BruceK
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The only suggestion I`ve seen of the presence a tug and or barge with connecting or trailing lines in the vicinity of the vessel is on TF.
If I see a tugboat I automatically assume there's a barge or something else somewhere nearby, and prepare to alter my course to not be anywhere near the tug's path.
That is sad news, commiserations to Chris. We almost met him at an RMYC(Newport,Broken Bay)exhibition day,saw him anchored off the Club,phoned as arranged, multiple times, no answer, he`d left his phone somewhere.The boat in question, Liberty, was a 1990 Kong and Halvorsen 57 aft cab, with twin CAT 3406 engines. A lovely boat. It used to live at Bobbin Head on the Hawkesbury in Sydney when I first knew it. Chris (the owner) is a TF member and has regularly posted here... very pleased Chris and crew are all safe. H.
This!Tow wire. Chain bridle connects barge to wire.
The purpose of the line with float on the end, we call it the "goofball", is so that if the main towline is parted in bad weather which happens sometimes, the tug can go behind the barge, snag the goofball and attach it to the tow winch or bitts, then run ahead of the barge peeling the wire off the side deck of the barge that is held there by welded clips, then on the front of the barge on the spray shield, you will see the emergency towline fastened the same way ready to pull off.There are times when a line is towed behind the barge if a transfer from one tug to another is called for at some point.. This line has a buoy ball attached so that another tug boat can pick it up and attach to the barge and transfer the barge from one tug to the other. These lines are not usually long enough that a passing boat can run over them, unless they wanted to get rediculously close to the back of the towed barge when passing. Probably not the case here. Just a boat running over some floating, heavy, discarded rope.
Is AIS a SOLAS requirement for unpowered barges?
A tug could push its tow, tow along side, or a stern on a Hawser. A Hawser can be either rope or steel cable. A Hawser can be as long as 1/4 mile A stern or more. The Hawser mesument under the water is called canatary. The tugs mast will show two white when pushing, alongside , or under 200 meters feet A stern . Not to smart running a boat between a tug and it's tow.looking for some enlightenment here from the old salts as i'm a stickler for grammatical accuracy. Do tugs tow using a "rope" (a tow rope) or is the link between tug and barge technically called something else? I actually don't know....
A tug could push its tow, tow along side, or a stern on a Hawser. A Hawser can be either rope or steel cable. A Hawser can be as long as 1/4 mile A stern or more. The Hawser mesument under the water is called canatary. The tugs mast will show two white when pushing, alongside , or under 200 meters feet A stern . Not to smart running a boat between a tug and it's tow.
To confuse things further, on a river, like the Mississippi, they are ALL called Tow boats. Even though they usually ARE pushing the load not towing it.
Is it better running a pleasure boat aground or a tow boat towing a oil barge running aground and causing a possible oil spill? What is the draft of your boat? What was the depth of the water just outside of the Gulf ICW channel? What is the charted channel width? How was the total length of the tow? When in a heavy wind in a narrow I have what we called " Crabbing " going down the channel almost sideways.To confuse things further, on a river, like the Mississippi, they are ALL called Tow boats. Even though they usually ARE pushing the load not towing it. They are NOT towing the load as they do in salt water. Here on Corpus christi Bay we see them, three in front towing an oil rig and three behind on lines, holding the load back. But on the ICW they are ALWAYS pushing the load so they will have more control in the narrow water. Well not ALWAYS. I once came upon an idiot towing a barge on a very long line in a crosswind. He was taking up the entire ICW. I ran aground trying to get away from his out of control rig.
Is it better running a pleasure boat aground or a tow boat towing a oil barge running aground and causing a possible oil spill? What is the draft of your boat? What was the depth of the water just outside of the Gulf ICW channel? What is the charted channel width? How was the total length of the tow? When in a heavy wind in a narrow I have what we called " Crabbing " going down the channel almost sideways.
You are asking a good question. Most tug and barge has a emergency line behind the last barge on a Hawser. The reason is if the tow breaks the runs around the stern of the last tow and pick up a floating pickup line. These are usually about 100 to 150 feet in length. This line is tied to emergency Hawser located on the barge deck. These emergency Hawser is about 400 to 600 feet in length. The tug will haul in the floating emergency pickup line on the tugs captsan then the barge emergency HawserI have no idea,
can only state what I have seen more than a few times, a float being dragged behind a barge.
Is it better running a pleasure boat aground or a tow boat towing a oil barge running aground and causing a possible oil spill? What is the draft of your boat? What was the depth of the water just outside of the Gulf ICW channel? What is the charted channel width? How was the total length of the tow? When in a heavy wind in a narrow I have what we called " Crabbing " going down the channel almost sideways.
Yea Right..... lolololololThe correct answer is neither. If the rig can't navigate safely through a channel that's open to other boats, either wait for the wind to die down, set it up differently (such as pushing vs pulling) or pick a different route.
The fool probably thought it was 2 boats steamin and no tow cable between em and though .maybe just throttle up and get past 2nd boat
If only there were a light pattern for random pieces of rope floating or slightly submerged. (OTOH if they had the same for logs, BC would be annoyingly bright at night )
(That is a nice, clear illustration of what towing lights look like though.)
Are you describing a semi submerged object being towed or just floating randomly rope/ objects?
There are lights for towing semi submerged objects.....