Towing a Dinghy
I can sympathize -- we lost our hard dinghy while towing about 2 months back; she swamped and sank in about 4' seas with 8' swells. I think you'll find there is a fair amount of debate over the virtues of towing versus transom mounting (davits or otherwise) versus storage on deck. Many people do not recommend sailing with dinghy on davits or otherwise stored on the transom due to problems with following seas, etc. I plan to carry my replacement 8' dinghy on the foredeck; granted there will be a tradeoff of access to to the bow versus security of the dinghy but to me that's acceptable. As a towing option, you can try the following, which I think is from Sail Magazine's book, "Things that Work." I haven't tried it but plan to when towing in light weather. Basically, you take a funnel that's large enough for your tow line to pass through, and secure it to the line with tape or stopper knots about a dinghy's length ahead of the dinghy, with the wide end pointed towards the towing boat. Theory is that if the dinghy starts to ride up on its painter, the funnel will become immersed and "brake" the dinghy before it hits the transom. Worth a try, anyway -- if gunkholing in light weather, I'd find towing preferable to the hassels of getting the dinghy on/off deck. But for heavy weather (for me, sailing to Catalina), deck stowage seems the way to go. Mike Turner S/Y Amity (C30) Long Beach, CA
