The mid August "Tug In" at Balne Moor was a 170 mile drive each way from Norfolk but worth every mile. The promotion said come & have a go plus a tug would be provided if you didn't have one. With 3 weeks away in the caravan I didn't have a tug with me - but I thought never mind they will have some battered old relic that I can use for a ferw minutes over the weekend. Not a bit of it. I got to try & use some really beautiful models that were much nicer than anything that I own, & much better for tug towing, together with as much sailing time as I wanted. Sailing (+ towing) at nearly midnight under floodlights was certainly a first for me. The guys from the resident club and the Ellesmere Port dynamic duo totally generous in models , help & encouragement. (PS A web site address for the scooter motors?)
I am aiming this report at getting some others to have a go so if I state the obvious to the experts I am sorry but as a beginner it was not all obvious to me nor I guess to some others.
The aim is to move a large tow (a hulk) - which hardly ever does what you want it to do unless an expert is in control - around a very tight course going all the places that you are told to go without touching pretty well anything, buoys walls etc etc etc.
Let me start this report with the three tug event. Only the unconnected third man is allowed to manhandle the tow. The other two can only pull via the rope. The tows are very heavy (several hundred pounds) & even a powerful tug (14lb bollard pull) dances on the end of the line with a beginner in - sort of - control. One of the many other problems is that when you stop pulling the tow does not stop but tries to overrun the towing tug unless weight is applied from behind. The tow also tries to cut corners, gets blown around & generally is like Thomas's "troublesome trucks". Oh yes this is most certainly a team event. The tragedy of being lent such great models was that when the owner used them & they behave perfectly I couldn't really blame anybody but myself for my performance