Well, Sat was quite the experience. First time using a towable and our first severe T-Storm.
The story:
Bought my first towable on Friday to take the wife and kids tubing on Saturday.
Bought a Connelly 2 person towable that is very fun for the kids. Only towed 1 child at a time tho as I don't really want butted heads and chipped teeth.
First child (oldest boy) went first and I took it easy, learning how the boat was going to handle and how the tube was going to react. Everything smooth albeit a little boring for the 10 yr old.
Next child (youngest, boy, we call him maniac age 7). Got a little braver towing him around and cut across my own wake several times at a slow speed (10-15 mph). OOOPS! Bounced him completely out of the tube on his face. He came up sputtering and it gave me a shock. As a parent this kind of freaks you out. Freaked my wife out too as she can't swim (yet). After sputtering for a second, he starts laughing like crazy. He's a madman I tell ya.
Next child (middle girl, age 7 - will be 8 in 2 days). Towing her around REAL slow as she is scared to get dunked. Crossing the wake and I look back at her a few times just to keep a 4th pair of eyes on her. I cross my wake a few times and I look back to watch her bounce around and I see the tube go UNDER the water and her head go under with it. That really flipped me out. I immediately cut the power and she was coughing and sputtering but not scared. Surprising really as it didn't do much for me.
So we round the kids up to head back to the marina for a minute to get something out of the jeep. To the west of us is a dark cloud but we cant see very far west as there is a tree line in the way. No thunder or rain. We get everyone loaded and start getting pelted by rain. Not the small drops either. By the time I get the boat turned around and headed for the marina it starts pouring buckets. Then the lightning starts...WOW! Its everywhere and loud as crap. Boats and pwc's are blowing by us at breakneck speed. Remembering the solid advice I've gotten on here about T-storms I turn the boat around and head to a dock that was nearby where we were tubing.
The wife is really freaked out (not to mention the kids). I'm ok at this point as I have one goal in mind. Get everyone the freak off the boat! Wife is yelling we can't dock at this dock because it has a sign that says no trespassing. Its a kids camp apparently. I tell her, I'm docking there and I don't care what ANYONE says. So we pull up to the dock in the whipping wind and rain and lightning and we get everyone off and I hurriedly (but thoroughly) tie the boat up to the dock. Scared to death its going to get swamped or blown away into some nearby rocks. We get everyone off and into the woods. We hike up these steps to a nearby building and huddle next to a wall that gives us some protection from the blowing rain. While we're standing there in this heck-acious storm, a tree limb about 6-8ft and 6" in diameter comes crashing down 18" from where I'm standing. I just shook my head in disbelief. The 2 youngest kids are crying, the oldest doesn't seem to be too scared (tho later he told me he was really freaked out).
Eventually we walked futher into the camp and was welcomed by the director and we talked to her and some of the camp counselors about the camp while we were waiting for the storm to blow itself out. While we were there we learned the camp had actually gotten hit close by and several of the campers could smell a burning smell near one of the cabins. Freaky.
Finally the storm blew itself out and we went to check the boat out. The bilge pump had come on automatically and was pumping quite a bit of water out. Thankfully my quick tied rope had held and kept the boat close to the dock. We were in such a hurry to get out of the boat we had left our keys, camera, wallets, everything except our PFDs (we had those on) in the boat.
So after getting everything squared away we headed home for the day and just chilled out at home for the rest of the afternoon.
NOT an experience I care to repeat anytime soon!
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who chimed in on the thread "What to do in a Thunderstorm" that I had posted a month ago (or so)!!!!
And thanks to Camp YI on Percy Priest Lake!
The story:
Bought my first towable on Friday to take the wife and kids tubing on Saturday.
Bought a Connelly 2 person towable that is very fun for the kids. Only towed 1 child at a time tho as I don't really want butted heads and chipped teeth.
First child (oldest boy) went first and I took it easy, learning how the boat was going to handle and how the tube was going to react. Everything smooth albeit a little boring for the 10 yr old.
Next child (youngest, boy, we call him maniac age 7). Got a little braver towing him around and cut across my own wake several times at a slow speed (10-15 mph). OOOPS! Bounced him completely out of the tube on his face. He came up sputtering and it gave me a shock. As a parent this kind of freaks you out. Freaked my wife out too as she can't swim (yet). After sputtering for a second, he starts laughing like crazy. He's a madman I tell ya.
Next child (middle girl, age 7 - will be 8 in 2 days). Towing her around REAL slow as she is scared to get dunked. Crossing the wake and I look back at her a few times just to keep a 4th pair of eyes on her. I cross my wake a few times and I look back to watch her bounce around and I see the tube go UNDER the water and her head go under with it. That really flipped me out. I immediately cut the power and she was coughing and sputtering but not scared. Surprising really as it didn't do much for me.
So we round the kids up to head back to the marina for a minute to get something out of the jeep. To the west of us is a dark cloud but we cant see very far west as there is a tree line in the way. No thunder or rain. We get everyone loaded and start getting pelted by rain. Not the small drops either. By the time I get the boat turned around and headed for the marina it starts pouring buckets. Then the lightning starts...WOW! Its everywhere and loud as crap. Boats and pwc's are blowing by us at breakneck speed. Remembering the solid advice I've gotten on here about T-storms I turn the boat around and head to a dock that was nearby where we were tubing.
The wife is really freaked out (not to mention the kids). I'm ok at this point as I have one goal in mind. Get everyone the freak off the boat! Wife is yelling we can't dock at this dock because it has a sign that says no trespassing. Its a kids camp apparently. I tell her, I'm docking there and I don't care what ANYONE says. So we pull up to the dock in the whipping wind and rain and lightning and we get everyone off and I hurriedly (but thoroughly) tie the boat up to the dock. Scared to death its going to get swamped or blown away into some nearby rocks. We get everyone off and into the woods. We hike up these steps to a nearby building and huddle next to a wall that gives us some protection from the blowing rain. While we're standing there in this heck-acious storm, a tree limb about 6-8ft and 6" in diameter comes crashing down 18" from where I'm standing. I just shook my head in disbelief. The 2 youngest kids are crying, the oldest doesn't seem to be too scared (tho later he told me he was really freaked out).
Eventually we walked futher into the camp and was welcomed by the director and we talked to her and some of the camp counselors about the camp while we were waiting for the storm to blow itself out. While we were there we learned the camp had actually gotten hit close by and several of the campers could smell a burning smell near one of the cabins. Freaky.
Finally the storm blew itself out and we went to check the boat out. The bilge pump had come on automatically and was pumping quite a bit of water out. Thankfully my quick tied rope had held and kept the boat close to the dock. We were in such a hurry to get out of the boat we had left our keys, camera, wallets, everything except our PFDs (we had those on) in the boat.
So after getting everything squared away we headed home for the day and just chilled out at home for the rest of the afternoon.
NOT an experience I care to repeat anytime soon!
Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who chimed in on the thread "What to do in a Thunderstorm" that I had posted a month ago (or so)!!!!
And thanks to Camp YI on Percy Priest Lake!
