High-flying kite tubes prompt concerns

LACONIA, N.H. – A high-flying, extreme water sport is prompting safety concerns in New England.

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers has banned tube kiting at all 31 of its reservoirs in New England, including 11 in New Hampshire and Vermont, as safety officials look at ways to ban the practice that has killed and injured people around the country. There are no Army Corps flood control reservoirs in Maine.

Tube kiting is high-speed airborne tubing. Boats tow tubes or platforms measuring 10 feet across at 25 to 30 mph, and they launch into the air when riders pull back on the oversized tubes. Once aloft, riders have little to no control – a gust of wind or sudden boat movement can send them spinning or nose-diving into the water, from heights of 15 feet or more.

National consumer safety officials blame tube kiting for the deaths of two men this year and at least a dozen serious injuries, including a punctured lung, broken neck, jaws, legs and ribs and facial injuries. One 14-year-old girl was knocked out when she fell 15 feet in a tube kite and hit the water, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Safety worries prompted one tube kite manufacturer to issue a recall. Some retailers have stopped selling them.

“Nobody with a conscience is selling these things,” said Bart Jeffreys, owner of Sports & Marine Parfunalia in Gilford, near Lake Winnipesaukee.

Army Corps spokesman Tim Dugan said none of the Corps’ New England lakes are big or deep enough to support boat speeds needed for kite tubing.

“It’s just totally unsafe to do this at our projects,” he said.

The Corps also imposed tube kiting bans at its lakes in Oregon, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.

Tube kiting is a relatively new pastime, and there are no laws banning it in New Hampshire and Vermont. Safety officials in both states said they were unaware of any tube kiting incidents.

“It’s so new it hasn’t presented any type of problem, yet, that we’re aware of,” said Vermont State Police Lt. Dan Begiebing.

Dave Barrett, head of New Hampshire Marine Patrol, said since tube kiting debuted a few months ago, a move has been on in states and the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators to address its dangers.

Barrett said there has been talk in the state Department of Safety to change or create watercraft rules to ban tube kiting, but nothing is definite yet.

“They are inherently dangerous,” he said. “You have no control of them once they are in the air.”

Tube kiting apparently has made few if any inroads in Maine, according to Tom Santaguida, chief of the Maine Warden Service, who said neither he nor any of his wardens had encountered anyone engaging in the activity.

“We have no specific rules or statutes that apply to these things,” Santaguida said. He suggested that the closest rules might be those governing water-skiing, which require the presence of an observer age 12 or older.