Exercise: Build a safe towing plan
You are an adult skipper in a powered runabout on Lake Macquarie, in daylight. There is ample room to choose a clear route. Use NSW rules.
Step by step
What is the minimum clearance from a swimmer on your ordinary towing route?
Show the solution
Keep the vessel, tow equipment and rider at least 60 metres from the swimmer. Boating Handbook, p. 104.
At 8 knots, what minimum clearance must the whole tow keep from a moored yacht?
Show the solution
At 6 knots or more, the minimum is 30 metres. It applies to the rider and equipment as well as the boat.
Your proposed observer is 14 and holds a boat licence. They are sober, fit to observe and know the signals. Does their age alone disqualify them?
Show the solution
The handbook requires a boat or PWC licence for observers under 16; it does not set a blanket minimum of 16 or 18. They must also meet the other observer requirements. Boating Handbook, p. 102.
Your wake rocks a nearby anchored dinghy even though you are below the local speed limit. What do you do?
Show the solution
The speed limit does not permit excessive wash. Look astern and slow down to reduce the impact. Boating Handbook, pp. 98–99.
Now on your own
Now plan an afternoon tow on Pittwater with an outboard runabout. The rider is 17, your adult observer is sober, and sunset is approaching.
For this ordinary tow behind an outboard, what minimum distance should the rope keep the rider behind the vessel?
What BAC must your 17-year-old rider have?
The sun has set but you still have good visibility. Can you make one final towing run?
At the ramp, a passenger wants to sit in the boat while you tow it home on its trailer. What do you say?