Kite Tubing: The New Extreme Sport
 

Leave it to America to find new ways to recreate with motorboats. I started hearing about kite tubing when the accidents started to happen.

http://www.wildfreshness.com/brian/a...kitetubing.gif

Sure, it looks like fun; unless you are not too smart. Evidently, a lot of dumbasses got the kite tubing bug at Lake Powell, and now nobody can kite tube there anymore:

Park Bans Kite Tubing

By Marianne Karraker, Permits Coordinator
June 19, 2006

The National Park Service has prohibited “kite tubing” at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area after careful evaluation of recent accidents involving this new activity. The restriction is effective immediately and applies to the entire park, including Lake Powell.

“Kite tubing has proven itself to be extremely dangerous,” said superintendent Kitty Roberts. “Ensuring the safety of our visitors is always the top priority of the National Park Service. There are many other, far safer ways to enjoy Glen Canyon – from waterskiing, to fishing, to exploring narrow side canyons”

Kite tubes are large, round inflated tubes towed by a boat at 20 to 40 mph. The user holds onto the kite tube as it rises into the air, 15 to 60 feet from the surface of the water. Controlling a kite tube is extremely challenging, and the slightest upset in its balance causes the kite tube to violently fall into the water. The fall can be particularly traumatic, due to the height (often 30 feet or higher), forward speed (35 to 40 mph), and the unusual position at which victims may hit the water.

Park rangers first observed kite tubes at Glen Canyon in April of this year. Since that time, four individuals have been airlifted from the park with serious injuries, and there have been reports of additional minor injuries.

The restriction applies to any device which is towed by a boat and allows the user to take flight. This includes the Wego Kite Tube, manufactured by SportsStuff, Inc., and the Manta, manufactured by Sevylor. The restriction also applies to parasailing and kite boarding.

We have these tubes! We just used them a couple of weekends ago for the first time. They are AWESOME!!!! Kind of expensive, but if you like tubing mixed with flying...they're worth every penny.

Kansas Kites
 

Probably would be fun in a Kansas Tornado.

What lake you do that on?

LOL! I'll pass on the tornado thing. I'll be safely in my basement if I have a choice in the matter.

So far we've only used them on Cheney lake. We'll be going to Tablerock in a couple weeks. As long as they aren't banned (which i doubt they are, yet) we'll be using the heck out of them there.

Tablerock is one busy damn lake. You'll be getting some attention from the Missouri Water Patrol, I assure you.

You're right, we usually do anyways...but this time maybe it will actually be for a good reason instead of them just trying to pull their weight. We'll be there over the 4th so it'll be busier than normal anyway...but we'll use them until we are told not to.
You go to tablerock much Elspode? Since you live out that way and all?

I'm about five hours away from Tablerock, and I used to go there a lot back in the 80's. We've got so many nice lakes so much closer these days (Truman, Smithville, Stockton, Pomme de Terre and Longview Lake, which I can practically throw a rock into from my back door) that we don't make the drive much anymore.

It isn't as attractive to me these days, either. Ever since Branson turned from sleepy backroad hillbilly walnut bowl emporium into the Christian Las Vegas, Tablerock has gotten a bit crazy for my taste. I usually like my rural recreation experiences to be just slightly more rural. :)

Lakes O' Fun
 

My father, a cultural elitist, indoctrinated me and my siblings into the "motorboats are bad" school of thought. He saw them as both environmentally damaging and tacky; a real man paddles a canoe. Accordingly, he took us on canoe camping trips that remain highlights in my memories of youth. As I grew older, I carried this anti-motorboat attitude with me, scowling at them and their usually drunk drivers as their wakes buffeted my canoe. Then one weekend a friend invited me to go water-skiing; you can't water-ski with a canoe. Yes. I had fun. Still hated motorboats, but I did have fun.

I guess it's the attitude of some motorboaters that bugs me; to look at a big lake as merely a surface upon which to play and have fun; and to hell with the fish, birds, and other people who don't like it! Then there are those giant, booze-soaked spectacles where people just tie up their boats together and find ways to "hook up" with similarly drunk people. Whatever. Most big "party lakes" aren't real lakes anyway, their impoundments. I suppose we can let motorboaters have a few of them. And hell, with that new guy running DOI, maybe they'll be able to have even more fun:

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary...s/060612roco01

Having said that, if I was invited to go kite tubing, I'm sure I would try it at least once. Hey, KV, can one fly, say, at about 50 feet, and just kinda jump off the tube and perform a twisted, improvisational dive into the lake?

Understandable. I didn't realize that you had so many lakes in Missouri. But I'll tell you, I don't really know much, about anything :D . I agree that Tablerock is crazy...but it's a family tradition. We've been going there 3-4 times a year since I was about 10. We go along with 5 or so other families and always have a good time. Maybe that's because we add to the crazyness of the lake. Maybe we are the ones that people don't want there? :)

Absolutely! It seems harmless, or less hurtful. But before you do, I would keep this in mind: You are being pulled behind a boat (the boat going about 35-45 you going seemingly much faster than that) plus being up in the air while gravity continuously pulls you downward (hard)...tends to bring you crashing into the water at 100 mph. Ok, so I know I exaggerate...but it feels that way. A couple of years ago I bruised 3 ribs on one side, and 2 on the other, doing a little less than what I described above.

Wow, the article and your description make it sound so risky. But I guess many fun things are.

I should think if the thing flips and you come down on your back, you could break your damn neck.
How much are they....... say..... delivered to my ex. ;)

I went to college in Springfield in the mid 70s and would go down to Silver Dollar City often. It was a lot of fun if you were the type to who read the Foxfire books and the Whole Earth catalogs. Now it's just another theme park.

xo- you have an ex? do tell....

As far as the kite-tube, it appears to be one of the most f'in retarded awesome things I've seen in a while. F'n retarded for those that get on it, but so awesome for those that will sit back and watch them crash.
(I'm using the term f'tard tonight because my husband reminded me that my language gets a bit harsh, so I'm trying to reel it in)
f'in f'tard.

A couple of them.... I'm like your favorite dessert, yummy and wonderful but too much will make you sick and wanna swear off. :lol2:

Must be from hanging around with those online friends of yours, in that Cellar place. ;)