Designed for swimming adventures, The OSS Eco Tow Float is a new inflatable dry bag made out of recycled plastic bottles. Comes with SOLAS reflective material stripes, safety whistle and external tag for glowsticks (or cameras). Designed in consultation with RNLI safety experts.
This OSS Eco Tow Float is a highly durable float made out of rPET, or recycled plastic bottles.
Disclaimer: The OSS Eco tow float is not a buoyancy device.
The OSS Eco Tow Float will carry a changing robe such as the Storm Poncho, hamman towel and flip flops, for A to B swims where you want to swim there and walk back.
It will also fit full outfit of clothes and a towel.
Tow floats are designed to carry things, with minimum drag. Tow floats can be used to store car keys and other valuables on a swim. They can also be used to keep food, drink, or inhalers on longer swims. Or clothes, towels, flip flops or changing robes for A to B swims.
Swimstaman and his Swiss friends use theirs for exactly this reason. “In the winter we have no lockers or storage so usually one of us will take the short straw and carry the whole groups wallets and keys,” says Swimstaman. “I also use one to carry water and food, usually for swims over 1.5 hours and, of course, my GoPro!”
Be wary not to overload them as the additional weight could encumber you. Double bagging electricals (putting them in a second dry bag) is popular, as is wrapping or bagging sharp items such as keys. Attach to your waist. Or swap in a surf leash and attach to your ankle.
Bright swim hats and flashes of colours on wetsuits can also help this.
In areas where there are high levels of boat, jet ski and windsurfing traffic a tow float increases a swimmers visibility in the water, with some harbour masters considering programmes that lend them to swimmers, and swimmers in boat-traffic lakes and waters saying they not swim where they do without one.
The choppier, darker, mistier the water, the harder it is to spot a swimmer. Even with a tow float, you need to stay alert to other water users as much as they be alert to you, particularly in areas where swimmers may not be expected. There will also be places and swims where a tow float is not enough – a SUP or support kayak is needed.
Wearing a towfloat can make it easier for friends, family and lifeguards as well as boats to follow the progress of a swim. OSS Special Envoy Swimstaman says: “For swimming any sort of distance within Lake Zurich, a tow float is almost mandatory. As the days get longer and the weather improves, the early morning hours are a competition between rowers, sailors, tourist boaters and swimmers in a potentially lethal game of Frogger. Even a shoreside swim can involve crossing harbour mouths and ferry ports, so it’s important to be visible.”
For children who are starting out on their open water journey anything that floats can increase their confidence in the water. SUPs, lifejackets, buoyancy aids and inflatable toys fulfill the same function – provide a handy body weight support and giving them a rest. Nothing is a replacement for one-to-one adult supervision in the water.
Ottering is a phrase coined, we believe, by Gilly MacArthur. “When we are in a river, drifting downstream, we lie on our backs, wrap our arms around the float and quietly enjoy the nature around us.”
The OSS Eco Tow Float makes a great waterproof bag that can be stowed on SUPs, kayaks, boats etc.