{"id":2115,"date":"2015-05-06T11:41:13","date_gmt":"2015-05-06T15:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2016-11-19T14:16:02","modified_gmt":"2016-11-19T19:16:02","slug":"boater-in-need-of-a-tow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/2015\/05\/06\/boater-in-need-of-a-tow\/","title":{"rendered":"Boater In Need of a Tow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If a boater is in need of a tow \u2013 that should be easy.   Toss them a line, let them fix it to their vessel, attach it to your boat and head in, right?  Some \u201cgood samaritans\u201d have been injured or have found themselves in court because the vessel in tow was damaged or the passengers were injured.  <\/p>\n<p>Towing can be dangerous.  If a fitting breaks loose, it may become a projectile and could cause serious injury.  Take notice of Coast Guard and commercial towboats \u2013 they have screens at the sterns of their vessels to protect the crew.<\/p>\n<p>The Coast Guard allows private companies to perform assistance towing and will usually help to contact them.  They are companies who qualify with an operator who has a captain\u2019s license with a special towing endorsement.   If the disabled vessel is not in immediate danger, they usually request you to stand by until help arrives.  <\/p>\n<p>If you find yourself in a position where conditions are deteriorating and you feel you must tow a vessel in distress, here are some tips:  <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure all persons are wearing PFDs.<\/li>\n<li>When preparing for the tow, do not fasten the line to one side of your stern.  Take a smaller, sturdy line and create a bridle with the tow line attached.  Make sure the towline is positioned so it can slide on the bridle line  Failing to do this will put all the strain on one side and cause the tow to be very difficult.<\/li>\n<li>Have the vessel you are assisting fasten your towline to their bow.  If you cannot, have them place a bridle on their bow cleats and tow using the bridle. <\/li>\n<li>Have all persons on board the vessel seated low with their weight evenly distributed.  <\/li>\n<li>Have the operator remove the key from the ignition and set the motor to straight ahead.  <\/li>\n<li>As your tow progresses, you may have to adjust the towline length so your vessel and the one your towing are in step with the waves.<\/LI>\n<li>Stay in contact with the Coast Guard or other emergency resource so they are aware of your progress. <\/li>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If a boater is in need of a tow \u2013 that should be easy. Toss them a line, let them fix it to their vessel, attach it to your boat and head in, right? Some \u201cgood samaritans\u201d have been injured or have found themselves in court because the vessel in tow was damaged or the [&#8230;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242,238],"tags":[381,380],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boat-insurance-2","category-boating-tips","tag-boat-towing","tag-towing-a-boat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2121,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/2121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unitedmarine.net\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}