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Well, after wakeboarding for 23+ years I had a first for me yesterday that was very, very scary. I've got a couple of kids, that like most, enjoy a nice tube ride behind the boat. As you guys know, these big 3-4 person tubes are massive and tough to haul around in or behind the boat if you're spending the whole day at the lake wakeboarding and surfing. That's why I normally do all of our boarding activities first and then save the tube ride for the end of the day.
But yesterday it was just me, my wife and 2 kids on the boat. They really wanted to tube first so we did. The kids had a great time. Not wanting to deflate the tube only to re-inflate it for them to ride it later, I told them they could ride it in front of me while I wakeboarded (5 feet in front of my handle). I had done this years ago, and obviously pros do this all the time on photo or video shoots. So I thought it was no big deal. I would just make it a point not to ride behind them so I would keep my rope away from them and the tube.
So we did and all was fine until the prop wash pushed them out of the wake and into the trough. I was already riding in the same trough as well so I was directly behind them. Somehow I thought I would help push them back in the wake or somehow fix the situation by pulling hard on my handle advancing myself close enough to grab the tube. I even had a brief thought to just hold onto the back of the tube to wakeboard for a second as I've seen in videos multiple times...and give them some entertainment. Bad idea.
I yanked on the handle hard once and didn't quite make it close enough to grab the tube. So I did it again, and in doing so, the slack in the rope coiled just perfectly in a loop and landed around my son's neck. Thankfully I saw it and immediately dropped the handle (so I didn't just snap his neck), but then I watched helplessly while he tried to get it off while tension was being put on the rope as the handle was dragging in the water. In Texas, we are not required to have a spotter so my wife didn't immediately see it and stop the boat. She never saw what was happening. So there my son was being chocked to death and I can't help him at all. It was the most sickening feeling of my life.
Thankfully, my son (6 years old) had enough awareness to untangle the rope from his neck and only ended up with some rope burn on the side of his neck. He was lucky that I think his head was turned sideways when it cinched around his neck so never squeezed his windpipe from the front.
Needless to say, I was shaken by it and couldn't sleep last night wondering how different the day could of gone. Thank the good Lord he was with us and my son yesterday. Not sure how I would have lived with myself if things worked out differently. So perhaps lots of people do this (tube and wakeboard at the same time), but I hope this serves as a warning that it's a bad idea and could easily get somebody killed. I've always been very cautious at the lake, but never though something like this could happen.
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