There was a great photo on the Goat Island Skiff Facebook Group of towing the GIS behind a yacht. The photo was taken by long term Goat Island Skiff owner Jim Luton.
What is the best way to tow a tender behind a yacht or motorboat?
The GIS was definitely not designed to tow well so how did it go?
That is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in the background.
The Goat Island Skiff does have a reputation as a good rowing boat. Here it shows itself to be a nimble sailing tender that can be rowed on a vacation.
A short video on rowing and sailing the Goat Island Skiff
How did the Goat Island Skiff behave when being towed as a Tender
My question was assuming that the Goat would not be well behaved when towed by a yacht or motorboat.
How did it track etc Jim? I have always wondered if it needed the rudder fitted with just a little in the water and tiller lashed.
Jim replied:
“When I towed using a bridle attached via the forward inwales, it would wander back and forth about 5 feet either side of center. It would wander a bit less with more tow line let out.”
“Now I have a bow eye lower on the bow which brings the bow up under tow and it tracks pretty straight.”
Height of towing ring on towed boat’s bow
Jim is doing it the right way. The bows of many boats are quite grippy and will make the boat veer from one side to the other. Moving the towing eye to the front and down a little lower means the tow rope will tend to pull the bow up, reducing its grippiness.
Length of tow line for towing the tender behind a yacht
The long tow line is a very good point when there are waves around. If the tow rope is the right length for the dinghy it will be on a wave face at the same time as the tow boat. And it will be in the trough the same time as the tow boat. This means the two boats will be surging and slowing at the same time.
So some length in the tow rope can be quite nice to get this behaviour.
It is much better than the tender surfing up behind a yacht or motor boat at speed when the mother ship is going slow.
Get the centre of gravity low
A high centre of gravity means the boat will either capsize or rock from side to side.
A sailing dinghy or other pointy nosed boat steers responsively by heeling the boat – so reducing roll is a good idea. It will generally steer away from the side of the boat that is deeper in the water.
With the Goat the hull only weighs around 130lbs, which is light for a 16ft boat. Having the mast up or not secure is asking for trouble.
Lateral area should be at the back of the boat – it is better if the back of the boat is a bit grippy
This was the basis of my question about whether the rudderblade of the Goat was needed.
In the end it wasn’t, but the GIS is well set up for a bit of rudder to be down a bit and the tiller tied off to the inwales.
In general a bit of lateral area at the back of the boat can make the tender’s behaviour better. The GIS rudder is nicely set up with the tiller lashed centrally with no movement. The rudder pushed down only a foot into the water. It will kick back if it hits something then reset when it passes over.
