COMMENT
A tow in the water
F
rom time to time and when the opportunity offers itself, I act as an auditor within the industry frequently visiting yachts when command changes or chief officers are promoted to their first command. It keeps the insurance companies happy and helps build a new Captain’s confidence. Sometimes it provides the germ of an idea for this column and, if I think it important enough, I burst into print. Such is the occasion now, where I report on a situation that saw me follow up on a yacht visit I had first made six months earlier. Back then, the eager new Captain of this 37 metre Dutch build was happy when he showed me his near to overflowing charter calendar. But now his face was glum and I asked what the problem was.
His yacht was on the books of “you know who” and was marketed by them, as a fully facilitated charter yacht towing her own 10 metre sports fishing boat which also acted as the main tender. The problems began when the yacht’s insurance was renewed and the underwriters used that opportunity to not only hike the premium as they always seem to do, BUT had also whacked in a couple of fairly restrictive clauses in regard to the towing of the chase boat. Specifically, clauses that forbade the mothership from towing her chase boat in wind speeds above Force 4 and during the hours of darkness. These restrictions resulted in the loss of several charters.
Of course, he challenged the broker and threatened to take his business elsewhere, but it seems, these insurers were not the only ones digging their heels in when it came to towing tenders.
The insurers claimed that recent losses involving craft towed had climbed to levels that were no longer sustainable and had acted, as most bean counters do when panic sets in, by hitting the “raise the fee” button.
Rather than help or advise the yacht on how to mitigate the risks involved, they just said “computer says no!”
Michael Howorth looks at the need for a specific SOP if you are planning to tow a large tender, and the benefits it might have on your insurance coverage
That was when I started looking at the way the yacht towed the chase boat. I discovered that contrary to ColRegs, daytime shapes and towing lights were not routinely displayed. The Captain then told me that he left the AIS device in transmit mode onboard the chase boat when under tow despite this clearly being in breach of regulations. Had he ever thought of putting into practice a towing plan - No. So together, we created one, a specific document (SOP) for the act of towing.
As a general rule of thumb, tenders should not be longer than the width of the yacht. Larger chase boats create drag and reduce the speed, efficiency, and ride quality. So, we checked the towing points on both vessels and because the potential for towing lines to become wrapped in the yacht’s propellor is always there, we carried out a risk assessment. We fixed a float onto the towing line itself to keep it at the surface of the water and thereby significantly reduced the chances of fouling. We also set up day shapes and night time towing lights for both the yacht and chase boat.
Finally, we added one of the newly available advanced tow protection devices to the chase boat and installed the receiver on board the mothership. This effectively gave the Captain a pair of eyes onboard the chase boat and the ability monitor the onboard bilge water levels and battery levels from his own bridge. Rather cleverly it even has the ability to activate the AIS on the chase boat should the worse happen and the towing line parts at night.
With all this in place we contacted the insurance company again and put our case forward. And what do you know? The restrictions were removed. Job done!
ONBOARD | AUTUMN 2021 | 9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232
