U Tube flip test

By teskelly

Recently I was out on a lake for a day of fishing. On a bit of a slow period I was grabbing some snacks from a cooler on the back of a friend’s pontoon. I kicked away from him and was putting everything into a side pocket when I looked forward to see my rod slowly sinking vertically into the drink. And I mean slowly sinking as I had enough time to reverse kick towards it to retrieve the rod so I thought. I was getting really close to it and got the idea I could lean forward just enough to grab the tip of my rod. I did grab it but as I did I leaned forward just enough to have the u tube very forcefully and in a blink of an eye flip forward tossing me into the water and the back of the tube hit me in the back of the neck.

When I was in the water I tried to lean back to get my head above the surface which worked for a brief moment allowing me to take a breath, but the longer I pushed against the tube the harder it became to keep above the surface as the tube only pushed back harder keeping me under. Luckily I did not panic at this and rather I dove farther under the water away from the tube in hopes of getting free. It worked sort of, I felt the tubes backrest slid down my back but it stopped shortly there after. This allowed me to keep my head above water and swim forward pulling the tube with me. I was wearing neoprene waders that were very tight so water was not getting into them. On an after thought we figured if I was wearing loose breathables that could have been a different story all together with them filling up with water and creating a weighted force pulling me downward.

But again luckily I wasn't. I swam over to my buddy’s pontoon and pulled myself up out of the water just enough to flip myself backwards and right the u tube. Once I did this the u tube was back on its top but I was still in the water kind of resting my back on the sling wear my bum should be and my head against the backrest. I carefully reached up once I gave my rod to my pontoon buddy yes I did get the rod but in the flipping motion I broke the tip off. As I reached up I grabbed the side pocket handles and pulled myself up and onto the seat sling. What amazed me the most was how calm I was. My buddy looked at me in disbelief once I was back on my seat and all he could say was "Did I just see that”.

Once I caught my breath all I could think of was dang it I broke my rod. Back at the camp after all the post discussion the two things I remember the most were how fast the u tube flipped and how hard the head rest was pushing me forward into the water. If I tried to lean back which was my first reactionary thing to do it pushed even harder keeping me under water and I quickly realised that would have been the wrong thing to keep trying to do. I can see that being the major factor for someone who is in that situation and in a panicked state. To try and flip yourself backwards and correct the tube while in the water would only result in drowning I’m sure. The best thing I felt I did was actually diving down deeper and farther into the water which allowed my tube to slide down my back giving me more body to get out of the water and more freedom to swim towards shore or whatever was closest which in my case was a buddies pontoon boat. The fact that I was in a U Tube rather than a Round tube I feel was also an advantage. The U shape gave me a little more angular movement towards the surface where as a round tube i'm sure wouldn’t. Those types of tubes hold you farther under water when flipped I would assume.
Now looking back and as I type this I feel very lucky. Given any more additional factors sure as currents, a long swim to shore, or windy conditions I might not have been so lucky. Yet in a kind of weird way I like knowing that if I was to flip again I would know what to do to get out of it and that I am one of the types of persons who doesn’t panic in that type of situation. However I wouldn’t recommend this test to anyone else.

TESKELLY