CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has banned a new form of extreme water sport called tube kiting from its recreation lakes in New Hampshire as well as in other New England states.
The agency instituted the ban at its 31 federal recreation flood control reservoir projects in New England late last month. The agency said most of the reservoirs are too small and too shallow to support any type of speed boating use. It said the seven lakes where boat speeds could support tube kites, the lakes are not large enough or deep enough to allow the activity safely.
In New Hampshire, the ban affects Blackwater Dam in Webster, Edward MacDowell Lake in Peterborough, Franklin Falls Dam, Hopkinton-Everett Lakes in Hopkinton, Otter Brook Lake in Keene and Surry Mountain Lake in Keene.
Tube kites are large, sometimes round, inflatable water devices that can be more than 10 feet in diameter. The tube is hooked to the back of a boat by a tow rope and the tube rider pulls back on a rope to lift into the air as the boat reaches speeds of between 25 and 35 miles an hour.
AP-ES-08-07-06 1840EDT
Send questions/comments to the editors.
