Regarding being towed by one's boat, the idea scares me. I once jumped off the side of my H20 to go out on the trap. The problem was I wasn't hooked up (I still get ribbed about it). So there I was, legs on the deck, torso in the water, hanging on by the hotstick and mainsheet. My crew looked at me with much concern, but no sense of what to do. Everytime I tried to tell them, I got a mouth/lung full of water. It was too much for them to pull me back on, and finally, with ever more frantic gestures, I got the crew to hand me the trap handle and I yanked myself back on board. I was truly getting worried about drowning and was close to the point of letting go in order to not drown. (We were racing, so I was trying desperately to get back on, knowing that if I let go, the boat was going over and I would be separated from it.

Without help, I can't imaging being dragged any distance. If one's boat didn't go over, it would be really hard to release yourself because of the pressure of the water rushing over you.

David
ex H20, now A cat