Sea Tow this year marks its 40th anniversary this year. Capt. Joseph Frohnhoefer Jr. founded the towing and on-water assistance company in Southold, N.Y., after Congress enacted a law that directed the Coast Guard to stop rendering assistance for non-emergency boating calls.
Sea Tow started with two boats on the north fork of New York’s Long Island and has grown into a network of more than 110 franchises, 500 boats, and 700 captains and crew nationwide.
“Forty years ago, our father founded Sea Tow to break barriers and pioneer an ‘industry’ that did not previously exist,” company president Kristen Frohnhoefer said in a statement. “What hasn’t changed in that time is a Sea Tow member having peace of mind by receiving priority service and knowing that a Sea Tow captain in a distinctive yellow Sea Tow boat is coming to assist them.”
Capt. Frohnhoefer, who died in 2015, established the Sea Tow Foundation In 2006 to work with communities and provide access to education, tools and resources to eliminate preventable boating accidents. In the fall of 2022, the foundation opened its 1,000th life jacket loaner station and has more than 1,300 stations in all 50 states.
