Intro
Many a year ago a bunch of people (my humble self included) put together an event whereby we took all sorts of floating contraptions to a swiss river and floated down with great quantities of drinks and fun (and no dignity). There were sections with rapids, there were sections with calm relaxing floating through the picturesque countryside and there was a point where I jumped out of my inflatable trampoline and sank knee deep in mud, not being able to move (of course the others were laughing instead of trying to pull me out).
So this here is the second iteration of that event. We're aiming for June (if the weather stays nice), but otherwise there is no hard date set yet, just an awareness raising thread to shamelessly drum up attention.
This year we intend to go bigger. I know of 8-10 people outside of EF who are quite keen on this and will surely attend, if we get another bunch from EF itself, we might get a huge tubing party rolling.
Here's the link to the old thread:
Calling all pirates!
Now without any further ado, the actual detailed info follows...
Calling all Pirates! Shamelessly stolen from the old thread.
There is no goal or purpse, just to have a cool day off in the nature, with beer or any other drink you prefer, and have some fun on the water. Extra activities include wrestling on floating trampolines (with styrofoam clubs), drinking beer, observing the swiss countryside, drinking beer, being observed by curious people on beaches (we got a lot of stares and some people joined us spontaneously), drinking beer, trying to fish out beer that fell into the water and finally having a good dinner in a restaurant.
We've already pulled this off a few times, so we had enough opportunities to iron out most issues. We've done the Linth Kanal and the river Reuss. Although we might fall back on these safe options in the end, the idea is to try the Limmat or perhaps the Rhine this time. Especially in case of the Rhine, we could disembark just at the bottom of the Rhine waterfalls near Schaffhausen (breathtaking scenery there at the 24m high falls).
The only requirement is having a flotation device that is capable of holding your weight the whole day (it will take the best part of the day floating down the river). This statement is bolded because people neet to get a sufficiently big device. Last time we had two people boldly hopping in a small boat and taking on lots of water.
The following optional stuff is beneficial:
* Drink & Food. It is generally good to bring drinks. Being out in the sun will make you thristy all the time, but hunger doesn't set in until later when the floating is nearing its end anyway. If you bring snacks, avoid shoddily wrapped sandwiches unless you like them soggy with water.
* Waterproof sacks. These are very practical for personal belongings like phones and wallets. Every sports store stocks these and they are good enough to keep electronics dry even if you capsize.
* A rope. While we'll do our best to bring a lot of this, its good to have one extra so you can tie your stuff together. Nothing beats a good elvish rope that can disentangle itself, but a run of the mill 0.5cm thick rope will suffice as well. First time we did this, we didn't have enough rope and stuff was constantly floating away. Having to run rescue ops when your beer goes overboard is funny for everyone else, but not you.
* Sun cream. This is essential for all of us with northern traits who always get sunburn after 20 minutes. I generally use a good quality factor 20 cream and get no sunburn whatsoever.
* Pump and patches. Patches are good if you get a leak and a pump is obviously neccessary unless you have the lungs of a glass blower. Getting an amphibious pump which can help you pump out water from your flotation device is a good idea. Don't count on avoiding taking on water. You
will take on water, and then your only option is to shovel all your stuff to another device, abandon ship and turn it upside down. People will try to prank you and push you into the water while you are fumbling with your boat. Believe me, I've been there.
* Life jacket or wetsuit. A wetsuit comes handy if you don't particularly enjoy cold water and want to make sure that you won't sink like a rock (afaik most wetsuits will make you float nicely). A life jacket is handy if you are fine with cold water but are still paranoid about sinking like a rock. Having said that, I make a point of choosing rivers which are as safe as possible (while still being fun), so if you are a confident swimmer, you are going to be fine without these. It is your choice and your responsibility though.
As I said, any floating device will do, but for the best comfort, at least a 2.5m long boat is recommended for a single person. For two people, you want at least 3 meters so you can lie down comfortably. You can pick up a sizeable boat for 150-200 chuff in Athleticum. This might sound a lot, but it will last a while so you can use it for a long time. Athleticum used to have these inflatable trampolines for ~150 CHF. Those were awesome, it is round and you can put a lot of stuff inside without fear of it falling out since the trampoline is quite high and stable. Maneuvering the things is futile, but then again, there is no need since the river flow carries it. In case they still have them in stock, I recommend picking one up!
Feel free to post any questions in this thread. As the time gets near and we can target a specific date, I'll make a poll where people can RSVP and get a good idea of the attendance.
There were so many Gs and Hs I wasn't sure.
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