The Nautic Jet - an attraction on land, water or in the air.

Has anyone been on a Heege-Freizeittechnick Nautic-Jet water ride? Anyone know what park/s these are located? Looks like so much fun, the airtime must be incredible! Sorta modern day version of the old Chute The Chutes rides that would launch you in the air at the bottom of the drop. With all the old Arrow Hydro Flumes either castrated or removed all together, I'd love to see a few Nautic Jets in the US someday!

No direct link, so just go here, then click on "Products", then "Nautic-Jet", then "Impressions" for the great pix:

http://www.heege-freizeittechnik.de/engl/index.html

Check out the "Technical Specifications" too to see an little animation of the boat in action.

Also interesting is their Butterfly, has to be the only kiddie shuttle coaster in existance. A huge hit in Europe with 29 installations, but the US has yet to install one. I'd take either one of these rides in my backyard if I has the cash/space!

I have ridden a similar ride. It was at an old campground called Cave Lake near Hillsboro, Ohio. The slide had rollers all the way down.

You had to carry a very heavy plastic sled to the top of a tower that was probably about 40-50 feet tall. You sat the sled on a flat section of rollers, and when the operator pushed a button, the section flipped up and rolled you down the slide. At the bottom, you'd fly off the end and skip halfway across the lake.

There were no restraint devices of any kind, and you had to swim back to the beach dragging your sled. I'm sure it was exceedingly dangerous. I remember doing it with my hands up, and some people did it kneeling, or "ramped" over the gap without waiting for the operator to tilt up the conveyer. No one cared.

I haven't been on a Nautic Jet but when I was in Austria last I went to a little park called Spielpark Leutasch with my distant relatives and it had one of these. I thought it looked pretty fun personally but my cousins said that it really hurt your back when you went on it. Since they were paying for me to go (I had no currency), I respected their opinion and didn't ride it. That park had a number of Heege Freizeittechnik rides there though. In addition to its Nautic Jet the park had a Butterfly, a Skydive, and a Luna Loop. *** Edited 3/22/2004 11:54:23 PM UTC by Krazy***

Sounds similiar to one I've been on too, but on the one I went on, the sleds just kinda skimmed across the water into a shallow pool. The drop was pretty fun though.

What amazes about the Nautic Jet is how it launches those little boats into the air, looking at that little girl in the 4th pic down, you get an idea of how much air this thing delivers! Being an airtime whore, this thing looks like an absolute blast!