Fun With Rafting Tubes

For many people, summer time means fun in the sun and wallowing around on a river with some friends and some rafting tubes. Many of those people wait all year for that one or two weeks where they pack everybody up and head out to a cabin or a hotel by a river and then just let everything float away. They know that there is no way that stress can follow them when they are floating along on the water, hearing the birds chirp, the kids splash and squeal and the occasional squeak from the tube beneath them.

There are some things to keep in mind when tubing. The most important this is always safety. The more people in the group, the more likely there will be to be an accident of some kind. If there is going to be drinking, that risk can more than double. Someone should always be monitoring everybody and should always remain sober. (To be fair, this should not be the same person for every trip, unless they are just not a drinker at all.) All children should be using a floatation device but should not be relying on that for safety and the buddy rule should be used as well.

To make sure that everyone has a good time, there should as many rafts, tubes and other floating items as there are people plus two. That way, there are spares in case someone shows up or if there is a tragedy with one of the tubes during your stay. You should also have a repair kit and an air pump on hand for repair on the fly kind of moments. Size is also a consideration. If you have a thin rubber tube and a thicker person on it, things might not go right. Make sure that some of the rafts or other items you bring are rated for heavy duty use so that no one is embarrassed that they sank a raft and for their own safety.

Anyone who is a non-swimmer but still wants to float on a tube should have on a floatation device and should be tethered to a stationery item so that they do not float or drift away. Most of the time when that happens, they will end up in the deeper part of the water rather than in the shallows where they can be easily towed in.

Make sure that everyone knows and understands the safety rules, pack lots of sunscreen and get out there to the lake or the river to enjoy your family, your friends and your rafting tubes.