Quote:
Originally Posted by Tellie
I've never had good luck towing the dingy over long hauls except in calm condtions. But I'm very intriged by this comment "On the other hand, I want to minimize the width of the line to minimize drag." Am I mising something here? I'm not trying to be a smart azz really, but you're wanting to tow a 100lb dingy and the diameter of the line is a concern? How so?
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So, we are talking about a hard, flat-bottom Atkin-designed dingy that was designed to row and sail. Thus, the dingy itself has very little resistance.
On the other hand, when I'm towing a dingy even 5 or 10 miles off shore, sometimes you need to let a lot of line out to position the dingy in the right place, relative to the waves.
With more than a few feet of line out, the line is in the
water, of course.
I don't have any science to prove this, but if you think about it, if the tow line is very short, it is not in the
water and presents 0lbs of towing 'friction'. All the friction comes from the dingy.
But as you let more and more line out, the line dips into the water and starts to add its own friction.
At some length of line, the friction of the line must be greater than the friction of the dingy.
This is why people talk about towing lines behind them in storms, as a kind of
sea anchor.
So, I can't say exactly how much friction 50 or 100' of towing line ads up to, but it's not 0.
Now... would you notice a difference between 3/8" and 1" line? I'm not sure, but my gut says you would see a difference if you dragged 200' of 1/4" line, vs. 200' of 5" line, so...
Obviously, I had too much time to think about this, yesterday! Time to get back to reality-based sailing!
-- John