A cow-tail can be clipped directly to the bow of a kayak that needs a quick tow to move to safety.
I like to get the most out of my kayaking gear; all pieces of my kayaking gear are under constant scrutiny.
Less is better, smaller is better, simple is better, and function is paramount. The one piece of gear that may have provided the greatest opportunity for scrutiny is my towline.
A towline is a fundamental piece of safety gear. You can use a towline to assist a tired or injured paddlers and keep them moving with the group. With a towline you can help a struggling paddler keep on course when strong winds or current make directional control difficult.
In many circumstances, a tow can prevent a more severe incident from occurring. In calm water most tow lines will work fairly well, but no one can guarantee calm water at all times. Used near surf, in breaking waves near rocks, or in strong current, towlines can still be useful but the risk of entanglement makes them particularly dangerous. It is often the case, though, that rough conditions make a tow an urgent necessity.
Using towlines in rough conditions is deceptively difficult and proper training and practice are necessary. Well-designed gear helps make using a towline easier and safer to use.
Complex design
A towline needs to meet several demanding and sometimes contradictory requirements. It must be unobtrusive but be close at hand, enclosed but easy to open. In use, it has to attach easily and come off easily, but remain secure under difficult conditions.
It should be of simple design but adaptable to various modes of use. It should be strong yet just a little elastic, it must be quick to deploy in a short tether and in a long towline. It must release reliably when the user is capsized and the line is under tension. It must be usable with cold wet hands and with gloves on.
We will need a few pieces of good gear to make a proper towing system that meet all these demands without getting complicated, awkward or bulky. I start with a standard whitewater quick-release rescue belt and cow-tail available at most whitewater paddling gear outlets. This simple unobtrusive setup is excellent for short-tows over a short distance. To tow an unstable or distressed kayaker, a push-tow (also called a toggle-tow or a rafted-tow) can be used.
The cow tail is a piece of nylon tubing with a shock cord threaded through it. It has a carabiner on one end and a ring for a quick-release belt on the other.
Coming alongside the distressed kayaker, quickly clip the cow-tail onto the forward deck lines or bow carry toggle. With the cow-tail attached to the bow, and the kayaks in a bow-to-stern orientation, you can push the victim’s boat. Paddling forward causes the kayaks to move together and the victim can take comfort, leaning on the rescue kayak for stability.
This push-tow is very effective-maneuvering and making good forward speed is surprisingly easy. If the kayak you are pushing has a rudder or skeg it should be retracted in most cases. If you are having difficulty keeping a steady course in wind or waves, dropping your skeg or rudder is likely to help.
For longer towing chores, a floating tow line is clipped into the cow-tail to provide more separation between the kayaks.
To retrieve a loose kayak or to provide a quick tow to a stable paddler, you can clip the cow-tail onto deck lines or the bow toggle and proceed with both kayaks facing the same direction. The bow of the boat you are towing in this manner will be just aft of you and is not likely to interfere with paddling.
In turbulent water, the bow of the kayak you are trying to get a towline on may be bouncing up and down a couple of feet or more, so you have to be careful not to get hit in the face or speared in the ribs. While busy paying attention to your own stability and safety, you must be sure of clipping into the tow in a proper manner.
To clip into a kayak on your right side, the cow-tail must lead from your back and directly away to the right. To clip into a kayak on your left, the cow-tail must lead from your back and away to the left. A common error is to inadvertently cross the cow-tail across your stomach. If the line crosses your stomach the towing tension will be off-center, the cow-tail will have a very short working length and the quick-release will be compromised.
This is an easy error to commit, but an easy one to avoid. When working on your off side, pass the cow-tail behind your back before clipping into a kayak.
As with any safety and rescue gear or techniques, plenty of practice in rough but controlled conditions is essential.
If your PFD does not have belt loops already built in, you can sew some on or incorporate loops between the PFD’s side cinches. (Permanently altering a PFD may revoke the Coast Guard approval.)
The belt loops will stop the belt from rotating around your body and keep the buckle in place, easy to find, and quick to release. Incorporated with the PFD, the belt and cow-tail are always with you, never forgotten, and always close at hand. When integrated into the design of the PFD, the strain on the tow-belt is spread out across the lower part of your chest.
An independent tow-belt that rests around your waist below your PFD doesn’t take advantage of the padding and comfort your PFD can provide. The safety and reliability of a rescue belt with a cow-tail has been proven through a long history of demanding use for whitewater rescue.
Making a towline: Tie a loop in one end using an overhead knot. When the cow-tail is clipped into the towline, a lark’s-head knot keeps the loop in place and prevents it from coming free if part of the loop gets pulled againest th egate of the carabiner.
The other end of a towline is tied to a marine-grade carabiner using an anchor hitch. A seized version of the hitch is shown here.
Alternate uses.
During rescues or other occasions when you need both hands free, the cow-tail is a convenient paddle-park for one or more paddles. Run the carabiner once completely around the paddles and then clip it onto the cow-tail to make a loop that will cinch tight around the paddle shafts.
While doing a paddle-float reentry on a windy day, it can be awkward to hold onto the kayak and paddle and inflate a paddle float at the same time. The cow-tail can be clipped onto perimeter deck-lines to keep you and your kayak together.
When the weather is rough, you will need a longer towline to prevent kayaks from colliding into one another. This is particularly important when towing in following seas where the kayak being towedcan ride a wave and collide with or overtake the lead kayak.
A longer towline is also more practical when towing for more than just a few minutes: the lead kayak has its full maneuverability and it won’t bump and wear against the kayak it is towing. For a long towline I use 25 feet of 1/4″ diameter floating braided line.
Tie a loop in one end and tie a marine-grade carabiner on the other end. Clip the carabiner into the loop on the opposite end and stuff the line into a small belt bag or deck bag; leave a small piece of the loop sticking out. If you are stowing the line in a bag attached to your towing belt, make sure the bag is attached to the buckle end of the belt. This will assure that the bag will not interfere with the D-ring which will slip easily off the other end of the belt.
There are one-piece towlines that are sewn or tied directly to the belt without the advantage of the easy separation of the D-ring from the belt. (It is preferable to use a belt held in belt loops.
When strung through belt-loops the tongue of the belt will run free, releasing the D-ring and leaving the belt and bag attached to the PFD. If the whole belt and bag is released, it may foul up and catch on rudders, spare paddles and other gear on the back deck.
Some PFDs have towing -belt loops already sewn in place (right). If your PFD does not have belt loops you can sew a pice of nylon webbing into a loop and add two lines of stitching to create two openings (left).
The openings are large enough to slip over th ecinch-strap buckles at the side of most PFDs and center opening holds the towing belt (center).
To deploy a long towline, pull the loop of the line out of its bag; you will have both ends of the towline in hand. Clip the cow-tail carabiner to the loop; you are now ready to go.
Before proceeding into a rough water rescue, you can also pull all the line out of the bag, and stuff it under deck bungies or just stuff it under your PFD. Once again, deploy the towline properly to the right or left above; avoid crossing the towline in front of your body.
Unclip the towline carabiner from the loop and clip it to the bow toggle or forward deck line of the kayak you intend to tow.
Keep your back deck as uncluttered as possible, as long towlines will snag under the edges of a spare paddle, on rudders, or other gear on the back deck. The farther back the line becomes snagged the more difficult it will be for you to execute the tow: If the line is snagged well aft it will prevent you from turning. The towline must pivot from the center of your kayak for you to retain your kayak’s maneuverability.
A cow-tail is a useful and reliable piece of safety and rescue equipment that can be incorporated with a long towline to make a safe and multipurpose towing system. Well designed and properly deployed, a towline is a great help keeping hampered kayakers out of harm’s way or rescuing a victim from a dangerous situation.