore > I'm not sure. it feels good is all. I run a solar panel off the stern > rail so i can't lift her out much so have to > tow her behind at 15 or 20 feet. next time I'm offshore I might drop > the panel down and hoist her as high as > possible up the stern rail. That seems the easiest place to ride. > > What are you going to do? almost every single boat I pass in Maine in > the summer tows a dinghy behind. > it's SOP around here. I just tie her to a stern cleat (without a > chock). I need to replace the painter with > nylon line this year. currently it's dacron. a canvas sea cover would > probably be a good project to keep her towing > light. I have to keep her behind as she is constanly used and anything > else would be a complete PIA. > > Caleb Crosby > B27 Brigadoon > Belfast Maine > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 > _______________________________________________ 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
