Cannonball!

I loved doing cannonballs at the pool when I was a kid. There was just something about making a big splash that got people next to the pool wet that was totally fun to me. Ahhh... childhood.

But check out this Cannonball:

Looks like some sort of scary industrial machine, right? Yet it's sitting next to a pool so that means some sort of fun must come out of it. Well, it does. You see, someone sits in that seat at the end, pushes two buttons and then...

Cannonball! This massive torrent of water is released from the elevated holding chamber and propels you out of that little shoot at the end and you go flying, up to 23 ft., into the pool below. How fun does that seem? Especially if you land on your face.

The attraction was patented by Wiegand Maelzer, a German water slide company. It's being marketed in the U.S. by SCS Interactive under the attraction name of Cannonball. You can see video of the contraption in action on Wiegand's website, here.

I do think it'd be an interesting concept, not for a large park because of capacity, but for smaller ones. I have to wonder if any American insurance company would ever insure something like this, though. But if all else fails, head to Germany! The kids in the video love it!