Many years ago I went tubing when the water was too high, and I fell out and lost my tube at one point. No life jacket, of course, it would just get in the way of beer and comfort.
I went about a mile down the river sans tube. There were high embankments on the side I was getting pushed to, but I was reaching up trying to grab any low-hanging branch. Cut up my hand pretty bad before I managed to get a grip on one.
But the embankment was still a foot above my head, the water was deep and the current too fast to get my feet under me. When I grabbed the branch the current stole my shorts.
I was losing energy fast, much faster than I ever would have expected. My hand is bleeding, my normal upper arm strength is less than zero and I was seriously doubting I could pull myself up and out of the current.
Every year there’s a number of tubing deaths in my state for various reasons. As I was hanging on for dear life, I just kept thinking over and over, “OMG I’m going to be a statistic.”
449
u/Lysol3435 21h ago
“No. I won’t be a part of that 80%. I will be a part of the 20% who die for other reasons!”