GL: Talking to tows

[Coleen Barger]

Although it wasn't me who said that the tows record all VHF transmissions (and
I don't know if that's true or not), I do agree with John Esch that it's smart
to announce your intentions, as his examples showed, when you have attempted
to contact a tow (or anyone) to arrange a pass and you have received no
response.

It's been the experience of the Calypso Poet crew that the places where tows
tend not to answer our hails are places where there isn't a lot of
recreational traffic. The Cal-Sag is certainly one of those areas; the lower
Mississippi River is another (although we had excellent levels of response
when we went down the Lower Miss in August this year).

Gary thinks it helps for a female voice to do the radio calling. I don't know
if that is true, but I do usually get the tow captains to talk back to me.
There are some key aspects to getting a response, however:

1. Do not call the tow a barge. The barges do not have VHF radios on them.

2. If you cannot see the tow's name before you call it (common for an oncoming
pass situation), describe it by location to the best degree possible when you
hail. E.g., "Northbound tow at Mile 220" or "Southbound tow departing from
Pickwick Lock".

3. The second part of your hail is your own identification. Here it is pretty
useless to use your boat's name. Rather than say "Calypso Poet," I prefer to
describe myself by vessel type and location. E.g., "This is the southbound
pleasurecraft at Mile 221," or "This is the northbound motoryacht waiting to
enter the lock."

I have often heard boat operators call a tow without this kind of
identification, and the tows typically remain silent, as they don't know where
you are, which boat you are (if there are two or more in the area), which tow
you are trying to hail, or whether you are anywhere close to them.

4. On wide open stretches, do not call the tow when you are still a couple of
miles away. Even though you can see the tow (it's big), the captain may not be
able to see you yet. Your boat will appear very, very tiny from that distance.

5. On narrow rivers (like the Tenn-Tom below Columbus, Mississippi), it's a
good idea to periodically announce your location, particularly if you are
headed into a blind hairpin turn. E.g., "Southbound pleasurecraft at mile 185,
any interested traffic." I can't tell you how many times I have gotten a
response from an as-yet unseen, but very close, tow coming toward us who has
asked us to hold back until the tow could make the tight bend. Better to slow
down and wait than to meet the tow in a narrow bend and find yourself forced
to cross the shoaly water on the inside of the bend (that is a good way to go
aground).

6. In any passing situation, do call the tow in plenty of time for you to be
able to move to the side of the channel that the tow captain designates.

**One other item for those of you getting into the rivers: A tow who is going
downstream will typically refer to himself as "southbound" no matter what the
compass says. And a tow heading upstream against the current will refer to the
vessel as "northbound." This is all fine and good when your rivers are running
pretty much north and south (like the Illinois or the Mississippi). When you
get on the Tennessee River from the Ohio, however, you will be headed upstream
(i.e., "northbound") even though your compass will be showing 180 degrees or
something not far from that. To avoid confusion, you may want to refer to your
own vessel as the one headed "upstream" or "downstream," depending on which
way you are headed.

Coleen Barger
Calypso Poet
http://calypsopoet.net