After 35+ years and tens of thousands of miles of towing dinghies, both hard and soft, never a single issue, not even a wrapped painter. Every time we anchor or stop I simply reach over a "short rope" the dinghy. It is like a third sense and just happens automatically. You get used to it...
Like anything related to sailing it is:
How
What
When
Where
The vast majority of boats in the Northeast tow dinghies but it all comes down to how, what, when & where you are.... You just have to tap into the old noggin every now and then and not be unwise about the how, what, when & where..
There are a lot of BEAUTIFUL places we'd never stop or have seen if we had to get a dinghy off deck or out of the davits every single time we wanted to go ashore and check something out. We will anchor sometimes 4-5 times per day and go ashore, having the dinghy ready is key... We just got back from a 244nm trip and only about 30nm of it were with the dinghy in the davits... No weather which required deck stowage and only half a day of that "needed speed" which I will use the davits for....
