Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 05-05-2019, 08:33 PM   #1
Guru
 
BandB's Avatar
 
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
Coast Guard Towing

Coming from the East Coast, I was surprised to read of the CG towing a 93' Selene into Newport Harbor, Oregon. Generally on the East Coast, they'll rescue you, but not your boat, leaving you to arrange any towing. This boat was anchored outside the Siuslaw Bar.

https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.n...ht-to-newport/

Is this due to the lack of available tow services or just generally a practice of the CG on the West Coast? Or is this unusual?
BandB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 08:48 PM   #2
Guru
 
Ken E.'s Avatar
 
City: Bellingham WA
Vessel Name: Hatt Trick
Vessel Model: 45' Hatteras Convertible
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 1,973
Unusual for the Coasties to tow in the PNW. Never seen it, in fact. About the first thing heard on the VHF in these situations is, 'Will you accept a commercial tow?' Same in BC. Never seen their Coast Guard tow either.
__________________
Ken on Hatt Trick
Ken E. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 09:12 PM   #3
Veteran Member
 
tcoop's Avatar
 
City: PORTLAND
Vessel Name: Time To Play
Vessel Model: Nordic Tug 37
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 55
It is very common for CG to tow off of Oregon. Mainly due to the lack of towing resources. With the bars and the dangers associated they don't want good Samaritans trying to tow other boats over the unpredictable bars. I have never heard of anything that big before it has always been smaller fishing boats that I have heard about.

If commercial tow services are available they won't tow unless the vessel is in danger.
tcoop is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 09:25 PM   #4
Guru
 
JDCAVE's Avatar
 
City: North Vancouver
Vessel Name: Phoenix Hunter
Vessel Model: Kadey Krogen 42 (1985)
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,877
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcoop View Post
It is very common for CG to tow off of Oregon. Mainly due to the lack of towing resources. With the bars and the dangers associated they don't want good Samaritans trying to tow other boats over the unpredictable bars. I have never heard of anything that big before it has always been smaller fishing boats that I have heard about.

If commercial tow services are available they won't tow unless the vessel is in danger.

What he said. When you compare it to the east coast, there’s a whole lot of coast off Oregon and Washington, without a lot of ports of call and not a lot of traffic. If a vessel that size founders, there’s also the environmental consequences to consider.

Jim
JDCAVE is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 09:26 PM   #5
Guru
 
BandB's Avatar
 
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
It appears Seatow has nothing in the area and Boat US has one in Portland and another in Grays Harbor. The Portland location says they'll go 30 miles off shore, but only 50 miles from Portland, so clearly not within their range. So, I don't find anything close enough to tow where this boat was.
BandB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 11:06 PM   #6
Guru
 
Crusty Chief's Avatar
 
City: Pahrump, NV
Vessel Name: Pairadice
Vessel Model: Sold Selene 47
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,967
Wow, wonder what was the “engine failure”? Pretty sure she is a twin, from what I recall.
__________________
John & Tracey
Boatless
https://mvpairadice.blogspot.com/
Crusty Chief is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-05-2019, 11:27 PM   #7
Guru
 
Giggitoni's Avatar
 
City: Vallejo, California
Vessel Name: Mahalo Moi
Vessel Model: 1986 Grand Banks 42 Classic
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,093
Quote:
Originally Posted by BandB View Post
It appears Seatow has nothing in the area and Boat US has one in Portland and another in Grays Harbor. The Portland location says they'll go 30 miles off shore, but only 50 miles from Portland, so clearly not within their range. So, I don't find anything close enough to tow where this boat was.
Seatow must be confused. It’s about 85 miles from Portland to the ocean, West of Astoria. How can they be willing to go 30 miles offshore when they only have a radius of 50 miles from Portland?
__________________
Ray
"Mahalo Moi"
1986 GB-42 Classic
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑβΕ
Giggitoni is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 12:00 AM   #8
Guru
 
AlaskaProf's Avatar
 
City: Tacoma, WA & Ashland, OR
Vessel Name: boatless, ex: Seeadler
Vessel Model: RAWSON 41
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 2,234
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggitoni View Post
Seatow must be confused. It’s about 85 miles from Portland to the ocean, West of Astoria. How can they be willing to go 30 miles offshore when they only have a radius of 50 miles from Portland?

"That's some catch, that Catch 22!" --Yossarian
AlaskaProf is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 12:21 AM   #9
Guru
 
BandB's Avatar
 
City: Fort Lauderdale. Florida, USA
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 21,449
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giggitoni View Post
Seatow must be confused. It’s about 85 miles from Portland to the ocean, West of Astoria. How can they be willing to go 30 miles offshore when they only have a radius of 50 miles from Portland?
Either way, they wouldn't cover where this boat was.
BandB is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 05:55 AM   #10
Guru
 
psneeld's Avatar
 
City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,149
It is not as common for the USCG to tow on the East Coast due to the many assistance towers, but they are not prohibited from towing either if circumstances dictate. There is no mandate to save lives but not tow, that is just circumstances.


As to towers seemingly to have goofy distance requirements...it could be because they have multiple but vastly different resources in different locations to even include towable craft that they limit range from the launch site which isn't always at the coastline.


Can't speak to all franchise owners but the two I worked for and many I have met.... you can bet your life on they know what they are doing......
psneeld is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 05:59 AM   #11
Guru
 
psneeld's Avatar
 
City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,149
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusty Chief View Post
Wow, wonder what was the “engine failure”? Pretty sure she is a twin, from what I recall.

Scary, but I towed plenty of twin engine vessels. There are plenty of engine room issues that will stop both engines. There are others that are more boat specific, such as steering casualties, but usually the biggest factor why twins get towed is the captain.
psneeld is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 07:29 AM   #12
Senior Member
 
ronlord's Avatar
 
City: Cape Coral FL\Grand Island NY
Vessel Name: Missy
Vessel Model: 1997 Mainship 350
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 192
My son is with USCG station Humboldt Bay. They tow all the time, no commercial tow services there and as mentioned above, can be very dangerous at times.
ronlord is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 07:45 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
Vadim's Avatar
 
City: Rockville, MD.
Vessel Name: Libra
Vessel Model: Island Gypsy 36 Trawler
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 146
I was once got assistance from USCG. Thank God they were around. I was delivering my boat back home to Pasadena, MD. from Knoxville, TN. Everything was fine till we got bad/dirty fuel in Florida. I was changing Racor's twice a day. Here we are on the last leg of our delivery trip coming out of Norfolk, VA around midnight. Double check the weather make sure no surprises ahead and of we go. Around 4 am. we got very rough seas, wind gusting to 40 knots. I was constantly stayed in contact with USCG. Around 7 am. my stb engine quit on me 45 min. later I lost port engine. Had to call PAN-PAN lost propulsion and drifting towards channel and all commercial traffic. USCG send big boat to tow us to Davidsonville, VA. I can say one thing God Bless this USCG sailors and Thank you. Perfect everything hook up, tow, boarding inspection and most important respect to us and our property. It was not my poor judgement it was unexpected weather change. From 2-3 ft to 5-6 ft. to 12-15 ft. with 7 sec. approach. After we clean the fuel lines and change the filters. We went home without any issues. Thank you VA USCG.
Vadim is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 09:07 AM   #14
Guru
 
hollywood8118's Avatar
 
City: Port Townsend Washington
Vessel Name: " OTTER "
Vessel Model: Ocean Alexander Europa 40
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,378
Years ago a group of buddies thought it would be fun to launch our trailer boats out of Santa Barbara and do a couple dives in the Channel Islands. We had a 19' formula pseudo off shore speedboat and the other boat was a 17' open center console with outboard.

Was a bit bumpy on the trip over but did a couple dives, had lunch and a then headed the 25 miles across the channel towards home. The outboard boat flat quit and the collective group was not able to fix the issue. So I figured what the heck i'll tow them back the 25 miles. We got about 15 miles across the channel when it became obvious that we were not going to make it back with the remaining fuel so we dropped the tow and headed back to fuel and return.

I called the coasties to apprise them of the situation and gave them a rough location of the dead boat ( with a crew aboard and a cooler of beer) and gave them a return ETA of 1 hour. The coasties launched a full response mission, with a heli and a mini cutter to " rescue" the lads. This was about 30 miles for them to run and they started towing the boys when we got back to within a couple miles. The boys got concerned for the well being of the center console when the skipper of the cutter decided that balls to the wall was a appropriate speed to tow.



I spoke with the skipper and he stated that they towed due to the fact that the boat represented a hazard to navigation and that had the boat not been in the middle of the shipping lanes they would of just plucked the lads off the boat and waited until a commercial towboat arrived. We tax payers all got to share the bill that day


HOLLYWOOD
hollywood8118 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 09:22 AM   #15
Guru
 
Rebel112r's Avatar
 
City: Birch bay wa
Vessel Name: Rogue
Vessel Model: North Pacific 42
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 648
I had an engine failure in a Tolly 26 a dozen or so years ago. Just north of Hale Passage. I was drifting and trying to fix problem, when USCG showed up along side, uncalled. After a short conversation and their consensus that I was drifting into shallow water, they offered to tow me to nearest dock, which was the Lummi fuel dock. Their policies, seem to have changed, over the years.
Rebel112r is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 11:18 AM   #16
Guru
 
AKDoug's Avatar
 
City: Kenai, Alaska
Vessel Name: Melanie Rose
Vessel Model: 1999 Willard PH
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,236
Here they will tow you to safety if there are no other options for you, but once you are in safe waters you are on your own while either you or they find assistance for you. If you are safe where you are, they will leave you there while they attempt to find someone who will assist you. Sea Tow has just opened up services here, most of the time it's either a commercial vessel or another recreational vessel making the tow.
AKDoug is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 02:34 PM   #17
GFC
Guru
 
City: Tri Cities, WA
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 4,406
The USCG will tow in our area because we don't have any tow services anywhere around here.




I seem to tow a couple of times a year. It's what boaters do for each other.
__________________
Mike and Tina
1981 Boston Whaler 13'
GFC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-06-2019, 03:15 PM   #18
Guru
 
Pau Hana's Avatar


 
City: Seattle, WA
Vessel Name: Pau Hana
Vessel Model: 1989 PT52 Overseas Yachtfisher
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,676
As others have stated- in Puget Sound, there are plenty of towers.

Offshore (Neah Bay to Coos Bay) there are few, and they are far between. The CG is very diligent about monitoring radio traffic and rendering aid when no other vessels are available.
__________________
Peter- Marine Insurance Guru at Novamar Insurance Group (206-350-5051) & tuna fishing addict!

1989 52' PT Overseas yachtfisher
Pau Hana is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 01:27 PM   #19
GMS
Veteran Member
 
City: Everett
Vessel Name: Sound Trek
Vessel Model: 2008 Meridian 490
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 50
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crusty Chief View Post
Wow, wonder what was the “engine failure”? Pretty sure she is a twin, from what I recall.
Likely dirty fuel or some such thing, as that yacht definitely has twin engines (as I remember drooling over the yachtworld listing a time or two )

Would be very interesting to get a full report on the difficulties - especially considering the transoceanic capabilities of the Selene 92.
GMS is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-13-2019, 03:44 PM   #20
Guru
 
jimisbell's Avatar
 
City: Ingleside-On-The-Bay, Texas
Vessel Name: Papillon
Vessel Model: 1978 Mainship 34 Trawler #95
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 643
A friend got a tow by USCG....when they came aboard and he revealed to them that he was a retired Navy Master Chief. One hand washes the other.
jimisbell is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Trawler Port Captains
Port Captains are TF volunteers who can serve as local guides or assist with local arrangements and information. Search below to locate Port Captains near your destination. To learn more about this program read here: TF Port Captain Program





All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:14 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2006 - 2012