Verrückt

Verrückt
Verrückt, as seen from Interstate 435
Schlitterbahn Kansas City
Coordinates	39.1209°N 94.8064°W / 39.1209; -94.8064
Status	Closed
Cost	$3.6 million
Opening date	July 10, 2014 (2014-07-10)
Closing date	August 7, 2016 (2016-08-07)
General statistics
Designer	Jeff Henry & John Schooley
Model	Water coaster
Height	168 ft (51 m)
Speed	70 mph (110 km/h)
Max vertical angle	60°
Boats	10 boats. Riders are arranged 1 across in 3 rows for a total of 3 riders per boat.
Height restriction	54 in (137 cm)

Verrückt (German for crazy or insane) was a water slide at the Schlitterbahn Kansas City water park. At 168 feet 7 inches (51.38 m), the slide surpassed Kilimanjaro at Aldeia das Águas Park Resort to become the world's tallest water slide when it opened in 2014. Following a fatal accident involving a 10-year-old boy in 2016, the ride was closed permanently, and criminal charges led to the arrests of several individuals including the park's owner and a co-designer of the ride.

History

In November 2012, Schlitterbahn Kansas City announced plans for the world's tallest and fastest water slide, with no name or height specifications, set to open in Summer of 2013. The height was kept secret in order to ensure that it would set a world record. The still incomplete slide was officially named Verrückt, the German word for crazy or insane, in November 2013, with the ride expected to be open at the start of the park's 2014 season (which was May 23). The ride was not ready when the park opened for the summer, and the opening day was delayed until June 5, as it was "not working properly". After much of the lower portion of the ride was rebuilt, the opening date was announced to be June 29, to coincide with a television special about the ride. On June 26, the park cancelled two days of media previews and the opening. The ride opened on July 10, 2014.

Verrückt was voted the world's "Best New Waterpark Ride" at the 2014 Golden Ticket Awards.

Design

Verrückt was conceived spur of the moment by Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry at trade show, after being asked by a team working on Travel Channel's Xtreme Waterparks show what he was working on. Henry immediately declared that he was working on the "biggest, tallest, fastest" water slide, making up a concept on the spot. Henry then pitched the idea to vendors at the trade show, who declined to work on it. Undeterred, Henry decided to build the slide himself. Co-designed by Henry and ride designer John Schooley, Verrückt was a three-person raft slide with an uphill section. The initial drop was a 17-story plunge with a five-story uphill section, which made it the tallest uphill water coaster section in the world. The starting point was taller than either Niagara Falls or the foot-to-torch portion of the Statue of Liberty. At 168 feet (51 m) it was also higher than the 120 feet (37 m) that zoning codes permitted and thus required a variance (the height was increased from its initial plan of 148 feet (45 m), which was also above the limit).

After the announcement of the ride's height and the certification of its world record on April 25, 2014, Schlitterbahn tore down most of the lower part of the ride after sandbags were seen flying off the ride during testing. The rebuilt and re-engineered bottom resulted in the slope at the bottom of the large drop changing from 45 degrees to 22 degrees, as well as adding an extra 5 feet (1.5 m) to the top of the uphill portion of the ride, in order to slow it down. The ride's 100 pounds (45 kg) rafts were carried by conveyor to the top of the slide, while riders climbed 264 steps to reach the top. To avoid issues with rafts leaving the ride, rider groups were weighed at the bottom of the slide to make sure that their combined weight was between 400 pounds (180 kg) and 550 pounds (250 kg), with no single person over 300 pounds (140 kg), and weighed again once they reached the top.

One of the most controversial aspects of the design was the application of metal hoops supporting netting over the areas where riders were travelling the fastest (70 miles per hour (110 km/h)). After rafts flew off in early testing, netting was installed which delayed the opening of the ride. Engineers commenting after the August 2016 incident, in which a boy was decapitated on the ride, said the netting "posed its own hazard because a rider moving at high speeds could easily lose a limb if they hit it". Standard industry practice, following guidelines set by ASTM F-24 Committee on Amusement Ride and Devices, would be to use a rigid over-the-shoulder restraint that locks and an upstop mechanism to prevent the rafts from going airborne, rather than hook and loop straps to restrain the riders (which are never to be used according to ASTM) and the lethal metal brace and netting system actually used.

The 2018 indictment against Schlitterbahn writes that Henry and Schooley "lacked technical expertise to design a properly functioning water slide" and did not perform standard engineering procedures or calculations on how the slide would operate. Instead they used "crude trial-and-error methods" to test its performance out of haste to launch the ride. According to court documents, Schooley conceded that “If we actually knew how to do this, and it could be done that easily, it wouldn’t be that spectacular.”

Incident

On August 7, 2016, the 10-year-old son of Kansas state representative Scott Schwab died while riding Verrückt. The boy was decapitated when the raft went airborne and impacted a metal bar supporting netting. He was one of three passengers with two women, one of whom suffered a broken jaw and the other a broken face bone requiring stitches. The park closed following the incident, pending an inspection. On August 10, 2016, the park reopened, but the ride remained closed indefinitely.

Authorities later said the boy, who weighed 74 pounds (34 kg), should have been in the center of the raft between the other two female passengers – one weighing 275 pounds (125 kg) and another weighing 197 pounds (89 kg). Instead, he rode in the front causing an uneven weight distribution that contributed to the raft going airborne. The cumulative weight of 546 pounds (248 kg) was under the maximum recommended weight of 550 pounds (250 kg). On November 22, 2016, Schlitterbahn announced that Verrückt would be demolished following the closure of a criminal investigation. As of November 21, 2017, the slide remains standing.

On March 23, 2018, a grand jury issued an indictment against Schlitterbahn and Tyler Austin Miles, former director of operations, charging them with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, aggravated child endangerment, and interference with law enforcement. The indictment accuses the park of negligence, concealing design flaws, and downplaying the severity of previous injuries reported on the ride. On March 26, 2018, Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry, who co-designed the ride, was arrested in Cameron County, Texas, in connection with the incident. On March 27, 2018, the Kansas Attorney General's office released a new indictment against Henry, co-designer John Schooley, and Henry & Sons Construction Company – privately-owned by Schlitterbahn – charging them with second-degree murder in addition to 17 other felonies. Schooley was arrested at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after returning from a trip to China on April 2, 2018.

External links

• Archived version of the slide's entry on the Schlitterbahn website
• Archived version of the slide's website