learned the hard way

[big dreamer racing]

Went tubing with my 2 kids & their friends, 5 of us together.
Lesson 1; don't tube too fast even though it looks like fun for you. kids aren't ready for speed yet, they (my kids)fell of after 5 min. The tube stays with them (nice safety feature) so I go pick them up, then the tube. It's windy with good size waves for our lake, well DUMB me jumps in after missing the tube, at least I shut off the boat, no life jacket or rope, I get the tube & realize the boat has blown away from me, my son throws a rope but misses & it starts sinking because of a metal ring on it, he jumps in after it (wearing a life jacket) & swims to me & the tube.
Lesson 2; Eat something so you have energy during the day, I was starting to realize I wasn't gonna make it to the boat easy as I thought, start yelling to my daughter on the boat to throw the floatation cushion & as a girl she can't throw so she jumps in(wearing a life jacket) with the cushion & my life jacket & swims to us. After praying to God for help I tell their friends to drop the anchor. And we continue to swim for the boat not making much headway either, luckily a coworker/friend was coming by in his boat so I flagged him over and gave him the rope, it took him 10 minutes of off idle throttle to get us to my boat, so I don't know how I would have made it.
Moral of this thread is don't tube fast, wear a life jacket if not an olympic/endurance swimmer, anchor & grab a rope before jumping in water after something especially in windy weather, and then later thank & hug your daughter after she saves your stupid butt from drowning.

 

[woosterken]

Re: learned the hard way

WOW!!!! sounds like quite an adventure glad to hear all worked out for the good.
sounds like it is time for some thing REALLY SPECIAL !!!!
for your life saveing kids.

woosterken

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: learned the hard way

Sounds like quite the adventure. Why did you not stay on the boat ????

 

[rndn]

Re: learned the hard way

I'm sure glad nobody was injured. It's amazing how quickly a fun outing can turn into a very serious situation.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: learned the hard way

Yup, a very bad decision (jumping in the water/leaving the boat) that could have turned into tragedy. That said, thanks for being man enough to post the story here - it is a good learning item for other new boaters.

 

[Maclin]

Re: learned the hard way

What do you mean by "the tube stays with them..." ? Do you mean the tube is not being towed by the boat and the riders have a ski type rope that they hold on to?

 

[big dreamer racing]

Re: learned the hard way

What do you mean by "the tube stays with them..." ? Do you mean the tube is not being towed by the boat and the riders have a ski type rope that they hold on to?

The tube has a release mechanism built into the webbing that is activated with a small lanyard type rope around the rider's wrist, when pulled, like falling off the tube, the release opens a "latch" & releases the small metal ring on the rope. I bought the tube from West Marine and find it's a very nice "safety" feature since it's easier to see a big yellow tube in the water than a persons head bobbing in the water, you never know if the other boaters are paying attention. Also if the rider wants to stop they can pull the string & it releases the rope and they stay floating on the tube.

 

[sprouticus]

Re: learned the hard way

I've never seen anything like that tube before............sounds usefull!

 

[franco802]

Re: learned the hard way

Glad everything turned out ok, sounds like you had your hands full there!

 

[travaler18]

Re: learned the hard way

dont usually tube unless my nephews are up and they always seemd to hurt themselveswhen they fell off at faster speeds. so i started doing tight figure eights at slow speeds churning up the water then luanching the tube off the swells.they loved it and it can be done in small area away from traffic .------THEEEN---when your brother inlaw sees how much fun it is and wants to try it ,you get that water really churning and can launch him 15 ft into the air

 

[bamadave]

Re: learned the hard way

Or you can learn from my mistake and let the kids pull me on the FREQUENT FLYER after pulling them, and throwing them off, and when I motioned to slow down, they started laughing and sped up. Yeah, I wished I only went 15 feet, tore 4 muscles in each shoulder. Found out the hard way at 50, I not as young as I thought I was.

 

[redfury]

Re: learned the hard way

LOL, the kids got to beat up on the old man, eh?

I made the mistake of daring my brother in law to shake me off the tube. I taunted him by only holding onto the tube with my teeth at one point.

That's when the swells came and I turned into the human slingshot
He never shook me, but my lower back hurt like hell for 2 weeks afterwards from my legs flailing wildly behind me, hyper extending my back.


Moral of the story, don't mess with the wheelman.

 

[myoung84]

Re: learned the hard way

A bit off the subject, but do you have any online links to your safety detaching tube? That sounds interesting.

 

[RollingWanderer]

Re: learned the hard way

A bit off the subject, but do you have any online links to your safety detaching tube? That sounds interesting.

Here you go...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...81657&storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001

...this will work with existing tubes

 

[big dreamer racing]

Re: learned the hard way

Here you go...

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...81657&storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001

...this will work with existing tubes

Yep that is it, except mine is built into the front webbing, highly recommend.
The tube is called the dragon blaster sold under the west marine name. I looked but didn't find it listed bought it last year.