Boating – June 2019

48 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JUNE 2019

Tubing is a catch-all term. Whether you a tow your crew atop a six-seater

sea serpent, a torpedo for two, or a bona fi de single-person tube, tubing

provides a ton of fun for all age groups. The skill level required for riders

and boat skippers might be less than that required for wakesurfi ng,

wakeboarding or water skiing, but the attention to safety must be

maintained. No article can cover all scenarios. But these tips should serve

as a primer to those boaters new to tubing and a refresher course for old

hands at the helm. —Kevin Falvey

WEAR LIFE

JACKETS Everyone

wears a life jacket. It

doesn’t matter that

your 34-year old cous-

in Jethro worked as a

lifeguard and reached

all-county status for

his swimming exploits

back at old Horace

Harding High. (Go

Jaguars!) If there is

a wipeout, an injury

might occur that can

turn a rider into a

victim faster than you

can say, “But he was

such a good swimmer.”

TOW LOW Even

tied to a fl ush ring

KEEP CLEAR Stay at

least three towrope

lengths away from

shore, docks, navi-

gation aids, moored

boats, and any other

obstructions and

shallow water. If your

crew wipes out, they

can be hurt.

THROTTLE BACK

Keep your speed under

20 mph, max. Hitting

the water going fast

can break a neck, a

limb or cause other

horrifi c injury. We

skippers need to keep

our responsible hat on

and put the welfare of

our crew fi rst—even if

they disagree.

off the transom, a

nose-diving tube can

cause loss of control

and/or a blown-out

prop hub. Do not tow

from wake towers or

tall ski pylons. When

tubes nose-dive, they

exert tremendous

boat-stopping power

that can pull a boat

over on its side if the

tow point is too high.

KEEP A LOOKOUT

Some tube riders

just keep going and

going and going until

the captain and crew

aboard the boat be-

come complacent and,

subsequently, casual

about watching what’s

going on in the wake.

That’s exactly the time

your lulled-by-the-

fun rider will fall off

or another boat will

dart toward your wake

from behind a point or

out of a cove. Main-

tain a vigilance and

formally assign one

crewmember aboard

to be the lookout.

PICK UP? SHUT

DOWN! There is no

reason to leave the

engine(s) running

when picking up

tubers. Even if you are

simply pulling them in

from atop the fl oat, the

engine should be off to

eliminate the risk of

injury from propellers,

exhaust, and a boat

that might lurch if its

engine is left idling. If

your boat is equipped

with a generator, shut

that down too.

THE RIGHT ROPE

Don’t repurpose a ski

towrope for a tube

towline. For one thing,

the handle or han-

dles will bounce and

skip and splash water

onto the tubers. For

another, tubes, most of

which carry multiple

riders, exert much

more pressure than a

skier or wakeboard-

er, and so require a

stronger line. Usually

the tube itself will be

imprinted with the

minimum breaking

strength required to

tow it safely. Invest in

that towrope.

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TOW-TUBE

SAFETY

Tips for towing tubers.

Scan this tag to view how-to video tips

for safely picking up a rider, swimmer or

diver from the water, or visit boating.mg/

propstrike.

SCAN ME