towing a dinghy with sails

[martin schulz]

Grant (Stiletto) raised an interesting question in my "the grounding of the Nordlys" thread.

Seeing this picture of the Nordlys dinghy:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid147/p4f3d21cba3f2c4b692d65104eaea5bf2/f63b0463.jpg

he asked:

Originally posted by Stiletto:
Why would the sail be up on the towed boat?I am not sure about it and thought that it was because the skipper was a bit lazy. I talked with him yesterday and he told me that having the staysail up was quite practical, because the dinghy was kind of following the course instead of moving to luff all the time.

Opinions?

[ 12-09-2004, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: martin schulz ]

[Ian McColgin]

In those conditions for that course, it would work just fine. Were there any tendency for the dink to over-run the vessel, the dink would veer starboard and away.

Harder on the wind might call for a tightly set spanker.

My own most common approach is to leave the rudder shipped and lashed just a tad off-center in whatever direction is already the side she's towed on.

The whiley captain has a deep bag of tricks. The whileyer captain has a reason for everything, even if it's a posteriori.

[Chris Coose]

I can see a faint outline of Murphy in that skiff. He's smiling and ready to board the towing vessel.

[Mrleft8]

IF....(big if) the towed vessel's rig is set properly, and the course is maintained for a good long leg, the fact that it's actually sailing reduces the drag on the towing vessel.

[WindHawk]

I have to admit that I've been thinking about how to tow my little wooden yawl without having her run up the transom (was Emanual Kant a sailor?), never once did it occur to me to keep the sail up.

Sailor's should always be thinking a prori... ;)

[martin schulz]

Originally posted by Chris Coose:
I can see a faint outline of Murphy in that skiff. He's smiling and ready to board the towing vessel.Hmm I guess you are right.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid149/p499de14bbdbfd123a6b86a4131b7b93d/f5f77195.jpg

...and he is getting closer, now that he's got all the water out of the boat...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid149/p27263bd8c8dd1b3c360743ce62e5ba6b/f5f771dc.jpg

[Stiletto]

I liked the mother duck and duckling analogy too. smile.gif

Grant S