COLUMBUS, Ohio-
SportsStuff Inc. says it is voluntarily recalling 19,000 Wego Kite Tubes, a brand of airborne rafts pulled by boat in a new phenomenon that has seen at least two U.S. deaths this year, one of them in Wisconsin.
The Omaha, Neb.-based company's announcement Thursday came a day after the Ohio Department of Natural Resources warned thrill seekers that airborne sports are illegal on state lakes. The Army Corps of Engineers has banned the extreme sport on lakes in several states.
There have been 39 injuries reported nationwide, according to a news release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. SportsStuff has notified the commission of deaths in Wisconsin and Texas involving Wego Kite Tubes, the commission said.
Gregory Bykowski, 42, of Delafield, Wis., was killed June 26 on Little St. Germain Lake in Vilas County when he suffered fatal head and chest injuries after the tube kite he was using hit the water after initially going into the air, authorities said.
Roy Zellmer, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' boating law administrator, said Thursday he plans to issue a notice to DNR wardens to caution people using the devices and warn them of their potential dangers.
Tube kites are inflatable rafts tethered to the back of a powerboat. When the user pulls on the handles, the tube becomes airborne, making the rider into a human kite.
"Once these kite tubes are airborne, you have no control over them," said Jane Beathard, an ODNR spokeswoman. "You can't steer them. You're basically riding the wind."
For now, Ohio watercraft and park officers are letting people off with warnings, but at some point airborne users will be charged with minor misdemeanors, said Brian Bishop, law enforcement staff officer with the state Division of Parks and Recreation.
The Wego Kite Tube has been sold since October 2005 for between $500 and $600, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. "Never kite higher than you're willing to fall" is printed on the 10-foot wide, bright yellow rafts.
Other U.S. companies make tube kites, said Julie Vallese, spokeswoman for the Consumer Safety Product Commission. But the Wego Kite Tube is "the product that seems to be causing the most concern in the marketplace," and the only one that has been recalled.
SportsStuff directed requests for comment to an attorney who did not immediately return a phone message.
In a letter posted on the company's Web site addressed to people who purchased kite tubes, Sportsstuff CEO Leroy Peterson said the firm has been unable to determine the causes of the serious injuries and deaths of kite tube users that have been reported.
The letter states: "While Sportsstuff does not believe that the products are defective or unreasonably dangerous, in an abundance of caution, Sportsstuff is cooperating with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to withdraw the kite tubes from the market and undertake a voluntary recall to replace those in the possession of consumers with products of comparable value."
