Ride operators who pass a Coast Guard inspection can affix a decal to their vessel.
By Associated Press
Published May 22, 2004
TAMPA - The Coast Guard on Friday unveiled a voluntary inspection program for operators of beachfront parasailing rides, hoping to improve safety in an unregulated industry that has experienced some recent mishaps, some fatal.
The program will apply at first just to the more than 120 operators on Florida's west coast, but may expand to other areas of the state and nation, Lt. Scott Muller said.
The program, much of it developed by a committee of about a dozen parasail operators, involves an inspection that lets businesses get a Coast Guard decal certifying them as safe operators. Riders will be urged to seek out approved operators.
"If the public looks for it, the operators will have no choice but to get it," said Muller, who is the senior investigating officer for Coast Guard units that patrol the state's west coast.
Parasailing involves being strapped into a harness attached to a parachute, which reaches an altitude of hundreds of feet while being towed by a boat.
Accidents in the industry are rare, Muller said, but some recent ones have prompted calls for regulation. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission helped draft a bill to regulate parasailing during the last legislative session, but it died in a Senate committee.
Muller said the Coast Guard has investigated as many as two dozen incidents involving parasail operators in the past three years, ranging from engine failure to the July 2001 deaths of a woman and her 13-year-old daughter who fell 250 feet into shallow water at Fort Myers Beach when their harness snapped.
Last month, two Atlanta teens were rescued at Madeira Beach when beachgoers grabbed a tow line that had broken loose from a boat and reeled in a wayward parachute.
A broken tow line was also the cause of an accident off Bradenton Beach in December. Two Massachusetts teens suffered minor injuries when their untethered parachute crashed into power lines and the side of a house.
The guidelines developed by the operators cover distance from shore, tow line lengths and weather conditions. For instance, they recommend not operating if winds are more than 20 mph. Operators also should have written policies for operation and training.
"We identified risks, and we all got together and came up with ways of eliminating or reducing the risks," said Al Charles, a member of the developmental committee who operates Cortez Parasail in Bradenton.
Charles said he initially opposed legislation regulating the industry but might support it eventually if it is based on the new program's guidelines.
The first inspections will occur later this summer, Muller said.
