Parasailing, diving, and snorkeling are sold as easy, safe ways to see Florida from above or below. Most trips are. When they go wrong, the injuries are serious: a towline snaps in a gust and the rider drops onto the water or the beach; a parasail is flown into a building or a bridge as a storm approaches; a diver surfaces too fast with faulty gear and needs treatment in a hyperbaric chamber; a snorkeler near a reef is struck by a boat that ignored the dive flag.
These cases turn on technical details: wind speed, equipment condition, dive profiles, and the distance between a boat and a flag. Florida law requires operators to keep some of those details on paper.
1. Preserve the equipment
Ask the operator in writing to keep the parasail canopy, harness, towline, winch, and tow vessel exactly as they were. For a dive injury, keep or photograph the regulator, buoyancy device, tank, and rental tags, and note the serial numbers. Do not return rental gear without photographing it first. Equipment that is repaired or discarded cannot be inspected by an engineer later.
2. Ask for the parasail weather log and insurance information
Florida bars commercial parasailing when sustained wind exceeds 20 miles per hour, when gusts run 15 miles per hour above the sustained wind, when gusts exceed 25 miles per hour, when rain or fog cuts visibility to "less than 0.5 mile," or when "a known lightning storm comes within 7 miles of the parasailing area" (§ 327.375(5)(a), Fla. Stat.). The operator must check current and forecast conditions and record them in a logbook each time passengers go out, and keep that log available for inspection at its place of business (§ 327.375(5)(b), Fla. Stat.). The operator must also carry liability insurance of at least "$1 million per occurrence and $2 million annual aggregate" and give a customer who asks the carrier's name, address, and policy number (§ 327.375(2), Fla. Stat.). Ask for both in writing.
“less than 0.5 mile,”
§ 327.375(5)(a)
3. Download the dive computer before anyone resets it
A dive computer records depth, time, ascent rate, and decompression data. Do not reset or reuse it. Photograph the screen, and ask that your buddy's computer and the dive boat's GPS track be preserved. Keep your logbook and certification card.
4. Gather the operator's paperwork
Keep any waiver, medical questionnaire, rental agreement, and briefing materials. Write down the captain's name and the names of the divemaster or instructors. For parasailing, the operator must hold a current Coast Guard license to carry passengers for hire and keep it on the vessel (§ 327.375(3), Fla. Stat.). Do not assume a waiver ends the matter; its wording is something we review closely.
5. Get complete medical records
Keep the records from the emergency room, any hyperbaric treatment facility, and follow-up care. Decompression injuries and head injuries can develop over hours, so record when each symptom began.
6. If a boat struck a diver or snorkeler, document the flag
Under Florida law, a "diver" includes a person in the water equipped with a face mask and snorkel or underwater breathing apparatus (§ 327.331(1), Fla. Stat.). Vessels must stay at least 100 feet from a divers-down flag in rivers, inlets, and navigation channels and at least 300 feet in other waters, and a vessel coming closer must slow to the speed needed to keep headway and steerageway (§ 327.331(4) to (6), Fla. Stat.). Divers must make reasonable efforts to stay within those same distances of their flag. Photograph the flag, its size, and where it was displayed.
“diver”
§ 327.331(1)
The Florida rules that matter
Parasailing operations. Besides the weather, insurance, and license rules above, the tow vessel must carry a working VHF marine radio and a separate device that can access National Weather Service forecasts (§ 327.375(4), Fla. Stat.). A second person besides the operator must be aboard to observe the rider, and "A wide-angle rear view mirror is not acceptable for this purpose" (§ 327.37(1)(b), Fla. Stat.). Parasailing is barred from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, riders must wear a noninflatable Coast Guard approved life jacket, and parasailing is prohibited within 100 feet of the marked channel of the Intracoastal Waterway or within 2 miles of an airport boundary unless federal law permits it (§ 327.37(2) and (5), Fla. Stat.).
Fault and deadlines. When Florida negligence law governs, a person more than 50 percent at fault for their own harm may not recover (§ 768.81(6), Fla. Stat.), and suit generally must be filed within two years (§ 95.11(5)(a), Fla. Stat.). When federal maritime law governs, the general limit is three years (46 U.S.C. § 30106). Plan around the shorter period.
“A wide-angle rear view mirror is not acceptable for this purpose”
§ 327.375(4)
Your checklist
- Ask in writing that all equipment and the tow vessel be preserved unchanged.
- Request the parasail weather log and insurance information.
- Preserve and photograph your dive computer data without resetting it.
- Keep the waiver, rental agreement, and briefing materials.
- Record the names of the captain, crew, and instructors.
- Photograph any dive flag and note the boat's distance and speed.
- Calendar a two-year deadline and call a lawyer well before it.
How we handle these cases
We secure the logs, licenses, and insurance information Florida requires operators to keep, preserve the equipment for inspection by engineers, and obtain weather data for the exact time and place. We handle water sports injury cases throughout Florida, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. Meetings are by appointment only. Call 305-748-3789.
This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.