also about banning this great toy NO WAY .You think bicycles should be banned because # 784 bicyclists died each year

# About 540,000 bicyclists visit emergency rooms with injuries every year. Of those, about 67,000 have head injuries, and 27,000 have injuries serious enough to be hospitalized.

# Bicycle crashes and injuries are under-reported, since the majority are not serious enough for emergency room visits.

# 1 in 8 of the cyclists with reported injuries has a brain injury.

# Two-thirds of the deaths here are from traumatic brain injury.

I Dont think so….. your under your own control and if your not ready to DIE yes I said DIE than you had better go small not big and never ride over your head. make sure your driver is great. basically if you don’t feel comfortable and confident with experience to back it Then DONT DO IT……..dont trust someones driving skills by there word ” O i’,m a great drive while laughing” they will kill you Understand dont fly with them… make sure you drive understands that they can kill you.. point number 1

heres the Training Book i got about 1000 hour on this wing.
1. started with the 45′ rope never go over 20mph start at 10 to 15 you have to get real good at controlling the wind at low speeds this will give you the feeling also when to bail out.
2. you have to pump it up with air hard that’s key to ….
it took me about 100 rides to get up to 15′ off the water and feel confident and comfortable. then i slowly went up 1 or 2 mph..
3. Also big point you can ride corners but your driver has to be bad ass For Real Smooth is the key. you have to be on the outside of the turn BEFORE the boat starts to turn. So if your going right, get out to the right before the turn starts also tighter turns farther out you HAVE TO BE go slow and feel it out. also DON”T take turns at over 22 23 thats when it get real unstable and high high % you will crash.. . start with Small turns.

i can rip a tight corner now… Looks so cool man i love this thing!!!

lets talk about Going BIG 50′ 60′
4. if you find yourself this high you had better have as much time on the wing as me or more because You will die. i got up to about 55′ and brought it back down thanks to my bad ass driver.it real unstable over 40′ so that being said its a good launch platform send it up to 60′ and let go in a good form you can hit the water right. that fun for sure.. do it all day you only get that high with the 85′ rope Caution

5.here is one more thing LET GO IF THE WING STARTS TO FLIP LET GO it’s your only chance to rite you body for impact…people that hold on get flipped harder in the air and when you hit the water your not ready so bail sooner than later. also when your up in the air and the boat loses speed LET GO don’t let it set you up to go head first into the wing when it crashes.. that s how people brake there neck.

thats it
happy flying
my heart go out to the dead that this sport produced.
please take my advice seriously..

natalie_kay00@hotmail.com

Dominating lake tapps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUydEi3z-iE

I am really sorry to hear of your loss. However, I find it very hard to beleive that you checked THOUROUGHLY the dangers of this product prior to even purchasing it. There were documented cases of injuries and even one death prior to July 11th. If you didn’t see or read of any news, then you didn’t check good enough. Again, I am sorry for you loss.

Oh and to anyone who wants a full refund. The only way to get one is to call the store where you bought it. You must cut out the two air intakes and remove the warning label and send them in. Otherwise you can choose from a list of replacement packages here:
http://www.sportsstuff.com/customercare/wegoexchange/index.shtml

Oh and Nick Murrey, the guy that posted right above me…Your Dad might want to buy you a casket for when you die. Using that tube beyond the specifications is PLAIN STUPID! From what I see on your website though you are riding a Manta. Hopefully you are not using your above spcifications when riding the Kitetube

The wego kite tube TAKES PRACTICE. It’s not a new fun liesure toy, it’s a new sport. It also takes 3 people to run the tube ( a spotter, driver, and a good, steady rider.) I admit that it was Sportsstuff’s mistake to add 20 more feet of rope, that was already attatched to the beginners rope, but I firmly believe everyone who got hurt was from their lack of experience or their ignorance and therefore, their fault.

While the kite tube can catch sudden gusts of wind, it is up to the rider to compensate for this sudden change in height by staying as completely still and keeping their balance as much in the middle as possible. It is then the spotters responsibility, to notify the driver to slow down, to bring the tube back to the water.

The tube is not meant to fly 10+ feet above the water constantly, it is meant to ballet (an up and down motion on the water, and should the tube stay in constant flight, it should be no more than a foot off the water), as it says in the video, had any one actually watched it. It’s not supposed to be flown in choppy water, or if any strong steady winds, or wind gusts are present. You may say, winds invisible, you can’t see it so therefore the tube should be more stable and cannot account for such winds. Take the simple saying of looking before you leap. See how the water moves, watch tree leaves, etc. If everything is calm and not sporadic, then take it for a run. There also shouldn’t be many other boats close to where you’re flying because the tube needs to be flown in as straight of line of possible. If the boat veers to the left or right, that’s when the tube can shift.

I use the beginners rope and get a good 25 feet in the air (why the heck would you want to go any higher than this?), but then come back to the water quickly due to a great spotter and a great driver. I have never been pulled faster than 30 mph, and the only time the tube has ever overturned was during one of my first few runs when I shifted my weight to fix my footing, and then tried to correct by shifting to the other direction. The boat had already started to slow down once my spotter realized the tube could possibly sidewind, and I tucked when I flipped. It didn’t hurt at all and I got right back on to do it all again. I have since been on the wego 15-20 times this summer and only gotten better with each ride.

I am deeply sorry that next year I will not be able to ride this great new product due to people’s lack of ability to take things slow and learn it step by step. You had a great product Sportsstuff (way better than the hard to fly manta ray). I hope that in time things will change, but it’s doubtful due to everyone loving to not take responsibility for their actions, and just sue whoever they can.

TUBE KITES PROVIDE A BIG RUSH, BUT DANGERS ARE EXTREME
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune

In the span of 76 days, the Wego Kite Tube by SportsStuff Inc. went from being honored as the best new sports product of the year by the Sporting Good Manufacturers Association to becoming a voluntary safety recall item.
New numbers show that as of July 27, 84 people have been injured in 77 incidents involving Wego Kite Tubes in the U.S., including two deaths, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). At least one death has been linked to the Wego Kite Tube in Canada.
The Wego is a 10-foot, round and inflatable tube designed to be towed behind power boats. Riders can lift the tube off the water when speeds of 20 to 40 mph are reached. The tube can rise as high 60 feet, according to some users.
Kite tubes provide a new form of adrenaline rush and the falls provide some amazing video footage for frat house fodder, but officials say the dangers are extreme.
“They are hard to control and can lift users as high as 40 feet into the air. The impact from falling from these sorts of heights at such a high rate of speed into the water would be similar to hitting concrete,” said Dave Harris, boating coordinator for Utah State Parks and Recreation.
Rangers at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in southern Utah and northern Arizona first noticed various forms of tube kites - Kite Tube is trademarked by SportsStuff Inc. — on Lake Powell in April. Four serious injuries and multiple minor incidents forced National Park Service officials to ban tube kites at Glen Canyon in mid-June.
Utah State Parks and Recreation officials haven’t banned the aerial devices from the state’s public waters yet, but the agency is making sure people understand how dangerous they can be.
Harris said there have been at least two unreported cases of individuals requiring a trip to the hospital after falling from tube kites at state parks. He reminds boaters that any accident involving death, medical treatment beyond basic first aid or combined property damage greater than $2,000 is required by law to be reported.
State Parks personnel will begin hanging safety posters discouraging the use of tube kites and will issue a warning on the Web page, http://www.stateparks.utah.gov.
SportsStuff Inc. placed a voluntary recall on 19,000 Wego Kite Tubes in cooperation with the CPSC in July. Injuries range from broken necks, to punctured lungs to head trauma.
In addition to the Wego, Glen Canyon Recreation Area officials also banned all forms of tube kites including the Manta by Sevylor.
Julie Vallese, CPSC director of public affairs, can’t say whether Sevylor officials have been asked to recall the Manta, but did confirm that the agency’s tube kite investigation included all products in that category.
Contact Brett Prettyman at brettp@sltrib.com or 801-257-8902. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
See video online at www.sltrib.com/outdoors

If they know anything about designing tubes, they would have made it aero-dynamic… more like the MAnta-RAy. A round disc is not contollable even when going at their recommneded height or speed, which is what I did!

SPORTSSTUFF NEEDS TO PAY FOR ALL THE LIVES THEY HAVE RUINED!!!!!!!!

THIS PRODUCT IS DANGEROUS AND HAS NO AERO-DYNAMIC PROPERTIES TO IT. OBVIOUSLY IT NEVER TESTED FULLY AND SHOULD NEVER BEEN PLACED UP FOR SALE.

MY COUSIN WAS TOSSED INTO THE AIR WHEN OUR BOAT HIT A WAKE. HE IS NOW INCAPACITATED WITH A BROKEN COLLAR BONE AND A FRACTURE TO HIS SKULL.

SPORTSTUFF SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THIS PIECE OF CRAP. SPORTSTUFF SUCKS!

Burlington Man’s Death In Kite Tubing Accident Spurs New Concerns

It was supposed to be the latest and greatest thing he’d ever done. It wound up being the last and the deadliest. A Burlington man is believed to be the first person in Ontario killed practicing the new extreme sport of kite tubing. The craze involves standing on an inflated disc shaped object being towed behind a boat. It soars into the air on gusts of wind and then comes down again, a sort of airborne water skiing.

But there’s no harness or seatbelt, and it depends solely on the rider hanging on to a tow rope.

That’s how Glen Buttigieg thought it was supposed to work. But something went terribly wrong on Tuesday when the 38-year-old and his friends ventured out on a Guelph lake to try their expensive new toy.

Buttigieg’s device went into a sudden dive and crashed into the water, leaving him with a broken neck and brain injuries that proved fatal.

His best friend Mike Langlais was waiting for his own turn on the contraption and couldn’t believe what he saw.
“I gave him mouth to mouth and he didn’t come to,” he remembers, with a quiver in his voice. “So I gave him CPR and he woke up again. But he was paralyzed by then, he couldn’t move anymore.”
The still stunned Langlais swears all his pals read and followed the directions, and they thought there was something wrong with the equipment.
“My first thought was this is defective, this kite shouldn’t be able to do this, to lose its airflow like that.”
This is the first season kite tubes are being sold in Ontario, and they’re reported to be moving well, despite the price tag of $500-$700.
But while we may not be all that familiar with them here, it’s a different story in the U.S. Some states have already banned the treacherous toy and the Toronto Police Marine Unit is hoping to see that same precaution followed here.
“I don’t think there is any safe way of riding it,” complains P.C. Gary Gibson. “There doesn’t appear to be any kind of controls on it to control the lift or control the steering of it in the air.”
There are no legal requirements to get training and while the package comes with a how-to DVD, it doesn’t recommend wearing a helmet.
Langlais is preparing to attend his pal’s funeral on Saturday and can’t believe he lost his life over something so senseless. He supports the idea of a ban, too, so that no one ever has to go through what he did.
“Had we known it was this unsafe or that fast or could do the things that it did, I don’t think we would ever would have been on it,” he laments.
And he has this warning for parents or adults thinking about getting one of their own.
“Don’t use these kites,” he pleads. “Whoever purchased them, don’t take it out of the box, don’t use it, don’t let you’re children on it, it’s far too dangerous.”

The tragedy has already led to another casualty that will leave Buttigieg’s mother unable to attend her own son’s funeral. After learning about the death of her only child, she suffered a massive heart attack and remains in hospital.

I will start the bidding if someone wants to buy it? Otherwise I will continue to ride. That is of course if they are any bodies of water left to rdie on.

Lawyer for Kite tube suite - I hope you make special points of how many of these owners are not taking any responsibility for their own incompetence. Speed, Driver, Alcohol, Rope length, etc. I hope you show the court system how when exceeding the speed limit causes injury and death —much like motorvehicles —keep suing and we will all be walking again! Then when we trip on a rock that the sidewalk department did not pick up, we can sue some more.

Just in case you did not get the drift - sue happy people piss me off!

Mobile, Alabama — Effective immediately the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, is banning Tube Kiting on all waters under its jurisdiction in the southeast.
Tube kiting is a new form of extreme water sport that recently emerged in the region. The large inflatable kite tubes have a solid fabric floor that the rider stands on while being towed behind a boat. The front of the tube begins to lift into the air at speeds above 25 mph. As speed increases, the entire tube is lifted into the air like a kite with the rider on top. The lack of stability and control often results in the tube slamming hard into the water surface, overturning or throwing the rider.
“This product is described by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as ‘extremely dangerous’ and nationally has already caused two deaths and numerous injuries, including one serious injury at Lake Lanier,” said E. Patrick Robbins. “The hazards and potential liabilities of allowing tube kiting on public waters outweigh the benefits of unrestricted use.”
Regional bans have also been imposed at other Corps lakes as well as some National Parks.

Mobile District Rivers and Lakes Banning Tube Kiting

ALLATOONA LAKE, GA LAKE SIDNEY LANIER. GA
ALABAMA RIVER LAKES, AL OKATIBBEE LAKE, MS
BLACK WARRIOR & TOMBIGBEE RIVER LAKES, AL WALTER F. GEORGE LAKE, AL & GA
CARTERS LAKE, GA WEST POINT LAKE, AL & GA
TENNESSEE-TOMBIGBEE WATERWAY, AL & MS LAKE SEMINOLE GA & FL

but it’s the same ole shit in stupid litigious america. stupid ppl doing stupid things, then looking for someone else to blame. and other stupid people trying to control every bit of fun, and strip us of any bit of responsibility we here in the, “land of the free” might still have left, by legislation and BS rules & restrictions.

::sigh::