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Happy new year - peace to tubers!
Not much happening at work today, more time to kill...
So, I am bagging on tubing, that doesn't mean I hate tubers as individuals. Hate is a strong word, it's kind of joke in my boat that I "hate" tubers. My ski club pairs newbies without boats with experienced skiers/boarders so I get lots of opportunities to have fun teaching tubers to ski, wakeboard or surf. It's all in the spirit of increasing an individauls "fun" experience on the water, not degrading an individual. It's hard to convey this spirit through this medium.
There are lots of tubers at my lake, I am friends with some of them too. I have even approached perfect strangers tubing in my favorite ski/board cove and offerred to teach them to ski or board. A few times these perfect strangers have even accepted my offer resulting in new formed friendships and new talents learned. My tubing friends understand my position and we have fun with it. I have taught two out of the last three annual waterski clinics put on by my ski club. I truly enjoy teaching adults and children to ski and wakeboard. Working at Clubmed as a ski instructor in a family resort (Florida, Martinique, Turks, and Tahiti) for two years allowed me to gain the experience of teaching hundreds of people to ski/board. I enjoy sharing my passion with others as much as I enjoy being on the handle side of the rope.
In my first post I made a little rant then offerred an answer to the question posted. I will reiterate the answer: "In my opinion - it's OK to tow a tube off the tower as long as you keep the side pull to a minimum". Correct Craft is very risk adverse when it comes to liability stickers (since 1972 when my family first started removing the liability stickers off our first Nautique). It will be difficult to get a good answer from the factory or dealer for this reason. My 211 has a ski tow pylon, a lifting ring, and a wakeboard tower, all reasonable options for pulling a tube. Next time I pull a tube (yes, I will at some point), if the tubers are small children it will be from the tower on a rope no longer than 50' and no faster than 15mph, if they are adults it will be from the pylon with a 50' rope, if I had no pylon I would tow adults from the rear lifting ring. I have had the lifting ring out of my boat, it's attached to a 1/2 steel threaded rod bolted to the transom, the hull is about 1" thick around the shank where the rod threads into the ring, it's very strong and should be fine towing a tube.
If anybody ever wants to go out skiing, boarding, or surfing in Northern California shoot me a note. There is usually room for at least one more in my boat.
mikeskiw@gmail.com
ps These treads get boring without pictures. Here is a Mikeski tubing pix!
Not much happening at work today, more time to kill...
So, I am bagging on tubing, that doesn't mean I hate tubers as individuals. Hate is a strong word, it's kind of joke in my boat that I "hate" tubers. My ski club pairs newbies without boats with experienced skiers/boarders so I get lots of opportunities to have fun teaching tubers to ski, wakeboard or surf. It's all in the spirit of increasing an individauls "fun" experience on the water, not degrading an individual. It's hard to convey this spirit through this medium.
There are lots of tubers at my lake, I am friends with some of them too. I have even approached perfect strangers tubing in my favorite ski/board cove and offerred to teach them to ski or board. A few times these perfect strangers have even accepted my offer resulting in new formed friendships and new talents learned. My tubing friends understand my position and we have fun with it. I have taught two out of the last three annual waterski clinics put on by my ski club. I truly enjoy teaching adults and children to ski and wakeboard. Working at Clubmed as a ski instructor in a family resort (Florida, Martinique, Turks, and Tahiti) for two years allowed me to gain the experience of teaching hundreds of people to ski/board. I enjoy sharing my passion with others as much as I enjoy being on the handle side of the rope.
In my first post I made a little rant then offerred an answer to the question posted. I will reiterate the answer: "In my opinion - it's OK to tow a tube off the tower as long as you keep the side pull to a minimum". Correct Craft is very risk adverse when it comes to liability stickers (since 1972 when my family first started removing the liability stickers off our first Nautique). It will be difficult to get a good answer from the factory or dealer for this reason. My 211 has a ski tow pylon, a lifting ring, and a wakeboard tower, all reasonable options for pulling a tube. Next time I pull a tube (yes, I will at some point), if the tubers are small children it will be from the tower on a rope no longer than 50' and no faster than 15mph, if they are adults it will be from the pylon with a 50' rope, if I had no pylon I would tow adults from the rear lifting ring. I have had the lifting ring out of my boat, it's attached to a 1/2 steel threaded rod bolted to the transom, the hull is about 1" thick around the shank where the rod threads into the ring, it's very strong and should be fine towing a tube.
If anybody ever wants to go out skiing, boarding, or surfing in Northern California shoot me a note. There is usually room for at least one more in my boat.
mikeskiw@gmail.com
ps These treads get boring without pictures. Here is a Mikeski tubing pix!
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