Rules of Tow Boards and scuba in minnesota

[DetectorGuy]

This was a manufactured one. It takes some getting used to. The better the viz, the more time you have to react to things. Gaining altitude is no problem but getting below 35' is challenging. We use a 100' rope and it may be easier with a longer rope. Kinda like parasailing with 600' of line out and only getting to 150' above the water. I think there is a maximum angle that can not be exceeded (even if you tried) so with a longer rope you could venture farther from this "straight line". The drawback to a longer line is that the diver is farther from the relative safety of the boats wake where other boaters may crowd you. The other drawback is lakes are only so big and when the boat needs to turn (for another boater, or reaching the end of the lake) the diver will loose speed or even stop depending on the tow boats radius.

Gaining altitude in a heartbeat to miss obstacles is required and learning how to do a barrel roll to miss tall obstacles is a plus. If all else fails the diver can just let go of the sled and stop his forward motion before hitting the obstacle too hard. This is a last resort as the boat will need to come back and get you and chew up valuable dive time. Weeds can be a problem as they foul up the sled and ruin your control. Sounds simple to just stay above the weeds with the sled but if the course is curvy the rope can drag across the weeds in front of you and they all end up in your lap. Weeds can be removed with one hand while hanging on with the other.