Floatin' and Freezin' on Willard

[TubeDude]

Great seeing you out there Pat, not sure I’d venture into those chilly waters in a float tube for the time you did.

I gotta giggle sometimes when someone bundled up like an Antarctic explorer in a boat wonders if I am colder in my float tube.  If you know how to layer...with the right stuff...you can be warmer in a float tube than exposed up in a boat.  In my 60 plus years of float tubing I have learned how to survive it quite well, thank ya.  Not saying I'm ever in any danger of heat stroke but not likely to get hypothermia either. 

We really have it a lot better today than in the '70s and '80s when I first started float tubing Utah waters in the cold months.  Not much specialized cold weather stuff for float tubers...and not nearly as much for ice anglers either.  In those days...without neoprene booties, thermal socks and extra large foot pocket fins to hold them, float tubers were obliged to get out of the water periodically and do the "tuber stomp" to restore circulation and feeling to the feet and nether regions.  Truly a pastime for masochists only.  I guess I qualified.