For many Eugene residents, this is the time of year when “tubing,” or floating down the river in an inner tube, is the perfect activity to help chase away muggy summer days. It’s cheap, it’s relaxing and it cools you down.
Inner tubes, the oversized soft rubber inflatable doughnuts used as rafts, are available from many tire stores in town, and one of the most popular stores is Big B’s Tires, located at 3709 Franklin Blvd. All the four tubers who were interviewed by the Emerald for this story said they’d purchased their tires from Big B’s.
“They’re just the inner tubes of car tires, and people have just been using them for floating down the river.” Shawn Mark, a Big B’s employee, said. “We don’t recommend them for that purpose, because there are no warning labels on them, but if people say they want tubes, we’ll sell them tubes. I guess they work pretty well for river tubing.”
At Big B’s, a brand new tube can be purchased for $15, while used tubes are available for $10. The tubes typically fit inside a regular 16′ car tire. But for river tubing purposes, they are inflated to about 3 feet in diameter.
Bill Condry, 21, first started inner-tubing on the river three years ago, and soon become a regular rider of the Willamette River current.
The ice-cold mountain runoff water that flows down the Willamette keeps the beer they bring with them cold.
“It’s the only way to stay truly refreshed and revitalized,” said Condry’s buddy Alex Bersani, 21.
Condry said that most parts of the Willamette River are shallow enough for the average adult to stand up in. He also thinks that inexperience is not something novice tubers should worry about.
“You don’t need a guide. It’s more fun if you learn on your own,” Condry said. “Learning from your mistakes is the best way to do it.”
Most local tubers typically start begin their journey down the Willamette River at Island Park in Springfield and follow the river all the way to Alton Baker Park.
Kevin Kaufman, a 20-year-old junior journalism major, said it takes about two to three hours to travel that three mile stretch.
“You should allow about half a day for the whole thing,” Kaufman said. “There’s some organization to it because you need to have two cars-one at the starting point and one at the ending point.”
Kaufman has only been tubing twice so far this summer, but so far his experiences on the river have taught him to wear sunscreen because sun reflecting off the water can get intense. He also suggests that tubers wear shoes to keep feet from getting cut on the rocks, and be prepared to steer.
“You definitely have to navigate a little bit. There’s a spot where there’s a three-foot drop. And if you’re not ready for it, you can get caught in the rapids,” Kaufman said. “Last time I went, I saw a girl who’d popped her tube on the stick, and she was just standing on the rocks, waiting for someone to help. It’s not very deep, but it’s pretty rocky, so if you get to the rapids part you could pop your tube.”
Chris Pfanner, 20, a more experienced tuber who has been exploring and swimming in the river for the last three years, said the only really fast rapids tubers will encounter on their are located under the Interstate-5 overpass.
“Under both the I-5 and the Autzen bridges is where the water gets the fastest. The rest of it is pretty slow. It’s like sitting on a couch,” Pfanner said.
Still, having a guide can be important in these areas because of fallen trees, debris and obstacles.
“When you’re heading down the river, on the very left side there are cement drop offs, giant cement bricks and about a three foot drop off where you could slide off your tube. But if you go on the very right side, you’ll be okay,” he said.
Safety is also paramount. Because falling off the tube is inevitable, Pfanner said he believes it is important for beginners to learn how to fall correctly.
“I’ve taken a river rescue course, and one important thing to remember is if you fall off the tube, keep your feet in front of you,” Pfanner said. “The most common way to drown in a river is to have your foot wedge into a rock because then the water will push you over the rock, so all the water will be beating down your back and you can’t flip yourself up to get air. People can drown in 3 feet of water that way.”
Pfanner said that the easiest way to get back into a tube is to duck underneath and push up through the middle of the tube.
“It’s really easy to topple over, but really hard to get back on your tube once you’ve fallen off. Eventually you do get back on, but you have to have decent upper body strength.”
Tubers should also keep their posteriors out of the middle of the tube when going over the rapids, Pfanner said.
“If your butt is sinking down in the tube when you go over the rapids, you could hit the rocks. I’ve had other friends who have seriously hurt their tailbones smashing into rocks especially on the left side of I-5,” he said.
“You want to go on the very right side of I-5, and keep your butt up. Then the tube will go right over the rocks and you’ll be fine.”
While Condry and Bersani enjoy tubing the river with beers lashed to their tubes, Pfanner says that he’s never gone tubing while consuming alcohol.
“If I was going to be drinking, I think I’d want a life jacket,” he said.
Bersani disagreed.
“My advice is don’t wear a safety vest,” he said, “It keeps you afloat, but it also keeps you from being able to swim easily in the water.”