38 THE COASTAL BEND MAGAZINE • Early Summer 2018 TheCoastalBend.com TheFatalFlaw V errückt was certified by the Guinness Book of World Re- cords as the tallest water slide on earth, at 168 feet 7 inches, in April 2014, even while its design team was in the throes of contending with the airborne rafts problem. Almost a year earlier, in June 2013, Henry & Sons decid- ed to install netting supported by hoops over the ride’s slide path as a safety measure to prevent rafts from fly- ing completely off Verrückt’s second hill, 50 feet above the ground. While the Kansas indictment proclaimed this solution, “was obviously defective and ultimately lethal,” Jeff Henry’s preference was to install no netting at all. Schlitterbahn executive Rick Faber, who also lacked any engineering education or certification, fully endorsed the hoop-and-net fix, as evidenced by his email to project manager Kathrine Fontenot: “What do you mean Jeff wants no nets at all, which negates the need for the hoops? I cannot wrap my mind around that decision. I am hoping that it is just a timing thing…that they would rather not have the nets up during the sand bag testing phase to minimize damage. Ops definitely has a problem with not having nets.” Faber’s troubling email confirms that Schlitterbahn, at the corporate level in New Braunfels, not only knew about the airborne rafts problem, but endorsed a safety measure that proved just as deadly as having no nets at all—which was Jeff Henry’s preference on-site. This was the blind leading the blind into an inevitable disaster that was ultimately caused by an incompetent design scheme from the start. There was no solution to the airborne rafts problem on Verrückt that was not going to be worked out by highly skilled, certified and educated professional engineers— and the ones who were briefly involved in the project warned of the ride’s danger, but were dismissed and/or their warnings were intentionally defied in an effort to open Verrückt to an eagerly impatient public—and on July 10, 2014, it did. August7,2016 A beautiful Midwest summer Sunday was the setting for a special day to welcome elected officials and their fami- lies to Schlitterbahn Kansas City. Among those visiting the park were State Representative Scott Schwab, his wife and their three sons, from Olathe, Kansas. Brothers Nate, age 12, and Caleb, age 10, climbed the 264 steps to the top of the 17-story Verrückt tower, hoping to ride down the world’s tallest and fastest water slide together. Due to the 400-pound minimum weight requirement for each three-person raft, the brothers were split up, Nate going down the ride first with two adult strangers. Caleb Schwab was positioned in the front seat of “Raft B,” with unrelated patrons, sisters Hannah Barnes, age 32, and Matraca Baetz, age 25—all three riders were secured with two Velcro straps, one across the waste and one across one shoulder, like an auto seat belt, sans the locking buckle and tensioner. The initial drop happened without incident, but as Raft B reached the top of the second hill, propelled by water jets at an estimated 65-miles-per-hour, the raft went airborne and Caleb became unstrapped from his seat. The momentum launched Ca- leb into the netting and a metal hoop support that impacted the boy under his neck, decapitating him before his body dropped onto the slide, and 50-feet down, followed by a massive stream of blood. Caleb’s brother Nate witnessed his death from the bottom of the ride, and was heard screaming to a Schlitterbahn employee, “I just watched my brother die because of one of your attractions.” Upper:Verrückt’s netting and metal hoop“safety system,”Mid-Left:Half-way down the first drop; Mid-Right:The 2nd hill; Lower:Henry followed by XtremeWaterparksfilm crew in Corpus Christi. Please be advised that to follow is the graphic description of the tragic death of a child, and may not be suitable for all readers.