Posted on 07/04/2006 12:03:42 AM PDT by HAL9000
TULSA, Okla. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Tulsa today announced a restriction on kite tubing on all Corps lakes in the Tulsa District. Col. Miroslav Kurka, commander of the Tulsa District, imposed the ban because of the potential for serious injuries caused by uncontrolled flight of these devices. Kite tubes are a relatively new derivative of large inner tubes towed behind speedboats that become airborne.One person died as the result of a kite tube accident this past week in Texas.
Many kite tubing injuries are the direct result of the tubes reaching heights of 20 to 30 feet at tow speeds of 25 miles per hour and then rolling into an uncontrollable dive. These dives can reach speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour with passenger receiving serious injuries from the impact.
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Tulsa District covers the southern half of Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and the northern Red River portion of Texas including the panhandle.
Lakes affected are listed on the Tulsa District Corps lake projects page on the Tulsa District web site.
Glad you posted that - I don't get out and about anymore. I was picturing a regular inner tube like for river riding, with one of those paragliding type kites attached somehow.
The tube itself is the kite. Cool-looking! Definitely sounds dangerous, though.
If that thing turns to point downward, that would be one hard plunge for the rider. Kites flown in the air have tails to help prevent this from happening. A tail on this, however, would dangle into the water.
" ... Tulsa District covers the southern half of Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and the northern Red River portion of Texas including the panhandle. ..."
Reminds me of the old joke that came about because Oklahoma owns the northern half of the Red River and Texas owns the southern half - state line is right down the middle.
*If an airplane crashed in the middle of the Red River, in which state would they bury the survivors?*
The obvious answer is that they don't bury survivors. But we used to take it past that and say the Texas Aggies would bury them in TX (or being a Sooner myself, I might say the Oklahoma Aggies would bury them in Oklahoma) (except they're bigger than we are now - but not on the football field, at least not every year, lol!).
Yeah, from 20-30 feet up in the air, that sounds bad! Like a 2-3 story building. Yikes!
Kite tubes are a relatively new derivative of large inner tubes that become airborne as they are towed behind speedboats.
Note to reporter: The speedboats do not become airborne.
Of course, it never worked. The poor guy in the hang glider harness always got keelhauled. Fortunately, noone got killed on that stupid stunt.
Plus, the boat line would now be helping pull the darned thing down.
This breathless certainly is syntax.
I hate to spoil a good joke, but Oklahoma owns to the south shore. Actually, the boundary is on dry land - it is the vegitation line, not the water line. "The boundary between Texas and Oklahoma was determined by the United States in 1921 to be the south bank of the Red River, which has remained the boundary through the years..."(b) The permanent political boundary line between the states of Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River is the vegetation line along the south bank of the Red River except for the Texoma area, where the boundary does not change. " http://www.dallashistory.org/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?noframes;read=18728
OK, I stand corrected - but I had heard that all my life. Seems like my Okie family would've *liked* the true story better - wonder why I never heard it!
Oh, I know - I'm the Texan and they didn't want to hurt my feelings. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Wait a minute - when Oklahoma was dry and Texas was wet right there (like around Gainesville - not all the TX counties on the border were wet), people didn't get stopped for drinking until they were across the river in OK. They could've been in trouble before they got on the bridge.
I gotta think about this some more - I swear I always thought it was true.
Thank you. Objectiviy and veracity aren't the only things missing in latter day news reporting. Grammar and sentence structure are often sadly lacking, as well.
And don't forget spelling! Shoulda stayed in bed another 1/2 hour...
Make that "objectivity"...
Let's just ban everything and be done with it already.
When I first saw the term "kite tubing" I thought, oh no, not another form of illegal drug use!
The most litigated border in the USA, every time the Red river changes its channel (which is often) the river leaves some land previously in either Oklahoma or Texas on the other side of the border.
I have been on several hunting leases on the river and one factor the land owners considered more important than others in selecting our hunting group, none of our members where lawyers. LOL!
The Kewlist sport I've seen recently is kite boarding. You stand on a small board and a large kite pulls you along on top of the water. The speed is AMAZING. About as fast as jet skis. Plus there is some skill involved. You must handle both the kite while balancing on the board. Anybody who has seen kite boarding in person knows what I am talking about.
English 101 was largely lost upon modern news writers and editors.
Saw it last week, while at dinner at the restaurant at the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. Very cool to watch. This did *not* look like an activity you could pick up in an afternoon.
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