Since 2003 with our many cruises, especially in the SE Alaska area, I’ve been able to really appreciate the capabilities of the CD22 in many different extreme scenarios & during the just past Friday Harbor Gathering our CD22 Hunkydory faced another challenge, which it surmounted much better than I expected.
Our friends Les & Sandy had come to the Friday Harbor Gathering on their maiden voyage cruising with me in their new to them 25 foot Ranger Tug. I had left my truck & trailer at their place in Sequim & if weather was ok planned on returning their Sunday after the Gathering. Les & Sandy needed to return to Sequim Saturday, so left Friday Harbor Sat about mid morning. Not long thereafter, I received a call from Sandy, saying they were dead in the water & Les was on the VHF with the Coast Guard. She asked if I thought the Hunkydory could tow them to Sequim, which was about 20 miles across the channel. I answered, that didn’t know for sure it could, but would gladly make the attempt. I made way quickly to them, but by the time I arrived at their last told location they were out of sight. With a VHF call got the location where the tide & wind had moved them. The wind was blowing about 13 knots. I made a bridle out of dock lines & Les set up a tow line of about 70 feet. He tied the end to a buoy which made it easy for me to retrieve & connect to my bridle. The tow was approximately 20 miles & with the twin Honda 40’s making 3000 rpm I was able to maintain between 6 & 8 mph with good control even with the fast moving flood tide & somewhat narrow channel with sharp bends into Sequim Bay by Travis Spit. Once out in front of John Wayne Marina, we disconnected the towing line & made a tight tie with my port to his starboard with plenty of fenders for protection. We made some practice maneuvers with Les running his thrusters off the batteries, while I worked the twins. It was really sluggish & we were all apprehensive about the narrow channel going into the Marina with the wind, flooding tide & very narrow twisting channel to the launch & retrieve dock. Amazingly even with most of the dock taken up with other boats leaving just enough room in the center area for the Ranger Tug to just fit in, Les & I working together brought it in & docked smoothly just like we actually knew what we were doing. The two dock hands waiting for us were just as amazed as us at how well it went & expressed genuine admiration at out joint effort. The little CD22 went way beyond my expectations in accomplishing this tow & I now have much more confidence in handling another similar situation should it happen. Immediately after disconnecting & taking on fuel, I made way back across the strait for Friday Harbor & made it back just in time for the potluck. The only problem during the whole adventure was the Friday Harbor Marina staff had given away my dock slip, while I was gone.
These photos show the towing & on the photo of the chart, WP0016 is about the start of the tow & the tracks from there lead to Sequim. The last photo shows the entry & way to the launch dock
Link to towing video
https://youtu.be/5LYh7AWaCy4
Our friends Les & Sandy had come to the Friday Harbor Gathering on their maiden voyage cruising with me in their new to them 25 foot Ranger Tug. I had left my truck & trailer at their place in Sequim & if weather was ok planned on returning their Sunday after the Gathering. Les & Sandy needed to return to Sequim Saturday, so left Friday Harbor Sat about mid morning. Not long thereafter, I received a call from Sandy, saying they were dead in the water & Les was on the VHF with the Coast Guard. She asked if I thought the Hunkydory could tow them to Sequim, which was about 20 miles across the channel. I answered, that didn’t know for sure it could, but would gladly make the attempt. I made way quickly to them, but by the time I arrived at their last told location they were out of sight. With a VHF call got the location where the tide & wind had moved them. The wind was blowing about 13 knots. I made a bridle out of dock lines & Les set up a tow line of about 70 feet. He tied the end to a buoy which made it easy for me to retrieve & connect to my bridle. The tow was approximately 20 miles & with the twin Honda 40’s making 3000 rpm I was able to maintain between 6 & 8 mph with good control even with the fast moving flood tide & somewhat narrow channel with sharp bends into Sequim Bay by Travis Spit. Once out in front of John Wayne Marina, we disconnected the towing line & made a tight tie with my port to his starboard with plenty of fenders for protection. We made some practice maneuvers with Les running his thrusters off the batteries, while I worked the twins. It was really sluggish & we were all apprehensive about the narrow channel going into the Marina with the wind, flooding tide & very narrow twisting channel to the launch & retrieve dock. Amazingly even with most of the dock taken up with other boats leaving just enough room in the center area for the Ranger Tug to just fit in, Les & I working together brought it in & docked smoothly just like we actually knew what we were doing. The two dock hands waiting for us were just as amazed as us at how well it went & expressed genuine admiration at out joint effort. The little CD22 went way beyond my expectations in accomplishing this tow & I now have much more confidence in handling another similar situation should it happen. Immediately after disconnecting & taking on fuel, I made way back across the strait for Friday Harbor & made it back just in time for the potluck. The only problem during the whole adventure was the Friday Harbor Marina staff had given away my dock slip, while I was gone.
These photos show the towing & on the photo of the chart, WP0016 is about the start of the tow & the tracks from there lead to Sequim. The last photo shows the entry & way to the launch dock
Link to towing video
https://youtu.be/5LYh7AWaCy4
