The Art of Tubing

We were gone last weekend, enjoying ourselves at the lake, and gathering blog material. (Well, I was the only one worrying about that.) I discovered that some stories are best told in pictures (despite my adament faith in words) because try as I might, it is nearly impossible to make a ligible record-of-happenings while riding in a boat pulling a water skis or a tube, and trying to get good pictures for your mothers scrapbook.

So I resorted to photos. Oh, well, I couldn't resist a short blurp about the importance of pictures, and art of tubing.

The art of tubing requires several participants. The person-on-the-tube has perhaps the most dangerous job, because not only must he hold on for dear life, but he is also supposed to show off for the camera. The driver has the rather-boring-but-still-a-blast sort of job, because he has to drive *forever* to make sure everybody gets a ride, but he also has the opprotunity to whip them off the tube at will. The spotter has the easiest job, simply watch the tuber, and make sure the driver knows when the tube is empty. A.K.A. the person-on-the-tube took a spill. And finally the photographer. Ooh, my favorite. The photographer has to make sure that he gets the best pictures possible, lots of them, and yet doesn't fill the memory card or kill the batteries before the last tuber is done. It's difficult too, because the instant you think you've got plenty of pics, and put the camera away, the most exciting thing is sure to happen.

This is Friend-on-tube at the beginning of the ride.

Oops! Bad picture!

And the tube skips across the water, but the tuber hangs on tight! You can see the spray from the boat in front of my lense.

Tuber got some air...and I caught him as he was coming down!

Oops! Bye-bye tuber, don't forget to write!

Well, ok. We did swing around and pick him up.