The word "towline" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to a rope or cable used to pull a boat, vehicle, or aircraft from one place to another. Example sentence: The towline strained beneath the weight of the boat as it was pulled to shore.
When the planned altitude has been reached, or earlier if good lift is encountered, the pilot releases the towline by pulling a knob in the cockpit.
"He's the dog-whisperer," an admirer gushed, as Mackey charismatically paced up and down the towline.
But, whichever version you end up preferring, Apple is in charge: the songs follow her around like a boat on a towline.
Captain Jensen stopped, letting his towline sink deep enough for some of the racers to pass.
Dallas looked longingly at a three-year-old dog in the front of Mitch's towline.
Walking first to the front of the towline, Seavey unclipped his lead dogs, Diesel and Beatle, and escorted them back to some straw nearer the middle of the pack.
(According to the Sled Dog Action Coalition, the unofficial death toll exceeds a hundred and forty, with causes ranging from internal hemorrhaging to strangulation from towlines).
The Kulluk, a mobile oil drilling rig owned by Royal Dutch Shell, is said to be adrift again off the Alaskan coast after losing towlines from two vessels that were trying to hold it in place in pummeling winds and high seas.
Over the weekend, support crews struggled in 25-foot swells to reconnect towlines, succeeding several times.
The Aiviq then lost power, and other support ships and a Coast Guard cutter were brought in to help with engine repairs and to reconnect towlines to the Kulluk, which does not have its own propulsion system.
Earlier Monday, a Shell spokesman had said that the rig had been brought under control after towlines were reconnected to two ships during a break in what had been several days of extremely rough seas and high winds.
