Tow boat

Well I was flagged down by a tow boat 20 kn offshore he asked witch way to go to get to lat. Lon. Position. He was going to get them to toe in was 21 kn from them. Down the coast was know wear near them

Must be one of those reality show knuckleheads.

Well it was boat us. Boat I guess he didn't have a gps

Occasionally a captain is asked to run a boat that has a chartplotter that he is unfamiliar with...

Still no excuse unless it broke....and the company had no backup aboard.

Might have asked just to save time.

Must have had an equipment failure. Capt would not go on a job without a working gps, unless local/inland.

I don't know but how is he going to find his way back while towing them I guess he's hoping to use thier gps

Knowledge is power.
What's a GPS? [emoji23]

Not even a phone gps for a backup. Good grief.

Distance offshore negated phone gps maybe.

My boss would send me offshore for a tow if I was on fire but thought I could do the tow.

Finding an inlet without electronics is easier than finding a small boat offshore without electronics.

Mission completion for customer satisfaction rates pretty high for these companies.

I know quite a few captains, many delivery guys and they all have their own battery gps as a back up. On my boat we have 4 Garmi. Gps, a handheld gps, and two other Garmin chartplotters. Plus our phones. If I was a professional I might have more.

Pure pleasure said:

Well I was flagged down by a tow boat 20 kn offshore he asked witch way to go to get to lat. Lon. Position. He was going to get them to toe in was 21 kn from them. Down the coast was know wear near them

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WOW!

Difference is the owner isnt always the captain, so the boats might be less than perfect.

The other day, I ran a small tug with ZERO electronics working. Fortunately the work area was close by and familiar. But also a little foggy.

I was glad to have some nav on my phone.

Professionalism is a state of mind in the small commercial world...not the boats all to often.

Which reminds me of an incident many years ago two tug boats were headed from Texas and trying to get to Miami (the days of double side band phones so the Range was real good) any way they were out in a hurricane. I was with my dad securing his boat on the Miami River and we had the radio on to 2182 (the calling and distress channel). They didn't know where they were so my dad asked them if they could see the hotels on Miami Beach, they couldn't. My dad wanted to know what chart they were using. The had a Texaco road map. Honestly. My dad talked them in when they saw the hotels right down Government Cut.

God protects Fools and Drunks.

And USCG helo pilots...an old saying...

Scott

First hand knowledge?

A crusty old civil engineering warrant officer working for me looked me in the eye one day after a big week of rescues....and said...."Scott, you have used up all of your luck cells.....time to quit that shi*"

Well, I had many more years to go....so someone had to be looking out for me...and I am very grateful.

Glad you made it too. And thank you for your service.

I guess many of us cheated death in one way or another when we were young and foolish and invincible!

Bigsfish said:

Glad you made it too. And thank you for your service.

I guess many of us cheated death in one way or another when we were young and foolish and invincible!

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+1 I have not cheated death but as I have mentioned in the past I am a fan-out for the USCG. Got the love any organization who have, as one of their primary missions, the goal of David ng my stupid a**.

as I kid I rember going from Salem Ma, to Provincetown ( Tip of Cape Cod ) in our 36' Pacemaker. We were probably 10-15 miles off shore and were approached by some guys in a little runabout who were looking for the Cape Cod Canal. My dad offered to show them on their chart and figure out the compass heading for them. They had no compass and their "chart" was a placemat from a seafood restaraunt!!!

Navionics on a phone does not need cell coverage I think. Pretty sure the gps part works independent of cell service. Can not imagine going far without at least that.

Howesounder said:

Navionics on a phone does not need cell coverage I think. Pretty sure the gps part works independent of cell service. Can not imagine going far without at least that.

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Exactly. Navionics does not require cell or wifi to work once you have the app and you've downloaded the chart that you need. We use it throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean in places where we are days away from any cell service.

Not all the facts are known.

In a fleet of assistance tow boats, it is possible to have 4 different kinds of chartplotters or more.

Also for the captain to have a company provided cel phone without all the paid for apps.

Asking for a nav cut isnt all that unimagineable based on experience and quality of newer captains and the quality or diversity of boat equipment.

Expediting to the customer is foremost.

psneeld said:

Not all the facts are known. ..........

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That's the one thing that's for certain.