Tubing can be a lot of fun, but it can also be dangerous, especially when you are the one towing a tube behind your boat. Knowing how to properly tow a tube will not only make things safer for everyone, but it will also make things a lot more fun. So let’s see the correct steps you have to follow in order to properly pull a tube behind a boat.
To pull a tube behind a boat you have to take the following steps:
- Make sure everybody wears a life jacket
- Get somebody to be your spotter
- Go over the safety hand signals with everybody
- Attach the tow rope to the boat and to the tube
- Maintain a proper speed for tubing
- Stop when somebody falls off the tube
The 6 steps that you need to follow seem quite simple, but they are essential, so let’s go over them in a little more detail.
Table of Contents
Make Sure Everybody Wears a Life Jacket
Wearing a life jacket is always recommended when you are on a boat or when you are doing any kind of water sport. It doesn’t matter if you are a good swimmer, you can’t tread water forever, especially if you are already tired.
Get Somebody to Be Your Spotter
This is a very important thing, that a lot of people with no experience tend to ignore. A spoter is somebody that will be on the boat with you and will look behind you to the tube. His job is to let you know if somebody has fallen over, or if the tube turned over, etc. Basically he will be the person that tells you everything that happens behind your back.
Another important role of the spoter is that of a communicator, he is the only person that can hear and talk to you, and he is the only one that is able to see every hand signal of the people that are tubbing.
A lot of people think that they can manage everything all by themselves, but this can be very dangerous and it can lead to accidents which will put you and the people on the tube in danger.
Go Over the Safety Hand Signals With Everybody
The safety hand signals are the signals that you, alongside the spotter and the tubbers will agree upon before you get into the water. There are not necessarily any universal hand signals, but I will give you a few suggestions that are easy to see and hard to misinterpret.
Thumbs Up – go faster
Thumbs Down – go slower
Palm Raised Up – stop
Those three should be good enough for your first ride, as you get more experienced you can also invent new ones that can request a sudden turn, or going a certain direction, etc. Just make sure that they are easy to understand and that they can’t be misinterpreted. You don’t somebody to tell you to stop and instead you to take a sudden turn because you misinterpreted the signs.
Here is a video that shows you a lot more possible hand signals:
Attach the Tow Rope to the Boat and to the Tube
Now that all safety measures are taken, it’s time to take care of the tube and the boat.
One important thing to remember is that a tow rope is not a simple rope. Tubing tow ropes are able to pull a lot of weight without breaking, they won’t get damaged by water and they have a certain elasticity to them that makes them a lot more fun than just a simple rope. So get yourself a proper rope.
As for the attaching part I have two short videos for you, each one showing you how to safely tie the rope, depending on the system you have.
Video 1:
Video 2:
Maintain a Proper Speed for Tubing
Ok, so now we are in the water and it’s time to start the engine. Nothing will be different from the way you usually do it, so proceed as you normally would.
The key part is to know when to stop, tubin is not supposed to be done at insanely high speeds. Most tubes will come with some instructions and in there you will most likely find a recommended speed.
If your tube didn’t come with instructions, or you don’t have them anymore, here are the average speeds that you should me aiming for:
If kids are on the tube you should try to maintain around 15 mph.
If teens are on the tube you should aim for a constant speed of 20 mph.
If adults are on the tube, then you should try to maintain 25 mph.
Stop When Somebody Falls off the Tube
The final thing that you should remember is that it’s recommended to stop when somebody falls off the tube.
If you are alone on the lake or in the ocean, and you are not very far from the shore, and the person that fell tells you that they are ok and you can move on, then you can probably leave them there for a couple of minutes.
But if the person that fell off is a kid, or you are very far from the shore, or there are a lot of bouts around, or the weather is bad, then you definitely have to stop and wait for them to get back on the tube.
Extra: The Most Common Tubing Injuries
Even if it’s unpleasant to think about it it’s a good idea to know what to expect in case something goes bad. So here are the most common tubing injuries, according to a study from Science Daily:
- Head injuries
- Water impact injuries
- Sprains and strains.
- Upper extremities
- Injuries to muscles, tendons and ligaments.
- Tube malfunction
- Collision with debris
- Collisions with other tubes and tubers
Fortunately it’s quite easy to avoid all of those injuries. All you have to do is to simply follow the guide I gave you. Most of those injuries happen because people don’t take the proper safety measures, so they don’t wear life jackets or helmets, and they don’t have a spotter, or they aren’t careful enough when they drive.
So make sure you take all the necessary measures when you go tubing.
Final Thoughts
Tubing is one of the most entertaining things you can do, but if you don’t do it right it can end up quite bad. But fortunately there aren’t too many safety measures that you have to take, and none of them make things less fun. So be sure to follow all the steps on the list.