Talk:Tubing

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I am trying to find the originator of tubing, if it is not me.

In 1967, I was partying at Lake Mohawk south-east of Canton Ohio, just outside of a small town of Melvern. It was a private man-made lake and we spent many weekends there skiing on the lake.

One afternoon, I found a large truck tire behind the garage and pulled the innertube out. I suggested that we tie the ski rope to the innertube, with the handle tied above the tube.

It did'nt take long before our speed got up to skiing speed, whipping around the corners at 60 miles an hour. When I finished the maiden ride around the lake, I discovered that my nipple were bleeding from the water rushing between the two stretched out sides of the tube. So, we learned real quick to put our life jackets on backwards to protect us.

We would actually hug the two sides of the tube with our elbows, when they came together at high speed and could use them as a steering devise. Since it ran like a catamaran, we could lean to the right and it would go right. Many times, our bodies would fly up in the air, and the tube would shoot out from under us, and our bodies would bounce off the water, giving us one more chance to grab on to the tube.

We got up at 6 in the morning to get to the glass surfaced water to run the lake on a whisper quite tapping of the water beneath us. I didn't, but one of my frat brothers lengthened the handle end of the rope and actually stood up on the tube to ride.

By the end of the weekend, Monday, there were 8-10 boats out on different parts of the lake, pulling there kids along behind their boat. One 23' boat driving mother was so excited to see her 10 yr old son riding behind her, she didn't see us stuck in the middle of the lake trying to fix the ropes on the steering wheel of the boat we were in.

I joked, that boat, although a quarter mile away, is comming right at us. It kept comming, it's bow high in the air, couldn't see anyone. Sure enough, it cut us right in two. One cousin was under the dash working on the ropes with his legs hanging over the back of the bench seat, and the propeller cut right across his shins. A few stiches, and he was ok.

The boat began to sink, and someone latched onto the bow sticking 6" out of the water and towed us to shore. The lady that hit us didn't realize what she had done, and asked if we needed help.

The next day, we went over and fixed her bent prop.

So many memories of Lake Mohawk when we were in College at Toledo Universty. Our Frat was Sigma Tau from 1964-1970.

Does anyone have any earlier stories about tubing? It was 15 years or so before I saw tubing in the main stream, and really don't know if it sprang from that time or rekindled on its own.

Trig Simon, Toledo Ohio