Boating – June 2019

36 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JUNE 2019

But what about the rest of us

with runabouts and center-

consoles that we must drive

with our own senses? Fear not,

boaters have been pulling rid-

ers behind technologically

lacking boats since forever. For

instance, my family’s 20-foot

center-console has analog

gauges and a pitot-tube speed-

ometer that hasn’t worked

since the Clinton administra-

tion, but we still manage to ski,

board and tube behind it. Try

these tips on how to enjoy tow

sports the old-fashioned way.

READY FOR TAKEOFF

When getting skiers and

boarders up behind your boat,

it’s important not to gun the

throttle. But you also don’t

want to start too slow and drag

your riders. Finding the right

pace of acceleration is a feel

thing that is diff erent for each

boat. (Our family boat has a

slight delay while the old out-

board spools up that requires a

little extra juice on the throttle

before easing back.) I like to

TOW THE LINE

How to pull skiers, boarders and tubers the old-fashioned way.

hold the throttle between my

thumb and index fi nger so that

I can use a light touch while

fi nding the sweet spot.

MAINTAINING SPEEDS

Once your rider is up, main-

taining the best speed for his

abilities is crucial. For wake-

boarders, that’s between 18

to 22 mph. For skiers, keep

the boat speed between 25 to

36 mph. For tubers, keep the

speed at 20 mph and under.

(Think centrifugal force—

when you execute a hard turn

at 20 mph, the tube behind you

is going to accelerate a lot fast-

er through the turn.) Falling off

the tube and hitting the water

at high speeds is dangerous.

If your speedometer isn’t

working, how do you measure

speed? I use a GPS app on my

phone. Short of that, I can get a

sense of the proper towing

speed by looking at the rpm

gauge. Wakeboarding speeds

are best somewhere just above

planing rpm (typically that’s

2,500 for a sterndrive and

3,000 for an outboard) where

the boat still produces a large

wake. Skiing generally falls in

the midrange rpm band (3,500

to 4,500 rpm), and tubing runs

somewhere in between.

Without the benefit of

Perfect Pass or Zero Off, expect

to make almost constant tiny

throttle adjustments to main-

tain the right speed.

TRACKING TRUE While

towing tubers entails lots of

S-curves and hard turns, when

towing skiers and boarders,

you need to maintain a straight

course for as long as possible.

Try to point the bow of the

boat at a landmark and work

to keep it aimed there until

it’s time to turn and go the

other way. Do this with minor

adjustments at the wheel,

accounting for both the pull

exerted by skiers and boarders

cutting in and out of the wake

as well as the lag time between

your movement of the wheel

and the boat’s course correc-

tion. If you oversteer, you’ll

wind up taking your riders on a

snakelike ride more suited for

the tubers in your crew.

SPOT ON Whether you have

GPS speed control or not, us-

ing a spotter is imperative. But

if you’re manually maintaining

speed and course from the

helm, your entire focus should

be there. Your designated spot-

ter needs to be vigilant while

watching the rider and should

alert you to a downed rider

almost instantly. Then you can

do it all over again. And that's

what makes it fun.

T h e serious tow-sports boats have

dedicated GPS speed-control sys-

tems, such as Zero Off or Perfect

Pass, as well as other digitally con-

trolled systems that basically let the

driver set the boat on autopilot.

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TIP

An old-fashioned habit that should be discarded

is the use of a ski belt. Wear an approved life vest

during watersports.