When parasailing goes wrong, things gets dangerous fast.
Riders have been caught in high winds and slammed into buildings. They have been tangled in the cords holding the canopy. They’ve been dropped into the water and dragged. They’ve fallen onto the boat towing them. They’ve plunged, tangled in gear, when the towing line has parted.
Since 1998 in Florida, parasailing has accounted for 38 injuries and six deaths. But in the nearly two years since the state Legislature passed the first law regulating the business, there have been no deaths, no injuries and just two reported accidents.
Experts disagree on whether this signals a change for an industry that had operated for years without much government oversight. The Coast Guard says the industry’s safety record has “improved dramatically” since 2012. The head of a water sports trade association concurs, saying the thing he fears most now is complacency. But an industry critic called the law a feel-good measure that still leaves riders unprotected.
The state Legislature, after refusing for years to pass parasailing safety bills, took action in 2014. The change came after the horrific death of a Connecticut woman off Pompano Beach in 2012, when her harness parted and she plunged 450 feet into the ocean. And it followed a widely seen 2013 video of two parasailers caught in high winds at Panama City Beach being slammed into buildings. They survived.
The new law, which took effect Oct. 1, 2014, required operators to carry $2 million in insurance and prohibited parasailing in high winds, when there was lightning within seven miles or when fog or rain reduced visibility to half a mile.
There have been no weather-related accidents since then. In the only accidents reported, both in the Florida Keys, parasailing boats collided with other boats because the operators were looking back at their parasailing clients, according to reports by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which tracks boating accidents.
“We’ve done a good job,” said Larry Meddock, executive director of the Water Sports Industry Association, which worked with the Legislature in drafting the bills. “My concern is since we haven’t had any deaths or serious injuries, are we going to fall back and get complacent. Everything is working. Everything is wonderful. Having said that, is somebody going to do something stupid and go fly in this crazy weather? I don’t know.”
Critics say the law is weak. They note it doesn’t require equipment inspections, even though a National Transportation Safety Board report stated that serious parasailing accidents “are frequently caused by faulty equipment” and singled out the worn harness in the Pompano Beach accident as an example. And they say the weather standard, which bans parasailing when winds hit 20 mph, is set too high for safe operations.
Mark McCulloh, founder of the Parasail Safety Council, who has served as an expert witness in accident cases and helped design the parasailing technology currently in use, said the law did little except “make everyone feel good.”
The wind speed standard should be 15 mph, he said, to prevent parasailers from going aloft in dangerous winds. Routine equipment inspections should be required. And the law should require a detailed safety briefing for passengers, he said. As for accidents, he said he knows of two that have not been reported, he said, so it’s hard to conclude they have declined.
“These regulations are not going to do anything to change the core route of accidents,” he said. “The maximum wind speed? Ridiculous. The wind speed is too high. That equipment should be inspected every day. The passenger briefing would be extensive, with a water survival briefing. There’s no rescue training in the scenario. The briefing is terrible.”
Meddock said a law requiring equipment inspections would be too expensive and never get through the Legislature.
In addition to the new law, the Coast Guard has sent out safety alerts and attempted to obtain voluntary compliance with operational and equipment standards. “The good news is that the parasailing industry’s overall safety record has improved dramatically since 2012,” the Coast Guard said, in an update for maritime professionals.
Developed in the early 1960s, parasailing originated as a method for teaching people parachute techniques without the use of an airplane. Adapted for boats in Florida in the 1970s, parasailing became a popular activity in tourist destinations such as Panama City Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Key West. Today, an estimated 325 parasailing operations offer rides in the United States, about a third of them in Florida.
In Florida, the most common cause of accidents was equipment failure, which accounted for 12 accidents, followed by weather, blamed in eight.
In one wind-related accident off Pompano Beach in 2007, Amber May White of Summerfield, near Ocala, went parasailing with her sister. The operator ignored a thunderstorm warning, the line snapped in high winds, and the two girls slammed into the roof of a hotel and some trees. After a few days on life support, Amber died.
Jason Herold, owner of Adventure Water Sports, which operates from Sailfish Marina on Singer Island, said the law consisted of common-sense standards that any responsible captain would follow. No captains want to take passengers out if there’s the risk of lightning or high winds.
“All of the standards in place are safety precautions that everyone should be doing without being told,” he said.
But having been both a captain and an owner, he said a strict legal standard provides captains with support in decisions they make to protect the public.
“Most of the captains I’ve known don’t want to put themselves in a bad situation,” he said. “It’s the owners. I’ve had bosses who were really upset with me if I wouldn’t go out, and I’ve had others say if you’re not comfortable, don’t go out.”
dfleshler@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4535
