Come here mama….and dig this crazy scene
He’s not too fancy….but his line is pretty clean
He ain’t no drag.
Papa’s got a brand new bag
- james brown
So this is my tow bag. Certainly NOT brand new, it’s an old pink
North Water. (yep it was red once). I used to have a carabineer on it but after some discussion with a coach much more experienced than I, I changed it out for a smaller clip. In fact this came in really handy once when I towed a rowboat full of teenage girls into shore after they had partially sunk their boat. A carabineer would not have fit in the metal clip on the row boat. However since then I had another kayaking Super-being explain how he saw a clip shake loose and lose a kayak in a double tow. He prefers carabineers. Go Figure. Thus the phrase, “Do what works for you”.
So if I pull it out all over the place. You’ll notice there are two globs of rope. The bit with the clip on the end is what I normally end up using around here. It’s long enough to keep a towed kayak maybe 5-7 feet off my tail as we go. Bit two is the other 35 feet or so that I have daisy-chained and clipped off. Here in Wisconsin you could conceivably be happy with just the short rope (on inland lakes anyway). But the idea (remember this for the test) is that if you tow a boat too close in rough conditions it can come sliding down the wave and run into you while you are stalling on the next wave. All in all it’s just a mess. So you want to put out enough rope to keep the victim’s kayak back at least one set, so in a perfect world both boats are in a trough or on a wave at the same time. Thing is, having all that rope out there adds a lot of resistance as well. Never use any more rope than you have to.
As I said, the rest of the rope is daisy chained and clipped off inside the bag. This makes it easy to feed out as much as I need, then clip off the rest. You’re right, this takes time. So this is the pretty set up you use when you have time. On the water, you just. . . pardon the expression, “Stuff It!”
Now here’s something to think about. You’ll notice in the photo above the rope is feeding to the right. Of course being a bear with a very little brain, I a made a complete mess of the packing job and now my float is going to hang up in the top of the bag. . . .
What I should have done it checked to be sure that the float was set in the bag so it would feed out properly and not have to flip over to come out of the bag.
As I mentioned above when you’ve completed or passed off your tow on the water, just stuff the bag. Don’t bother trying to get it all tight and organized again. For my part I just leave the back sealed but un-wrapped, on top of my spray deck and clip the end to a pocket on my PFD. That way my rope is contained, but I could start another tow in a split second with the least amount of fiddling. In the BCU one way to raise the coaches ire is to be sitting there on the water trying to make your tow rope all pretty again. They dislike it immensely and you will be punished. . .
* There are numerous tow belt systems out there. Just choose the best one for you. I use a North Water. And sadly I get no benies for displaying it here. LOL!!
>> LEARN MORE ABOUT TOWING HERE
Related Posts:
- Color My Tow
- The Immortal Coil
- Signs of Spring
- Shake Down
- Variations on a Contact Tow
and you will be punished
Published October 26, 2006 | 
Super-being will also advise you to move float further away from the clip.
In a hurry, clip it, stuff the rest in the pfd.
If you are having BCU kind of fun, stowing it properly would be waste of time
Thinner rope makes it easier to stuff. Too thin/flexible a rope makes it harder to stuff
is it my soul that calls my name? The voice of the great kayaker of the midwest??
Yep, stuff it in the PFD is the other one. Always made me a bit nervous though. All that rope so close to my throat!!
Good stuff (no pun intended), and great illustrations, especially the float flip thingie–never thought about that before but makes sense.
Now, care to write directions on how to properly do the daisy chain?
I just purchased my first Northwater tow belt (also have a Nigel Dennis and the Salamander one). Seems like a nice product, after I did some undoing and redoing of the buckels and “D” ring. Unfortunately, that is second nature to me (all that fastex stuff), but for many it confuses the hell out of them!
I think, ropes are sexy, too
))
Ouch! Freya, you know I like you, but you are soooo naughty . . .
)
I’d have to agree with all you said here, but to add a wrinkle…have you seen, “Sea Kayak Safety” by Leo Hoare & Oll Sanders? Good DVD; they advocate removing the float altogether. I can hear the collective outrage by every ACA/BCU coach I’ve trained under!
Well, that certainly is the most interesting thing regarding tow belts I’ve heard in sometime. What’s their rational?
Hmmm… If you remove the float and have a deck mounted system (hook, shock absorber, line) then you lose everything if the line isn’t clipped to a boat (floating line alone will not support the hook and shock absorber). If you have a waist mounted system (like Derrick’s) then the bag may have sufficient buoyancy to keep all afloat. However, it may not (check each one!)… Having contributed 2 towlines and 3 drogues to Neptune’s gear locker (together with a very smart pair of trainers many years ago!), everything of mine of this nature has a float. Instead of removing the float, just move all the ‘caggage’ back 10 feet or so, leaving only a low-profile hook and low-profile line (climbing spectra tape?) at the hook end. This gives you a clean catch and clean release – and a rafted pair can separate if needed by the assistant sliding up the cas’s boat to unclip.
Just thoughts…
Rowland
So then I wonder why you couldn’t just put the float on the other end so it rarely ever leaves the bag. That would keep it out of the way and still provide flotation.
The only issue with that I could see is if I was being stupid and dropped the clip when trying to attach it. IF all the rope was already free. Then it would be a lot of screwing around to get a hold of it again since it would sink right to the bottom. . .
Derrick,
Once you go Wichard, you will never go back, when it comes to the Biner that is. I have used the 3″ snaphook for 4 years or so and they rock. Towing systems are an intimate thing. After years I finally came to the conclusion that I wasn’t spending 80-90 bucks on a system then another (__) to make it mine. I made a bag out of a stiff, self draining mesh; Sewed on a cool belt with a great buckle; Added my 45 foot line to it, daisy chained to 18 feet; Trimmed it out with reflective tape. 3 hours and 30 bucks and I don’t have to undo someone elses vision.
Cheers,
Rob G
More random thoughts… If you have a deck system, the ‘near’ end should be ‘clean’ to ensure no snagging on the boat – so a float there is probably unsuitable. If you put it in the middle, it makes chain coiling (or any other shortening system) a bit complicated, so for me its near the ‘business’ end (see earlier comment). If the float is the only thing floating after an aquatic cluster, it’s going to be much harder to find than a line of floating rope. The same sort of comments apply to having the float at the waist end of a waist tow – even a bag can be hard to see in confused seas or surf. However the real answer is ‘whatever works for you on the day’ – no system is foolproof or 100%. (Said he being dogmatic!!!)
Rowland
I was just looking at the new Northwater system. It seems like I’m going to put my float right up by the clasp as well. That does seem like the best all ’round solution. Certainly shouldn’t ever get it hung up in the bag either.