[WetWilly]

Was looking to replace a couple of old tow-ables when I came across this crazy thing!

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w...cWGX0r9O5p1Kww

Has anyone tried one of these and if so, how hard is it (can old "heavy" people do it...) ??

Lastly, I heard a rumor that many lakes are now outlawing this thing...True?

Old gullible,
WetWilly

[MariahMan]

When i was at this years boat show i talked to a Sevylor (manufacturer of the manta ray tube) Rep about a new product they had on the floor. I asked if this was the infamous "flying tube" and he explained that they no longer sell the tube in the US. Apparently someone decided to test the limits of the tube and had it pulled behind an off-shore boat with about 200' of rope. The rep explained that the tube got up about 50'+ in the air and then took a hard dive straight at the lake and the guy riding broke numerous bones and his back as well. I don't remember if Sevylor was sued but the tube was made illegel. Whether its still available in other parts of the world i'm not sure.

The tube does look sweet!

[WetWilly]

Busted bones!?!?

I think I'll stay a lot closer to the water, thank you...

WetWilly

[Z 202]

There were several bad accidents/deaths iirc when people were using the Wego kite tube. They were not offshore towing either...

It was pulled from the market in June/July of last summer if I remember correctly.

Here's the details: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06210.html

[schweddy]

Yeah, those "tubes" resulted in some pretty serious injuries and at least a few deaths. Subsequently they were pulled from the market. They were also banned from some Army Corps of Engineers lakes.

I was on a similar tube about a year ago. It was pretty interesting, and fun if you only went a few feet off the water. There is a fast transition point from small lift to lots of lift, which is then followed by the tube going out of control and nose-diving towards the water.

It has no aerodynamic profile, so the lift was simply a result of the huge exposed area. As soon as anything (your weight shifting, or other wind or the boat even slightly changing direction) changed the bottom of the tube from being nearly 100% perpendicular to the travel of the tube it would loose lift and the turbulence caused be the new angle would result in a pretty serious crash.

Think about real kites and how fast they can go from being controlled, to nose-diving into the ground. Basically... bad news bears.

Don't get one...