KLC Lewis wrote:
In the past, I tended to agree with the old view that towing a dink behind
the mothership was "lubberly," and ill-advised. I still tend to think that
way when a hard dink is involved, but recently purchased a 9 foot Genesis
(Walker Bay) inflatable. With this monster sitting, inflated and assembled,
in our dining room last evening, it suddenly occurred to me how much like a
very large PFD this dinghy is, which has me reconsidering my standard MOB
routine.

At this time my standing MOB Rule is that upon crew going aglub, the first
thing to do is to toss them a horseshoe with floating line attached, keeping
an eye on them (or trying to) while coming about for rescue attempts. Other
than retrieving "Oscar" in the Navy (for non-squids, "Oscar" is a stuffed
manakin made of sailor clothing wearing a PFD, used for Man Overboard
drills) and PFD's or rings tossed overboard, I've not had the misfortune (so
far) of having to actually rescue an actual person.

But this inflatable dink has me rethinking things. By towing the dink when
weather allows, if crew should go overboard the dinghy could be cut loose
immediately. This would provide conscious MOB with a boat to swim towards,
and give rescue crew another marker (though one with more windage) to help
with locating the missing crew. The floating line in the water would also
give the MOB something to grab, and its streaming direction would offer
clues as to the current and rate of drift, assuming it's not being trailed
behind a wind-driven dink.

And, of course, trailing a dinghy in the water in fair weather could become
a handful if the wind picks up.

Any thoughts?

A lot of people seem to think that towing a dinghy
is a bad idea, and I've never tried it even in
benign conditions. The times I've been offshore
we've kept the inflatable lashed down upside down
on the front deck, and the outboard on the stern rail.

Just the same, I think your idea may have some
merit with the appropriate rig. You would need a
good cover or self-bailing system to keep the
inflatable from filling with water and becoming a
towed sea anchor. You would also need some
floating line, and plan on trailing the dink 100'
or so behind the boat to give the MOB a chance to
catch it on the way by. Now, some line loops on
the side and back of the dink would give a
conscious MOB a pretty good chance of grabbing the
dink on the way by, and possibly hauling
themselves aboard.

You might experiment with this during the summer
by jumping overboard while the boat is going 7kts
and seeing how hard it is to grab the dink as it
goes by.

If you plan on casting loose the dink, I'd suggest
a one-way parachute drogue on the line to stop the
dink from blowing away when you release it.

Let us know what you find out.

Don W.