Old thread, but responding here... You've got to be kidding right?
Imagine you're in the impact zone. You have 15 second before the next wave is gonna get you. How much easier is it to connect to a tow loop rather than thread a rope/strap through a bow fitting?
No I'm not kidding- Lets imagine this, for discussions sake let's say that both you and your bro are out riding surf when all of the sudden, your ski dies right in the impact zone on a six foot day. No worries, you're on it, and you have a tow rope wrapped around your waist with a carabineer on it. You now have 15 seconds before the next set wave gets to you.
Do you really think that;
You're going to be able to get your friends attention and let him know you need a tow , get that tow strap off your waist and hooked on to your ski and hooked on to your friends ski and towed out of dangers way in less than 15seconds????
Any way you look at it, if your ski dies in the impact zone, you're going to take a few on the head, and unless you're riding in front of a rock jetty, you'd be way better off to just swim your ski into the shore and pull it up on the sand, where you can take off your hood and possibly find and fix the problem. And if you can't, you have all the time in the world to hook up a tow rope.