By now you've all probably seen those new rafts that "fly" behind boats, called "Mantas" or "Kite Tubes". They just started showing up on Lakes this year, but have already been credited with 1 death and numerous injuries.
Below is an excerpt from an email I received from officials at Lake Powell:
Quote:
In the past three weeks we have had to Airvac four serious injured people from Lake Powell that were engaged in a new water activity called Kite Tubing. This activity involves a large round inflated tube that is towed behind a boat at 20 to 40 mph. The user holds onto the kite tube as it rises into the air to a height of 15 to 60 feet. Controlling a kite tube is extremely challenging and the slightest upset in its balance cause the tub to dive down into the water at a high rate of speed. The individual on these tubes impacted the water at both the forward tow speed of the vessel and then at the downward accelerated speed, which can be as high as 70 MPH.
As a medic I have responded to three of these calls in a one week period and my Kite Tubing patients all had to be Airvac to Level I Trauma Centers. A 29-year-old male who suffered a broken neck (double Fx of C-2) and a 26-year-old male with a hemopneumothorax produced by broken ribs. My third patient a 14-year old female suffered a whiplash injury and was released from the hosipital. Several weeks earlier another Medic had a similar case at Lake Powell involving a young man with a severely punctured lung. Several local hospitals have reported recently seeing Kite Tube patients with simular injuries from people that have self transported to their facilities. Taking with other water enforcement agencies they are seeing Kite Tubing injuries and I have heard of one fatality in Texas. This death was due to a transected aortic commonly seen in deceleration auto and airplane type accidents.
Interviews with friends and family members of patients have shown a disturbing trend with this use. In all cases at Glen Canyon NRA, multiple minor Kite Tubing injuries occurred with other members of the boating party prior to the incidents that required advanced life support. All victims stated they were using the kite tubes as directed when they suddenly lifted to dangerous heights, became unstable, and plunged up side down into the water. Friends of the victims that did not immediately report their injuries advised that they had coughing up blood, had torn muscles, whiplash type injuries and broken ribs.
Go to the following Internet link and then click on the video section in the upper right hand corner. These clip show graphically what can happen with these devices.
This is pretty jacked up. You can hit the water waaaaay to hard with these.
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Wow...it looks bitchen as hell but there is no stability floating in the air...especially when your shifting your weight....I could definatley see people getting seriously hurt on those....I would love to try it...but the consequences are to serious.
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This story goes back roughly 20yrs . Sitting in my boat watching people taking turns for parasail rides in the okanagan .Guy is way up [ had to be at least 70 feet] when all of sudden he tumbles out of the harness . Luckily he seemed to land feet first and got away with a few bruises . He had the balls to go try again . I talked to the para operators afterwards and they said it never happened in their 4 yrs in the biz. Needless to say I declined to try it .
watched the guys a couple weeks ago on Lake Mohave the driver could really hurt the rider pretty bad, he would speed up more as the "KITE" left the water add more stupid into the ride
I can just imagine the product liability costs on the manufacturer for companies like Overtons to sell these.
We saw a gal last October while sitting at Fox's go by about 20 feet in the air. She was talented keeping it there for at least 1/4 mile or so...then slpat.
All this and the river was packed busy. Crazy.
Excellent spectator sport.
Soon Boat Cop will need to enforce a law about to much height.
The instructions clearly state it is up to the operator of the boat to controll the tube. As always some assjockey will inevitably run them to high and some one will get hurt and killed. If they are used correctly(ie not more than 10 feet off the ground and at low mph) as it is clearly stated in the instructions they are as safe as any other form of water sport. They are designed to skim with in a few feet of the water, not take off like a 747. As always missuse by a few people put a bad light on them.
I had a Manta Ray last year. We used one time and everybody took a bad wipeout. You have to go 35-40 mph to get it up in the air and once its flying its almost impossible to control.I brought it back to the store before someone got hurt.
. I talked to the para operators afterwards and they said it never happened in their 4 yrs in the biz. Needless to say I declined to try it 
the driver could really hurt the rider pretty bad, he would speed up more as the "KITE" left the water 
add more stupid into the ride 
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