Florida Senate Panel OKs Parasailing Regulations

A Florida Senate panel has approved a bill aimed at instilling greater safety for thrill seekers who soar high above the state’s coastlines while dangling from a parachute.

The legislation would bring greater oversight to the state’s approximately 100 commercial parasail operators, who are now largely unregulated.

The bill (SB 64) cleared the Senate Regulated Industries Committee on Tuesday without any opposition. The measure comes less than a year after a woman dropped from her harness and plunged nearly 200 feet to her death off Pompano Beach.

It would require commercial parasailing businesses to have insurance. It would require that each boat have an observer who isn’t the driver to keep an eye on the parasailers.

Commercial parasailing would be prohibited during sustained winds of more than 20 mph.