Small Rider on Tube: how to sling them around?

[JDFester]

I've been trying for several weeks to find a rope length to keep the rider (a 7-year-old) happy. The issue is he's so light that when I get the rope long enough to get him out of the spray, I can't sling him out of the wake without going faster than the first-mate will tolerate. Anyone know any secrets to help out here?

Rope setup where he's happily out of the spray is 60' rope to booster ball, then 20' back to the tube. But the rider is only about 50 lbs, on a Big-Mable-Style tube, so he tracks with the wake no matter how hard I turn at anything under about 30mph.

 

[swatski]

I've been trying for several weeks to find a rope length to keep the rider (a 7-year-old) happy. The issue is he's so light that when I get the rope long enough to get him out of the spray, I can't sling him out of the wake without going faster than the first-mate will tolerate. Anyone know any secrets to help out here?

Rope setup where he's happily out of the spray is 60' rope to booster ball, then 20' back to the tube. But the rider is only about 50 lbs, on a Big-Mable-Style tube, so he tracks with the wake no matter how hard I turn at anything under about 30mph.

Very carefully! It is fun, fun, fun... and then... no fun at all in the blink of an eye.
I would use a short-er (60ft) rope for fun rides and ride in the "S" pattern side-swiping the tube so it does not sit directly behind (but off center - on the side of the wake). Take a bit of practice, but it is the safest way to do it I know of.

I sometimes use longer rope (double) is fine for longer rides, like when you pull back to the docks at the end of the day and the kids still want to ride. But that is slow and no tricks, as it is difficult to control.

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[Julian]

I just use the standard booster ball rope lengths and keep them off to the sides. If you child REALLY doesn't like the water spray, try having him/her wear swim goggles...helps them keep their eyes open which is what I've found is the main issue.

 

[2kwik4u]

Goggles were the answer for our 7yr old. Had a ton more fun once he could keep his eyes open.

Also, I've found getting them out of the wake requires accelrating through the turn. This was impossible with a stock single engine boat. Cavitation caused the boat to lose speed with throttle instead of gain. Sealed the intake tunnel and put an L13 cone on it, and that has gotten better, but still not great. I usually run the stock rope length, and about 18-20mph cruise, with jumps to 23-25mph through the turns to pull him outside the wake.

Light passengers in a tube are just hard. The pendelum effect is offset by the drag. More weight in the tube and EVERYTHING about the situation gets more predictable and easier to control.

 

[Julian]

Also....tube inflation is key! You want the tube as hard as you can get it, this sometimes means adding air to it once you put it into the water - especially if the water is substantially cooler than the air temp.

 

[MidnightRider]

Yeah the longer the rope the more acceleration you need to swing them out. I usually start a turn and then add a major amount of acceleration to get the swing going and then drop the throttle way down as the swing gains speed so that it doesn't get too crazy on the end of the swing. Its constant throttle adjustments the whole time and anticipating when to add and take away throttle but its the only way I've found to give some nice fun swing with out killing them on longer ropes. Two tubes takes even more practice and experimenting to get them both swinging. It took me most of the summer of playing around and trial and error to get it figured out but now we are pretty good at it and can give mostly the same ride as we heave in years past shorter ropes but like I said it does take constant throttle adjustment and some anticipating to get the swing started and still temper the speed at the end of the swing. My kids are pre-teen to teen year range and like it crazy so will take whatever I can give them up to where I'm comfortable safety wise. Younger kids with tamer rides is more difficult to swing but then they normally just want an inside the wake ride anyway.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

The bottom chamber MUST be rock solid I use a hand pump after normal inflating , the big ones that kite surfers use to inflate their kites when your hand bounces off it like a basketball you have it inflated also the tube is probably too large a 2 person tube would probably work better for just one small child and goggles are also good for them to enjoy the ride, I keep a box of those on hand . I never use any ball on the line though 80 foot of rope is what I use. I buy white floating rope so you can see it in the water when you are idling so that offers an advantage to avoid running over it by accident.

 

[Jgorm]

My first suggestion is to get him on a kneeboard. They are 100x more fun.
If you want to get him outside the wake, do a slight turn for a free seconds, trim the wheel all the way and punch it for a couple seconds, then straighten out before he begins to fly.
My standard "remove rider" pattern is near full speed with a wide and slowly decreasing radius turn. When your radius is around 40 or 50' you should be at wot and the tube will be in the air on a 70+mph whip. The boat will be nearly stopped at wot if you do this right.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

I agree with the knee board suggestion I teach all my grand children to knee board starting from shore with the back of the board on the beach, pull up the slack slowly and then just give it fuel slowly and gradually

 

[swatski]

Or - ZUP 2.0.

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