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When you're ready to begin, choose a safe location to stop your boat. Turn off the engine and remove the key. e sure to remove the ignition key any time someone is in the water near your propeller. Have your passengers board the towable tube and paddle away from the boat. Check that all riders are wearing life jackets. Boats with inboard engines should run the bilge blower while the engine is off. The blower vents any accumulated gasoline fumes from the engine compartment. This allows you to start your engine again immediately (without having to wait four minutes for the blower to clear the engine compartment.)
Do not strap arms or legs to ski tube (riders will drown if the tube flips over.)
Do not place arms or legs between the tube and its nylon cover.
Restart your engine. Move slowly though the water at idle speed until the tow rope is tight and aligned directly behind the boat. Never "jerk start" a ski tube. Do not launch from a dock or land.
You can now tow at slow or fast speeds. As a general guide, a safe "fast" towing speed for adults is about 20-25 mph. Safe speeds for children are less than 20 mph.
Most towables will come up on plane at 10 to 25 mph, depending on the weight of the riders. It is important to keep the towable's nose up until planning.
Your inflatable water toy should slow at the same rate your boat slows. Make sure that the water tube isn't "sneaking up" on the boat when the boat slows or stops.
The safest and easiest way to tow is to simply keep the towable directly behind your boat, in the "flat" area between your two wakes. The "flat" area is in the middle of the wake "V" pattern.
The boat captain can place riders "outside the wake" by maneuvering the boat through a series of s-turns. The sharper the s-turns, the greater the lateral movement of the tube. Note that excessive speed or sharp turns can cause the tube to flip over abruptly.
If you are towing at fast speeds, note how the towable tube can move much faster than the boat. When moving in a straight line, the boat and tube move at the same speed. When a ski tube makes a sharp turn, tube speed can suddenly become twice that of the boat. For example, a boat towing at 15 MPH can easily have a towable moving 30 MPH from side-to-side.
At fast speeds, be aware of how Centrifugal Force affects your riders. Centrifugal Force is most apparent after a ski tube jumps a wake and makes a sharp turn to come back over a wake. Centrifugal Force acts on the rider during the turn, making it natural for the rider to fall off the tube away from the boat. This is known as the "slingshot effect." The boat captain has the responsibility to control boat speed, Centrifugal Force and the "slingshot effect."
Most fatal ski tube accidents happen when riders strike another object while turning. Extraordinary caution and vigilance is required when making s-turn maneuvers at fast speed. It only takes a split second of inattention to send riders smashing into a dock, piling, sign, channel marker, rocks or another boat. Accidents are also common when riders loose their grip while jumping wakes or making sharp turns.
Note the "multiplying effect" that boat wakes can have one each other. A boat's wake is a sine wave moving through the water. When combined with another boat's wake (or naturally occurring swell or chop), the resulting wake can be the sum of the height of both wakes. This is the multiplying effect of naturally occurring sine waves. For example say your boat makes a 2 foot tall wake while on plane. Another boat traveling next to you makes a 3 foot wake. At certain points the sine waves will meet and the resulting combined wake will be 5 feet tall! This is critical for your riders. If a rider is used to jumping 2 foot wakes, a 5 foot wake will launch them much higher with much greater force. It is difficult to remain safely in control when this happens. At least one family has been devastated by this effect. A boat towing children was traveling at a safe distance from nearby docks. Then two boats wakes combined. The children lost their grip as they were launched off the giant wake. They flew much farther and much faster because of the unusually large wake. They kids hit their heads on a dock (that under normal conditions was a safe distance away.) One died and one is permanently brain damaged.
Always tow at speeds that are safe for the weight, size, strength and skill level of your passengers. Both the boat and tube should be under full control at all times. If you're not completely in control, slow down.
If a rider falls off the water ski tube, pick them up immediately. Fallen passengers are not easily seen by other boats. The boat captain should slow down immediately. The observer should maintain visual contact with the fallen rider and provide directions to the boat captain. The observer should look for hand signals from the rider indicating that he/she is okay. Move towards the fallen rider with the boat at slow speed. The boat should be pointed into the wind or current, whichever is stronger. Turn off engine and remove the ignition key when approaching the fallen rider. If the rider is hurt but able to grab a rope, throw them a line and gently haul them in. If the injured person can't grab a rope, let the boat drift towards them with the engine off. Always keep the boat operator's side toward the victim. Retrieve the rider from the water when your boat gets close. Put a swimmer in the water to retrieve the rider only as a last resort (you don't want to risk having to retrieve two people if you don't have to.) Remember that it's much harder to retrieve people from the water than most people think. You may wish to practice this technique in advance of an emergency.
If anyone becomes tired, take a break. Boaters' fatigue and skiers' fatigue are a major contributors to accidents. The risk of accidents increases as the day progresses and sun, motion, noise and muscle strain take their toll.
When the ride is over, stop the boat in a safe location. Shut off the engine and remove the ignition key. Using your hands, pull the tow rope into the boat to bring the towable tube closer. Allow riders to re-board the boat. Safely secure the ski tube and rope. It's difficult to stow a big tube on a small boat. A secured ski tube must not obstruct the boat captain's view. An inflatable should be well secured so the captain doesn't need to worry about the ski tube flying off the boat. Tie-down kits are available for about $20 to help secure a tube to a boat. Have an inflator aboard so the tube can be easily deflated and re-inflated if necessary. A deflated tube is much easier to stow.
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