inflatable

[Mbryant]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBa9wdOANHw

anyone got one of these?! looks lik the ultimate in inflatable toys!!

[slimtim]

i think someone got killed while riding something similar so they now been banned. That is the case for one model in particular anyway.

Looks like wicked fun though...

[robin]

Cracking backing track.

[prairie tuber]

At least a couple deaths from kite tubing so far.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thech...ety_alert.html


Interesting discussion about this here;

http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/cgi-bin/...c;f=5;t=000347

[codprawn]

I can't believe some people's attitude - no wonder the USA and Britain are in such a mess.

Brother in law of someone who was badly hurt said

"THIS IS REAL PEOPLE AND THIS COMPANY WILL GO DOWN FOR THIS. WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT LITAGATION PROVIDES NEGATIVE RESULTS FOR COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTUR ITEMS THAT HURT PEOPLE."

Fortunately most people on the forum pointed out that it is obviously dangerous and you do it at your OWN risk - why do people think they can take stupid risks and them blame other people for their accidents?

[prairie tuber]

Yup.

I've done some mighty dumb things with a belly full of liquid courage, but I'm not sure it would have been enough to get me onto one of these. At the same time, the manufacturer should have never released something as ill conceived as this item in the pictures either.

[codprawn]

They will all get in to the air if you try hard enough though - you could say the same for any tube!!!

To me the most dangerous sport there is has to be downhill mountain biking - seen so many nasty accidents. It is very popular where I live and they have built a downhill course with some incredible jumps through the trees - they have to twist mid air to land safely a split second before avoiding the trees. I have seen loads of people carted off in ambulances.

[prairie tuber]

I would suspect that the manta ray version tha Mbryant linked to has more inherent aerodynamic stability than the saucer version.

Downhill mountain bike racing is totally insane, however race organizers don't let anyone participate unless they've signed all of the waivers.

[three-rex]

the Manta Ray is still on the Sevylor website so I'm ghuessing its available - looks like a barrel of laughs

[jyasaki]

It was the "kite tube" that was recalled in the US. A couple of deaths, and more than a couple of paralyzed users (not counting the banged up folks with no permanent damage), and several pending lawsuits was finally enough, I think.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06210.html

jky