C-Tow Nova Scotia – A couple of longer tows

Nov 23, 2017

We spoke with Don White of C-Tow about their summer. Although he said they were not particularly busy they did undertake a couple of longer tows which are described here. Towing any boat while offshore requires planning and the right equipment

The sail boat shown in the photos in Sambro and needed to be towed to Gold River Marina for repairs, a distance of about 40 miles. The vessel’s owner had been on his way back from a summer of solo sailing around Newfoundland. On his way south in very rough weather, his boat lost its rudder about 60 NM off Nova Scotia. As he had no steerage, the Coast Guard was dispatched, and the lifeboat towed him to the CCG station in Sambro.

C-Tow was called and sent their Hurricane 733 tow boat from Martins River to Sambro Harbor. Although the seas were still quite rough (See attached pictures) they were able to complete the tow. A car tire was used as a dampener on the tow line to absorb some of the shock on the line. The Captain of the sail boat also used his engine to provide some amount of control during the tow. As you can see by the last picture, things got nice and calm once they entered Mahone Bay.

Another long trip required towing a power boat from Halifax Harbour to East River on Mahone Bay for repairs, after a small electrical fire on board took the engines out of service. The distance is about 50 miles and although the seas were calm, the swells from the various Hurricanes in the Atlantic made for a hard tow. The boat rolling heavily from side to side on the swells and it was also foggy for most of the trip, requiring a constant watch for incoming harbour traffic.

Both tow jobs went well, with the owners quite satisfied with the service C-Tow was able to provide.

4 photos: Credit: Don White