New tube=concussion

[scrit9mm]

The wife and I were out on our new 3 person "Retro" towable from ******** saturday, my brother at the helm. 3 min into the ride we cross the wake become airborne and cartwheel across the water. I counted 3 rotations before I blacked out, came to with the boat already next to me. The wife fared a little better. Just shaking the headache this morn.

That thing is no joke.

 

[duke33]

Re: New tube=concussion

glad your ok.

 

[BoatDrinksQ5]

Re: New tube=concussion

MAN! Glad you guys are ok!

FYI - i have had two such blackouts from wakeboarding....the last one with brain surgery involved due to bleeding on side of brain a week later.

If headache gets any worse or persists for more then a day or two highly recommend getting it checked out (scanned). Don't take any thing for it... can promote lack of clotting in skull... (thinning)

 

[JASinIL2006]

Re: New tube=concussion

Ouch! That's terrible... any idea how fast the boat was pulling you?

 

[rallyart]

Re: New tube=concussion

If the boat was doing 25 mph then you were doing over 40 as you whipped from one side to the other. Your brother was driving so, if he is like most brothers, the chances of him only doing 25 are slim. If you're on the outside of the wake in a tight turn the tube could easily be doing twice the boat speed.
Some people don't wear vests while tubing because it's not cool. If you woke up with the boat beside you you obviously had a good one.

 

[haulnazz15]

Re: New tube=concussion

Speaking of not wearing life vests, there was one guy who drowned this past weekend at a small Oklahoma lake near Ponca City. He was tubing without a life vest, the tube flipped, and he never came up. Then his friend jumped in to search and somehow ended up getting cut up by the boat prop. I can't fathom why it would be "cool" to tube without a life vest (or any other water sport). If I were on the boat with those guys, I would have insisted they wear a life vest, and I would have taken the boat keys away until they complied.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: New tube=concussion

I figure the boat was going somewhere around 20-25 because we just started.

As far as the life jacket thing, on my boat if you are doing any towable sport you have one on. It's not even a discussion.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: New tube=concussion

Wow! that's crazy. Do you still participate?

MAN! Glad you guys are ok!

FYI - i have had two such blackouts from wakeboarding....the last one with brain surgery involved due to bleeding on side of brain a week later.

If headache gets any worse or persists for more then a day or two highly recommend getting it checked out (scanned). Don't take any thing for it... can promote lack of clotting in skull... (thinning)

 

[BoatDrinksQ5]

Re: New tube=concussion

Wow! that's crazy. Do you still participate?

Yeah - but a much different level of risk. pretty much just wake riding/slides, ollie's, olllie 180's etc, and wake skating.

No more jumping the wake, slower speeds...etc. My wife 'reminding' me every step of the way...

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: New tube=concussion

I get reminded as well. I ended the season last year with a pretty bad kneeboard spill and started this year with the tube incident.

 

[scb1712]

Re: New tube=concussion

Wow - glad u two are okay. Scary way to start off the season. I'm going to be out tubing with friends this weekend. Maybe i should suggest they bring helmets.

 

[bently]

Re: New tube=concussion

Poor boat control is what caused your almost injury. You can easily drive the boat watch the body language/position of the riders and easily slow at the point where they begin to fall off. The tube speed drastically slows when you back down the trottle. If you feel that making people cartwheel across the lake is the only way you can get them to fall off, you do not have enough experience in pulling tubes. 15 to 18 mph and a figure 8 will give you the big waves plus dismounting the riders but without the personal injury. I would not want to be sitting in your boat with a headache trying to have fun, makes no sense........

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: New tube=concussion

I find the riders are only as safe as the driver and spotter. Only 2 of my children and one good friend are allowed to drive the boat when towing for that very reason. Met a couple when camping about 5 years ago and they were very interested in going tubing. We took them out and when it was time to climb aboard the tube I handed them 2 life jackets. They told me they had tubed many times before and were excellent swimmers so did not need them. After I told them they had to wear them they started to argue about it. I returned them straight to the dock.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: New tube=concussion

Poor boat control is what caused your almost injury. You can easily drive the boat watch the body language/position of the riders and easily slow at the point where they begin to fall off. The tube speed drastically slows when you back down the trottle. If you feel that making people cartwheel across the lake is the only way you can get them to fall off, you do not have enough experience in pulling tubes. 15 to 18 mph and a figure 8 will give you the big waves plus dismounting the riders but without the personal injury. I would not want to be sitting in your boat with a headache trying to have fun, makes no sense........

I have since put both my little cousins on it and gave them an awesome ride. That tube is much different than the single person tube that we have kept the throttle down the entire tow with no bad spills. This one sits off the water so much it's like a trampoline when you hit it. The key really is letting up on the throttle when they approach the wake.

 

[scrit9mm]

Re: New tube=concussion

I find the riders are only as safe as the driver and spotter. Only 2 of my children and one good friend are allowed to drive the boat when towing for that very reason. Met a couple when camping about 5 years ago and they were very interested in going tubing. We took them out and when it was time to climb aboard the tube I handed them 2 life jackets. They told me they had tubed many times before and were excellent swimmers so did not need them. After I told them they had to wear them they started to argue about it. I returned them straight to the dock.

That blows my mind.