Extreme Tubing

[tubeN2]

[size 2]Hey tubers, I just wanted you guys to know that you can tube in cold weather but just not on hard water. [/size]

[size 2] I went for the ride of my life to day at Castaic Lagoon here in SoCali. The wind was blowing 20-25 miles an hour with gusts at close to 40mph. Air temp was 35deg and water temp was 48. TubeNtoo and I were.....tubing. Better said, surfing.

There were 1 foot waves and chops coming off the water and peltering us from behind as we kicked out way out to about 40ft depth of water.

It took all of 30 minutes to reach a bouy to rest on after all that kicking and only two minutes to reach the shore after we let go.
Didn't get to fish from the tubes but we did get a good work out. I did get a new idea after watching a windsurfer out there moving so effortlessly. hmmmmmmm. How about wind tubing???[/size][size 1] [/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][size 1]This is the same guy who became an electrician so that he could find out why there were so many sparks when he stuck a fork in the electric outlet.[/size]

[size 1]FOOL...FOOL...FOOL.[/size]

[size 1]I'm sending you a membership to "Masochists Anonymous". Whenever you feel like doing something stupid, you call a friend...who comes over and you get drunk together.[/size]

[size 1]In all fairness, I gotta admit I have done some pretty hare-brained stuff too. Makes you believe in heredity, don't it?[/size]
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[Kent]

At least you were smart enough to paddle into the wind. Some others may have taken advantage of the nice breeze to launch with no thought as to how they were going to get back in.
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[tubeN2]

[size 2]Thanks for your concern of the safety aspects. We were out to have fun and if for any moment I was to feel in jeopardy of my safety or my sons none of this would have happened.

Keep in mind that this full half hour of kicking was right in front of the lifeguards, life jackets were in place for both of us and the bouy was directly 20yds from the shore that we launched from. This was just a simple excercise on what to do in a windy situation.

As TD says, sometimes the wind can kick up when we least expect it and takes us to places that we don't expect.

After the excercise, I changed to a different style of fins and showed little Tubie how I could kick the same distance in the same conditions in only 5 minutes without risk of life or limb or tackle.[/size]
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[releaseit]

[size 2]If you have not used them before you might want to consider diver flippers. There longer and give better propulsion than the smaller standard tube flippers I have seen.[/size]

[size 2] When I tubed I switched to the divers flippers and could still move in windy conditions pretty easy.[/size]
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[tubeN2]

Hey guys! One more thing to put your mind at ease about Castaic and the slight breezes that flow through there. Here is an article about a Derby that took place earlier this year"............................



FRIENDS OF CASTAIC LAKE - 2003 Float Tube Tournament

Dateline: Castaic Lagoon
Saturday, April 5th, 2003

For the first time in three years, the Castaic Lagoon float tube derby was held, with 33 of the the toughest tubers in Southern California on hand. The tubers had to battle tough post frontal conditions with WIND GUSTS AS HIGH AS 54MPH. The derby was entitled the "Chuck Schoen Memorial Float Tube Derby" in memory of the avid fisherman and manager at Sport Chalet Valencia who passed away last year. The main sponsor of this event was Sport Chalet and the derby was run by members of the Friends of Castaic Lake in conjunction with L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation.
The derby got off to a late start as much of the tournament staff and tubers found themselves stuck on the Golden State Freeway tantalizingly close to the lake. Snow had shut down the freeway through the Grapevine so all four lanes were being taken off at Parker Road.

Once we got to the lake we decided to push the start of the event back to 7:30. The event ended at 12:30, by which time much of the field had been whipped to a froth by the wind-driven whitecaps on the lake. Still, some of the tubers did manage to find fish, and these were the top finishers:

1. Steve Caines (8.6lbs, including derby big fish of 4.6lbs.
2. William Kircshbaum (6.6lb and derby second big fish).
3. Chris Scott (4.3lb and derby third big fish).
4. Noah Cook (3.6lbs).
5. Daniel Voff (3.3lbs).

Also worth noting, Gabriel Magana tied Chris Scott for third big fish of the event.
The awards ceremony started with Joe Contaldi of Sport Chalet distributing goody bags to every angler so nobody went home empty handed. Then emcee Mike Stern awarded the top five finishers with some great prizes, including a $250 Gift Certificate from Sport Chalet for first place finisher Steve Caines! With his big fish prize money and other goodies, I believe Steve went home with about $500 worth of cash and prizes!

Other prizes given out to the top finishers included a Fenwick Spider cast fishing combo, a great flyfishing kit, another $50 Sport Chalet gift certificate, and lots of other prizes from Shimano and Abu Garcia. Plaques were also given out to the top five finishers and for the top three event big fish. Special rod and reel combos were presented to our youngest competitors, who were just 10 and 14 years old! A raffle was then held with plenty of other items given away including a bunch of great lures donated by Scott Nagel of Rapala and Lure Jenson. The day was capped off with a presentation of a memorial plaque that was given to Chuck's mother, Eleanor. It was a rather emotional moment as she told the the crowd how much she appreciated their attendance. All in all it was great day.

There are many people who need to be thanked. A huge thanks to Joe Contaldi of Sport Chalet and Scott Nagel of Lure Jenson for all of the merchandise they donated, totalling over $3000!

Thanks to the tournament staff, including Mike Stern, Mark O'Borsky, and Terry Kratzer of the FOCL and Castaic Bass Club. Thanks to the boaters who helped weigh fish, including Mike Munson and Karl Kratzer of Castaic Bass and FOCL, Dave Jarrel of FOCL and Southern Cal. Bassmasters, and Dayton Osmond of FOCL. Thanks to Park Superintendent Mika Yamamota for her help and the guided tour of the park that she gave to Eleanor. Thanks to Eleanor for coming out, I know it was tough. And a special thanks to Karl Kratzer, who was the one who put forth the plans to bring back this event after a three year absence. Thanks especially to the tubers who braved the conditions to catch those bass. See ya'll next year!

Terry Kratzer,
Castaic Bass Club and FOCL
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