The White-Miskill Act for Parasailing. is a law enacted by the legislature of the

State of Florida Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

in 2014 for the control of the sport of

parasailing Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail ...

. It relates to commercial and recreational water activities prohibiting certain water activities within some areas and specifies the requirements for the operator of a vessel engaged in commercial parasailing. The Act #Requires that the owner of a vessel engaged in commercial parasailing obtains and maintains an insurance policy. #Requires that the operator has a current and valid license issued by the United States Coast Guard. #Prohibits commercial parasailing unless certain equipment is present on the vessel and certain weather conditions are met; requiring that a weather log be maintained and made available for inspection.

Definitions

"Commercial parasailing" means providing or offering to provide for payment any activity involving the towing of a person by a motorboat if:
(a) One or more persons are tethered to the towing vessel;
(b) The person or persons ascend above the water; and
(c) The person or persons remain suspended under a

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

, chute, or

parasail Parasailing, also known as parascending, paraskiing or parakiting, is a recreational kiting activity where a person is towed behind a vehicle while attached to a specially designed canopy wing that resembles a parachute, known as a parasail w ...

above the water while the vessel is underway.
The term does not include

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

glider towing conducted under rules of the Federal Aviation Administration governing ultralight vehicles as defined in 14 C.F.R. part 103

Area limits

A person may not operate any vessel towing a parasail or engage in parasailing or operate a

moored balloon A tethered, moored or captive balloon is a balloon that is restrained by one or more tethers attached to the ground and so it cannot float freely. The base of the tether is wound around the drum of a winch, which may be fixed or mounted on a vehic ...

within 100 feet of the marked channel of the Florida

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, then following th ...

or within 2 miles of the boundary of any airport unless otherwise permitted under federal law. A person may not engage in

kite boarding Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

kite surfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wa ...

within an area that extends 1 mile in a direct line along the centerline of an airport runway and that has a width measuring one-half mile unless otherwise permitted under federal law.

Insurance

The owner or operator of a vessel engaged in commercial parasailing may not offer or provide for payment any parasailing activity unless the owner or operator first obtains and maintains an insurance policy from an insurance carrier licensed in Florida or approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation or an eligible surplus lines insurer. This policy must provide bodily injury liability coverage in the amounts of at least $1 million per occurrence and $2 million annual aggregate. Proof of insurance must be available for inspection at the location where commercial parasailing is offered or provided for consideration, and each customer who requests such proof shall be provided with the insurance carrier's name and address and the insurance policy number.

Operator license

The operator of a vessel engaged in commercial parasailing must have a current and valid license issued by the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

authorizing the operator to carry passengers for hire. The license must be appropriate for the number of passengers carried and the displacement of the vessel. The license must be carried on the vessel and be available for inspection while engaging in commercial parasailing activities.

Marine radio and weather

A vessel engaged in commercial parasailing must be equipped with a functional

marine VHF radio Marine VHF radio is a worldwide system of two way radio transceivers on ships and watercraft used for bidirectional voice communication from ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore (for example with harbormasters), and in certain circumstances ship-to-ai ...

and a separate electronic device capable of providing access to

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

forecasts and current weather conditions. Commercial parasailing is prohibited if the current observed wind conditions in the area of operation include a sustained

wind speed In meteorology, wind speed, or wind flow speed, is a fundamental atmospheric quantity caused by air moving from high to low pressure, usually due to changes in temperature. Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer. Wind speed ...

of more than 20 miles per hour; if wind gusts are 15 miles per hour higher than the sustained wind speed; if the wind speed during gusts exceeds 25 miles per hour; if rain or heavy fog results in reduced visibility of less than 0.5 mile; or if a known lightning storm comes within 7 miles of the parasailing area. The operator of the vessel engaged in commercial parasailing shall use all available means to determine prevailing and forecasted weather conditions and record this information in a weather

logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...

each time passengers are to be taken out on the water. The weather log must be available for inspection at all times at the operator's place of business.

Violation

A commercial operator or person who violates this Act commits a misdemeanor of the Second Degree punishable as provided in Florida Statutes s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

Criticisms

The delay in enacting legislation for the control of paragliding was a major area of criticism prior to introduction of the Bill. Retrieved, tuesday, February 24, 2015

References

{{Reflist Florida law