Float Tubing A River

[briansII]

Not advisable by me, or anyone that I know, but that's what I saw a couple weekends ago.

I took my daughter out the the local tailwater so she could try out her new spinning outfit I bought her. Water was running high and fast, so I made sure to giver her the safety speech before we even got the the river.......with a few refreshers while we were there. I took her up the the catch and keep section, thinking it was her best chance to hook a trout. Anyway, no fish for her, or me. She's playing in the gravel while I fish a bit. I look up and see a guy, mid river, making some casts. It takes a second for this to sink in..........that guy is above his waist, in some seriously fast water. I stop what I'm doing and really check him out. He's in a round float tube!!! The longer I watch him, the more I can see what he's doing. He's wading, with a float tube for some buoyancy.....and I guess insurance he won't drown. He's really leaning into the current with his float tube. I see him gingerly slide downstream, but also come back up stream a bit. If he goes a little further downstream, there's no choice for him to take a float because it's too deep for him to touch bottom. He would have to kick in his wading boots, and paddle with his hands for control. I'm shocked. BTW, this whole section is slippery cobble, and the flows were over 3K. This is either the dumbest guy I've ever seen, or the bravest. He eventually wades to shore. On our drive out, I see him walking along the road with his float tube and one big fish(planter). Tall, wiry, cowboy looking kind of guy....or maybe it was Chuck Norris?

This, and the guy I saw surfing at the weir, is one of the crazier things I've seen out there.

briansII

[RubiKinda]

Was his name Bob?

[RichardCullip]

Wow. A 2011 Darwin Award finalist in the making.

[RJH]

I've seen people do it on the deschutes using ping pong paddles to help them move around.

I've also seen it on the Missouri, but that is a tame river.

On the kings is kinda wack, but what do you expect lots of people do stupid stuff down there.

[flybob]

Brian, did you notice if he was tethered?

In any event, scary *! I have fallen in the Kern, TWICE, it is amazing how quick the undertow is, and how quickly you are not touching bottom!

[midger]

S T U P I D! Round float tubes are in no way designed for river use and this fool will become a statistic unless he remains lucky, and I wouldn't count on that.

I've seen folks using pontoons for floating the Green below Flaming Gorge. This is also dangerous unless you're in the 9 foot plus units. There's just no stability in the shorter units.

But, hey, let's hope he has good life insurance that will enable his family to find a smarter replacement.

[NorcalBob]

Yeppers, not advisable floating in any moving water in any device in which your legs are located below water level. A disaster waiting to happen. What happens in moving water is, your leg/foot gets caught on an obstruction/snag, the force of the water pins your tube, you flip over, and then drown. The force of the moving water will prevent ANY BODY from rescuing you from death, since it requires a pulley/rope system to generate the needed force to flip you back over if your leg is stuck. And I'd probably rip your leg off any ways (if you're still alive at that point) during rescue. And good luck with getting a rescue within the two minutes maximum you have before you go brain dead from lack of oxygen.

Just some good advice from a former USNPS Search & Rescue Ranger trained in swift water rescue
I guarantee you, if you watch a swift water rescue, you will NEVER in the future float in any thing in which your legs are below water level in moving water, NEVER

[briansII]

I have heard of float tubing rivers, and have even seen a fly fishing video on someone doing it. These were mild current rivers. Midger. I hear of guys doing it on Silver Creek? I almost flipped(I suck at the oars) my 10'6" toon in the same river as the float tube wader.

Bobs. He wasn't tethered that I could see, but it was the type of tube that you put your legs through. I have seen a few body recoveries. One where the crew almost capsized their boat. They pulled the boat out, and continued to use a big grappling hook to snag the body. Many years later I pulled off a bonehead move and fell in at the same location. I struggled for what seemed like an eternity to get out. Thoughts of that grappling hook popped into my head.

briansII

[NorcalBob]

AWWWWW Brian, we NEVER used a grappling hook. We were USNPS and far too sophisticated for that! However, a buddy of mine did tell me a story about tugging quite hard on a roped up body and it coming up sans legs!!! Fortunately, I never participated in a real recovery opportunity. The worst I ever did was look at recovery video's and do a bunch of training for a skill I never got to use in real life. Really fortunate, because it ain't cool for the EMT to lose his lunch in front of people

[midger]

I have heard of float tubing rivers, and have even seen a fly fishing video on someone doing it. These were mild current rivers. Midger. I hear of guys doing it on Silver Creek?
briansII

You are correct. They do use float tubes on Silver Creek, and it is a very slow moving spring creek, but I've never used a float tube in in, nor will I. NorCal Bob is right about not using any water floatation device that allows your feet to hang down when you are in moving water. You are asking to be permanently waterboarded without the luxury of coming up for air. Keep those float tubes/ U[Tubes, etc in lakes. Even there (lakes) they can get sporting in stiff winds.

[Sasha]

*, at first I thought this was a thread asking if it was a good idea

[Flatsix]

Yeppers, not advisable floating in any moving water in any device in which your legs are located below water level. A disaster waiting to happen. What happens in moving water is, your leg/foot gets caught on an obstruction/snag, the force of the water pins your tube, you flip over, and then drown. The force of the moving water will prevent ANY BODY from rescuing you from death, since it requires a pulley/rope system to generate the needed force to flip you back over if your leg is stuck. And I'd probably rip your leg off any ways (if you're still alive at that point) during rescue. And good luck with getting a rescue within the two minutes maximum you have before you go brain dead from lack of oxygen.

People don't respect water like they should. How bodies do they fish out of the Kern each year?

I've done the Kings River in a raft with a rafting company 5 years in a row in the late 80's thru mid 90's. One year we had to camp at the road because the existing camp was under water and we told the guide that we were a little concerned about the high water. She said that the low water was actually more dangerous because inexperienced boaters falling out of a raft tend to stand up in swift water getting their feet locked up in the rocks and then the water force would push them forward under water and hold them until the water level dropped. She said that a guide did just that the rpevious year and that it took days to get the guide free. In the mean time they had to run boats around the accident site and she said that the bright color of the life jacket was visible from the surface.

[briansII]

AWWWWW Brian, we NEVER used a grappling hook. We were USNPS and far too sophisticated for that! However, a buddy of mine did tell me a story about tugging quite hard on a roped up body and it coming up sans legs!!! Fortunately, I never participated in a real recovery opportunity. The worst I ever did was look at recovery video's and do a bunch of training for a skill I never got to use in real life. Really fortunate, because it ain't cool for the EMT to lose his lunch in front of people

I saw the grappling hook way back when I was 13 or 14 years old. That was back......1970? Man I'm old! Considering my misspent youth and poor memory, it's a vivid memory. IIRC, the rescue/recovery crew was the Sheriff's Dept. They were in a boat, using the hook. This spot(same spot I fell in)was notorious for sucking people under, and spitting them out dead. The boat got sucked into the hydraulics, and almost threw the whole crew out of the boat. After that, they continued from shore. They have since lengthened the drop below the weir, and it's not the hazard it used to be. Here's the improved version.

[vimeohd]http://www.vimeo.com/19943596[/vimeohd]

briansII