Hi TC,

Yes I believe a cowtail is worth it. I do however believe that getting some practice and experience on how to use it is worthwhile as well. I believe there are 2 fundamental uses for Cowtails. The first use is to give yourself a reachable and accessible way to connect to a line if YOU are entrapped. This is essential for challenging whitewater where the risk of pinning is high. The second usage is to use in towing. Live bait harnesses were never designed for people to use cowtails for towing so getting use to the amount of friction you want in your harness is of paramount importance. Cowtail are used mostly for towing so I use a minimum amount of friction so I can easily pull out and release the boat if necessary. I go directly through the plastic without using the tri-glide if I expect to be rescuing lots of boats... like during beginner classes on class 2 for example.
Let me know how it goes!
Jim