How fast when towing tube, skis, etc?

[scooper77515]

Just bought the wife a tube since she is not the stand-up type.

The instructions say 18 mph tops for the tube. Is that right?

I have never done a tube, only skiing and skurfing (tow surfing with a surfboard). None of the boats ever had a speedo, so I don't know how fast is comfy.

I need to give the wife a general speed to start at when pulling me on waterskis and on a surfboard, and I need to know about how fast to pull her on the tube.

Worst part is it is just the two of us, so I don't have a spotter to thumbs-up or thumbs-down to adjust my speed. Unless she happens to be looking in the mirror when I am thumbing her.

 

[sporsterjoel]

Tubing!!!!!! we do WOT as fast as the boat can go with as many sharp turns as possible,Isnt the point of tubing to try and knock the person off, kinda like a younger brother LMAO.... Dont think your wife would like that though.

 

[Craigmri]

Tubing

When wakeboarding it seems 20 MPH is good and for tubing 25 to 30...Any faster it just hurts when you crash on a tube at that speed.

Craig

Just bought the wife a tube since she is not the stand-up type.

The instructions say 18 mph tops for the tube. Is that right?

I have never done a tube, only skiing and skurfing (tow surfing with a surfboard). None of the boats ever had a speedo, so I don't know how fast is comfy.

I need to give the wife a general speed to start at when pulling me on waterskis and on a surfboard, and I need to know about how fast to pull her on the tube.

Worst part is it is just the two of us, so I don't have a spotter to thumbs-up or thumbs-down to adjust my speed. Unless she happens to be looking in the mirror when I am thumbing her.

 

[TVZ1965]

we let them ride awhile and then when are the thing its easy we get faster and faster. the object is to through them off. :hurray:

 

[sporsterjoel]

we let them ride awhile and then when are the thing its easy we get faster and faster. the object is to through them off. :hurray:

My brother is like spiderman on a tub, I need to be doing high speed turns at WOT into other boats wake to knock him off. Oh one thing to note its possible toget the tub in front of the boat while doing turns

 

[Gunsrunner]

:agree:
My better half would and does kill me when ever i go past about half throttle, she has hurt her neck falling off.
Donna has been known to hit WOT when i'm on the tubes!:rofl:
My wife and i have seen a couple of young blokes at WOT doing rolls and hanging on while under the tube only to pop up missing his shorts, LOL!

 

[scooper77515]

I gotta take it easy on the wife. I kinda want to keep her around for a while :reddevil:

What about skiing speed. Just a comfortable ski, most likely on 2 skis, since I am not sure if my boat will pull my fat butt out of the hole on a single ski (But I WILL TRy!!!)

 

[Craigmri]

20 MPH

Craig

 

[Teklock]

I gotta take it easy on the wife. I kinda want to keep her around for a while :reddevil:

What about skiing speed. Just a comfortable ski, most likely on 2 skis, since I am not sure if my boat will pull my fat butt out of the hole on a single ski (But I WILL TRy!!!)

18 to 23 mph is typical for wakeboarding and skiing, but remember it's illegal to ski without a spotter in some places.

 

[jondrew]

Tubing is the greatest part of boating! No skill required and lots of action. You have to guage your speed against the person being towed. With my wife or smaller kids I keep it well under 30 mph unless they demand more. You can easilly get the tube going much faster than that by "whipping" the tube with "S" turns. For teenagers and the really adventurous I have gone WOT. Be warned! A friend of my sons did suffer a mild concussion one time when she flew off the tube. I'm not sure if it was contact with the water or maybe she collided with my son as they were both tossed off from the tube. Water gets awfully hard at 40 + MPH.

 

[scooper77515]

It is legal to ski here without a spotter if you have a 4"X6" mirror. I have one that I fixed to a big suction cup and I stick it anywhere it sticks and I can see back.

So, 20 sounds like a good even number for the wife to shoot for when I am skiing. I might keep it right about there for the tube also unless she asks for more (she won't).

I have a feeling that after the first time I pull her, that tube will be used to tie up to the anchored boat and float out with a couple beers in hand.:cheers:

 

[usctrojan]

Fast as you can

I agree. The object is to throw them off. When I was a kid about 24 years ago, they didnt have these fancy tubes. We actually tied one of those ski ropes that had two handles to a regualer innertube and my father would pull us behind his jetboat that put out a good 700hp. He would get us in some whips that were so fast that a little wave and a gust of wind and you and the tube were like a kite. We got pretty good. He had a hard time getting us off. Even if we were off the tube we would hang on for dear life to the ski rope handle flopping in the water trying to pull ourselves back on the tube. These days I think they would call that Child Abuse. But it was so fun..