[Paddlewise] Kayak towing incident

Experienced a very disconcerting situation this weekend while
practice-towing my son for the first time.   Not certain if it was equipment
failure or procedural error -- so I'll let my friends on Paddlewise decide!

Location: Lake Martin, Alabama
Kayak towing:  NDK Explorer
Kayak towed: CD Solstice ST
Towing rig: Salamander Keel Hauler [
http://www.planetarygear.com/S3/showdetl.cfm?&DID=11&Product_ID=559&CATID=16
 ]
Weather: Sunny with 8-12 knot winds
Water conditions: Choppy [wake waves plus wind]
Sequence of events: Released the carabiner and rope from the keel hauler and
hooked the carabiner to the eye-plate deck fitting where the bow's
grab-handle is attached.  [The fitting is about five inches down the deck
off the boat's nose and secured by two screws.]  Once the carabiner was
attached correctly I started to slowly paddle away.  Everything seemed to be
working fine -- rope was fully extended, bungie attachment kicked in and
kayak was under tow with just a bit more paddling effort than usual.  After
about four minutes of cautious towing, the rope went slack when the
carabiner somehow came off the eye plate.  I assumed I had failed to attach
it correctly -- somehow.  Paddled back to the boat, reattached the carabiner
carefully and got on with the towing process.  Within a minute, the
carabiner detached from the eye plate again. I couldn't believe it!  Way too
Houdini-like for me!!!  Exasperated, I hooked it up a third time and managed
to complete a 1.5-mile tow without incident. Needless to say to this
situation really bothered me.  What if it had been in a life-threatening
predicament with a one-time chance to tow out of it?  A damned shame if
injury or loss of life had been the outcome.

Which brings us back to the important question: Was it equipment failure,
procedural error or both?  I carefully checked the eye plate and
carabiner -- neither were damaged in any way.  I can only surmise that, due
to the chop and boat rock, the spring-loaded carabiner managed to open up
and then slip out of the eye plate -- as amazing as that may seem [at least
to me].  That being the case, options to prevent this from happening again
are:  replace the OE carabiner with a carabiner equipped with a twist-lock
mechanism; replace the OE carabiner with a D-ring type; use a different
connection point [deck line or grab-handle rope]; or replace the carabiner
and use a different attachment point.  I have my thoughts on each option,
but I don't want to bias the list.

Suggestions?

Jim Tynan
Pike Road, AL

BTW -- Called Salamander today to discuss what had happened.  I'm sorry to
say the rep I spoke with didn't seem to really care.  His only comment was
that this was the first time he'd ever heard of such a thing happening --
nothing else.  [Of course, I was hoping he would at least suggest the use of
a different carabiner.]


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