Ellen MacArthur wrote:
Where's Jeff? He knows the rules better than anybody here. He'd back me up. I know it.


Sorry Ellen, I can't be that much help.

As for your first claim:
"Sailboats are the stand-on vessel in crossing situations with
powerboats. One little power boat towing another isn't a RAM. The
rule is for big ships tugs and barges. It's not meant for small
recreational power boats."

This is not true; there is very little difference between a
recreational vessel and a small tow vessel. In fact, they could be
virtually identical. Moreover, another boater isn't required to look
inside the tower's wallet and see if he has a towing endorsement. The
rules may have been written with large ships in mind, but the apply to
all vessels.

As for the second claim:
"Towing a fellow power boater who broke down or ran out of gas isn't
part of the definition of work. Work's got to do with laying pipes,
dredging, towing if your licensed to do it, repairing buoys etc. Look
at it this way. What if I decided to do a little dredging. I put
something that dredges in the back of my little recreational runabout."

Again not true. If someone actually shows the RAM signal, you do not
have the freedom to say "I don't think he really has a license so I
don't have to give him room." Frankly, I don't think towing a friend
is in any way illegal, and you can declare yourself a RAM even if you
are not commercial. The court may not support your claim, but that's
a different issue.

And your third point:
"As long as the powerboat that's towing can maneuver OK then it's
not RAM. All it had to do to keep outta the way of Scotty was to
throttle down or take it out of gear or turn the steering wheel. Duh!
It had no rule on it's side to expect a sailboat to give way."

Here I would agree, and I said so on my other post. However, you
continued with:

"Another thing. You can see from (i) thru (vi) that work means serious
work. It doesn't mean playing around on a pleasure boat or helping out
somebody whose motor broke."

This, as a generality, is nonsense. There are lots of situations
where amateurs do "serious work." Moreover, towing a boat with a boat
not setup for towing, is not always an easy thing. Further, if the
tow declares itself a RAM, you have to respect that.

And using the trawler with its dinghy is not a good analogy. More
often than not amateur tows involve two equally sized boats. I've
done hundreds of tows, usually in a 13 foot Whaler, or small launch,
and many of them I would consider "unruly." Though I never had lights
I often conveyed with gestures my hope that other would give me a wide
berth. BTW, try towing a flooded dinghy sometime - slowing down is
not a good option because the boat will immediately swerve and
capsize. When the tow has a lot of momentum, the options become very
limited.

And one more thing: you should listen to Otn, he has more experience
than all of us put together.