State Sen. Jim Sebesta wants to create oversight, but parasail operators say they should have a chance at self-regulation.
By STEVE BOUSQUET and TOM ZUCCO
Published April 14, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Citing a string of accidents, including last week's scary mishap off Madeira Beach, a Pinellas County legislator wants to regulate commercial parasailing in Florida.
Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, says state scrutiny of parasailing is too lax and tourists wrongly assume the rides are closely monitored by authorities.
"My personal preference is always to have the industry regulate itself, and the way that starts is by the industry developing some good standards," Sebesta said. "There are no standards now."
Sebesta said the legislation was in the works long before last week's incident in which a crowd of beachgoers rescued two teenage Georgia girls who floated helplessly over power lines and buildings after their tow rope snapped. Nearly three years ago in Fort Myers, a 37-year-old mother and her 13-year-old daughter died when their tow line snapped and they plunged 200 feet into 4 feet of water.
Chris Abbott of Bradenton, who owns a company that makes parasails, said the industry is "ridiculously safe" and is working to develop national standards.
"We've had lots of meetings with the Coast Guard over the last two or three months, and he (Sebesta) is just jumping in over what we're already doing," said Abbott, owner of Custom Chutes/Parasail and a board member of the Professional Association of Parasail Operators. "I don't mind state regulations as long as the industry is involved."
Sebesta would create commercial parasailing regulations, including fees for licenses, mandatory insurance, and limits on times and places of operation, subject to weather conditions and the proximity of bridges and other barriers.
Registration would cost up to $500, parasailing would have to be conducted at least three-eighths of a nautical mile from shore and prohibitted if sustained winds are 25 knots or greater; and tow lines would be restricted to 500 feet.
Sebesta met in January with Coast Guard representatives and told them if the industry did not regulate itself then he would get the state to step in, according to Coast Guard Lt. Scott Muller, who investigated the fatal accident in Fort Myers in 2001. Mueller then convened a meeting in Tampa among 120 parasail operators, insurers and vessel manufacturers from around the country.
"They know that unless they improve their credibility and appease the insurance companies, they're going to be out of business," Muller said.
Under Sebesta's proposal, parasailing would be supervised by the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. State wildlife officers would gain the power to cite boat operators who lack a Coast Guard captain's license. Only the Coast Guard, which regulates commercial vessels, has that power now.
The parasailing regulations were added to a must-pass highway safety bill Tuesday in the Senate Finance and Tax Committee, without opposition. The bill (SB 1200) is a priority of the Senate Transportation Committee, which Sebesta chairs, and he said he was confident House members would agree.
According to the Parasail Safety Council based in Orlando, 11 people died in parasailing accidents in the U.S. and its territories between 1990 and 2003. The group said there were more than 324 parasailing accidents during that period, and 68 accidents resulted in serious bodily injury. Even though Florida law does not require parasail operators to carry liability insurance, Abbott said, most are insured because many cities, hotels and resorts require it.
Abbott said the already overburdened Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission does not have enough personnel to oversee the business.
"Who's going to spend the money to police it? Those guys are stretched to the limit already. If we can get our act together and self-regulate, it would make for a lot less problems for them," Abbott said.
Dave O'Dell, owner of Sky Screamer Parasail on Clearwater Beach, has flown about 60,000 passengers since 1991 and says he has never had an accident.
"I prefer we at least have a chance to regulate ourselves," O'Dell said. "We're trying to do that. Give us a chance."
- Times staff writer Craig Pittman contributed to this report.
DANGER IN THE SKY
Some of the major incidents involving parasails in Florida:
APRIL 2004: Madeira Beachgoers rescue two Gwinnett County, Ga., teenage girls after their parasail tow rope snaps.
DECEMBER 2003: Two vacationing girls from Massachusetts escape with scrapes and bruises after their wayward parasail sends them into the side of a house in Bradenton Beach.
AUGUST 2001: A couple parachuting in the Florida Panhandle survive a 300-foot fall into Santa Rosa Sound after their parasail separates from a tow boat during a thunderstorm.
JULY 2001: A mother and her 13-year-old daughter from Kentucky are killed when the tow line breaks in stormy conditions and they fall 200 feet into 4 feet of water off Fort Myers.
NOVEMBER 1999: Three men parasailing off Clearwater avert injury when their rope snaps, sending them skyward. A gust of wind lifts them above the 20-story Crescent Beach Club and drops them safely into the gulf. "I thought we were going to die," one man says.
JULY 1997: Two Virginia teens survive a 150-foot fall into the water near Naples when lightning strikes their parasail and severs the tow line.
DECEMBER 1990: A security guard vacationing in Pinellas dies when his foot becomes tangled in the tow line and he is dragged across a Clearwater parking lot. Seven years later, a jury finds the parasail operator negligent and awards $4.5-million in damages.
