Cruise Ship Law

A crewman who died after running out of oxygen in a ship's ballast tank did not have the usual breathing gear, the BBC has learned.

The Filipino collapsed and died on the Saga-owned cruise ship in Southampton on Wednesday. A second man was rescued.

The pair inspected the tank without a safety officer or written permission, which is required by Saga due to the low air levels, a source told the BBC.

Police are investigating the suspicion of gross negligence.

Detectives are examining whether the men were told to enter the ballast tanks or told to inspect them from a safe distance above.

Kent-based Saga confirmed that various guidelines should be followed during the procedure.

Out-of-bounds area

These include ventilating the tanks well in advance and that anyone wanting to go inside must have written permission and be accompanied by a safety officer, as it is an out-of-bounds area.

Saga said it would not comment on whether these procedures were followed.

Spokesman Paul Green added: "A full independent investigation is currently underway and we are therefore unable to comment any further at this time."

The pair were trapped in the ballast tank, which is a compartment at the bottom of a ship holding water to control a ship's buoyancy and stability.

Water is discharged when the ship is heavily laden and then taken on again when travelling with light cargo.

The crewman, a second bosun in charge of crew and equipment, died after running out of oxygen, police have said.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said a second bosun, a ship's officer, would be aware of necessary safety procedures before entering a ballast tank.

Filipino priest Jack Padua, who was contacted at the Southampton Seafarers' Centre, spoke to the rescued man after he was released from hospital.

He said: "He was shocked and devastated. The man who died was a colleague of his."

Mr Padua added: "I went onboard to console the crew. The group have been together for 10 years working on the ship. It is like a family."

A Hampshire police spokesman added: "We have been told it is not fumes, it's lack of oxygen, fresh air in the place they were working."

Confused state

Fire crews spent more than an hour battling to save the man, who was 43 years old. His body has been recovered.

The other man, a 38-year-old, was taken to hospital in a "confused" state but later released, police said.

The vessel finally left on a 14-night cruise to the Baltic, including Amsterdam, Kiel, Riga, and St Petersburg, on Thursday evening.

The cruise ship, which holds 600 passengers, had been due to set off for a cruise at 1600 BST on Wednesday.

Passengers stayed onboard overnight and had been informed of events, Saga said.

An investigation is also being carried out by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, which has a team of five at the scene.

Continue reading "Dead sailor had no breathing gear" »

DANGER ON THE WATER WHEN IT COMES TO BOATING DEATHS, FLORIDA AGAIN IS NO. 1 IN THE NATION
South Florida Sun - Sentinel - Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Author: Robert Nolin

Three men and a 5-year-old cram into an 8-foot boat to fish in a canal behind their Palm Beach County home. The boat capsizes; two men drown. That was in June.

Three women rent a personal watercraft along the Intracoastal Waterway in Pompano Beach. Within minutes they smash into a boatlift. One woman dies instantly. That was in July.

Such deaths, two of the 77 that occurred in state waters last year, are why Florida leads the nation in boating fatalities for the fifth consecutive year.

"It's pretty clear that Florida is first again," said Brian Rehwinkel, an analyst with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who helped compile the 2007 statistics. "That's not where we want to be."

Last year, there were 668 boating accidents around the state, with 68 of them resulting in 77 deaths. As to be expected, populous and waterway-rich South Florida was the deadliest region, with 162 accidents and 22 fatalities in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Miami-Dade was No. 1 in deaths, with 13, and Monroe County had the most accidents, 74.

Florida consistently ranks at the top of maritime deaths for a simple reason, officials say. Mix together thousands of miles of coastline and waterways, a year-round boating season, and more registered vessels than any other state, and you've got a deadly formula for a grim distinction.

"Florida has always come in with, unfortunately, high fatalities," said Bruce Wright, boating safety specialist with the Coast Guard.

"It's not a big surprise," Rehwinkel said. "It's not what we want, but it's not a big surprise."

So far this year, 23 boating deaths have been tallied statewide. Nationally, according to the Coast Guard, boating deaths dropped in 2007, which saw 688 fatalities as compared with 710 in 2006.

Coast Guard figures show Florida leading the nation in 2006, with 69 deaths, followed by Texas, 47; California, 42; Michigan, 30; and Pennsylvania, 25. While confirming Florida as the fatality leader in 2007, the Coast Guard has not finished reviewing figures on other state rankings, spokeswoman Susan Tomczuk said from Washington, D.C.

Most of Florida's 2007 deaths occurred in small boats, and most victims drowned. Alcohol or drugs played a role in 22 percent. One in five victims was operating a personal watercraft, and Miami-Dade led in the number of personal watercraft accidents, with 21.

The state's boating death rate has steadily risen, as has the number of registered vessels, which now tops 1 million. The peak year was 2005, which recorded 80 deaths, followed by last year's 77.

"Seventy-seven is just unacceptable to us," said Lt. Ed Cates, assistant boating safety coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "But if we had two, it would be too high for us."

This year's statistics show that 85 percent of the fatality victims had no boater education, so the commission sees mandatory safety courses as a way to reduce deaths on the water. It has proposed that all vessel operators take a safety course, a program it would phase in over 11 years.

Boaters who took the course would be awarded a card they must produce if stopped when operating a vessel. Currently, boaters under 21 must take the course and carry a card.

Commission officials this year asked the state Legislature to pass the education requirement, but the proposal failed. Rehwinkel said the commission will renew its push next legislative season.

"If more people received boating education, we believe there's potential to save lives," Rehwinkel said. The commission calculates there would be 25 percent fewer deaths if boaters were better educated.

Wright said maritime fatalities may never be eliminated, but can be reduced.

"It's just one of those things you've got to live with, like vehicular fatalities," he said. "But you've just got to try your best to educate people."

Sgt. Russ Budden, head of the Broward Sheriff's Office's Marine Unit, said his officers see a lack of boating savvy on the water and try to impart safety tips to boaters.

"Education is the number one thing out there with us," he said. "The more you can educate, the better."

The most common fatal accident last year was when the victim falls overboard, then drowns. Such fatalities could be sharply curtailed, safety officials say, by the simple habit of wearing a life jacket.

So for Boating Safety Week, which ends today, the commission opened a new front in its war on fatalities: a Wear It Florida campaign to persuade boaters to don life vests when on the water.

"Wear a life jacket and increase your chances out there," said Cates.

The agency will be sounding another message for boaters this Memorial Day weekend: one of enforcement.

"For the unofficial start of summer, more boats will be on the water and we are going to be out there as well," said Gabriella Ferraro, of the commission's South Florida office.

Locations, schedules and fees for boating safety courses by the Coast Guard Auxiliary are available at a href="http://www.cgaux7.org/pub-">www.cg aux7.org/pub- classes.asp.

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

2007 fatalities at a glance

Drowning - Leading cause of death.

22 - Percentage of fatalities caused by alcohol or drugs.

March - Deadliest month, followed by May and June.

$9,125,110 - Total amount of property damage from accidents.

21 - Percentage of fatality victims who were on a personal watercraft.

13 - Percentage of personal watercraft among all registered vessels.

Between noon and 8 p.m. - When most fatal accidents occurred.

17 feet or less - The length of most vessels involved in fatalities.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

INFORMATIONAL BOX:

Top 10 counties in boating deaths

County Registered vessels Accidents Fatalities

Miami-Dade 62,324 67 13

Palm Beach 44,416 52 5

Lee 50,642 32 5

Collier 24,458 18 5

Monroe 28,235 74 4

Pinellas 56,386 50 4

Broward 50,823 43 4

St. Johns 13,651 17 3

Lake 23,807 12 3

Okaloosa 20,026 17 2

*In counties where fatalities were tied, the number of accidents was used to determine ranking.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Portrait of the average victim

A look at 2007 fatal boating accidents shows the average victim:

Is male (90 percent);

Is 36 to 50 years old;

Is the owner of the boat involved;

Is operating a gas-powered open motorboat;

Has no formal boater education (85 percent);

Is a Florida resident;

Fell overboard and drowned;

Had a roughly one in five chance of alcohol or drugs in system.

Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Credit: By Robert Nolin Staff Writer

A man was killed and his son badly hurt, in a boating accident off the Brevard County coast.

It happened about six miles off shore from Port Canaveral.

Christopher Diaz of Oviedo was killed and his son, Christian Jensen, was badly hurt.

The two were apparently heading to shore when they collided with another boat carrying three Merritt Island men.

Diaz's boat capsized and both were thrown into the water. They were in the water for nearly a half hour before Good Samaritans and the U.S. Coast Guard arrived.

However, by then it was too late.

"You had the whole open ocean out there. The odds of two vessels hitting each other are slim to none. It's very rare that we have an accident like this take place," Lenny Salberg from the Fish and Wildlife Commission said.

So far, no one has been charged in the crash.

Central Florida News 13

A videographer and photographer shooting a boat were killed when the aircraft hit water.

By Heather Allen and Cathy Zollo
The Herald Tribune

VENICE -- A helicopter, flying low to photograph a model in a speeding Cigar Boat, plunged into the Gulf of Mexico near Casey Key on Tuesday morning, killing two photographers and injuring the pilot.

The helicopter's skids may have grazed the water, causing the aircraft to flip over and crash into calm Gulf waters about one mile offshore, said Lt. Chuck Lesaltato, spokesman for the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.

Killed were Thomas Newby, 50, of Manhattan Beach, Calif., the chief photographer for Powerboat Magazine, and Mark Copeland, 44, of North Carolina, an Emmy-winning video photographer.

The pilot, Mark A. Watters, 44, of Pasadena, Calif., was in fair condition Wednesday at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

The crew was on assignment for Powerboat Magazine when the crash occurred at about 10 a.m.

Watters, who had 20 years of experience as a military helicopter pilot, was "one of the few pilots in the country capable of high speed-low altitude flying for racing photography," according to the Corona Police Department in California, where he was a member of the air support unit.

Whether flying too low caused the accident will likely be a focus for investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, who arrived Tuesday night from Miami to take over the investigation. The investigators plan to release a preliminary report in four to five days.

The make and model of the helicopter were not released by authorities. The aircraft was not reclaimed from the murky waters in which it was submerged Tuesday. Divers from the Sheriff's Office marked off the area where the aircraft went down and will remove the wreckage today, Lesaltato said.

Dick Hendricks, executive vice president of Ehlert Publishing Group, which produces Powerboat Magazine, said the magazine has done similar photographic shoots four times a year for the past 35 years without incident.

"We haven't thought beyond canceling this one," he said. "We are working with (the NTSB) and the sheriff's department and trying to figure out what happened. Obviously, our thoughts are with the families and we are working with whatever their needs are."

One observer said Tuesday's accident gave off a loud boom that sounded like an approaching thunderstorm.

"I looked out there and saw the red boat," said Keith Warmkessel, who details cars and boats on Casey Key. "The next thing I see is the sheriff's helicopter."

While ambulances and fire engines from a number of agencies zoomed down the length of the barrier island, trying to coordinate with one another, a harrowing rescue was under way in the Gulf.

Boats from the Sarasota Police Department, the Sheriff's Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife and the Coast Guard rushed to the crash site, while the sheriff's helicopter flew overhead looking for people in the water.

As the helicopter approached, those on board could see people in the water. Deputy John Jernigan strapped on a life vest and jumped into the water to assist with the rescue mission, Lesaltato said.

The victims were rushed by boat to the Crow's Nest restaurant near the south jetty on Venice island around 10:30 a.m.

Both Newby and Copeland died by the time they reached land, Lesaltato said. Watters was airlifted to Bayfront Medical Center.

The boat's driver and a female model were not injured and authorities did not identify them Tuesday. Debris from the helicopter hit the boat, causing some damage.

Gary Robb, an attorney who specializes in helicopter crashes, said the NTSB will closely examine the aircraft after it is pulled from the water, looking for possible mechanical failures. Among those is loss of the main rotor control, engine failure and component part failure.

"The NTSB will also look at the human factors aspect, which means pilot training, pilot performance, whether or not there may have been an error committed by the pilot," said Robb, who is based in Kansas City, Mo. "There are a number of factors which the government will assess."

About 80 to 85 percent of helicopter crashes are related to human factors, and 10 to 12 percent are material failures, said Rhett Flater, executive director of the American Helicopter Society, an industry group.

The sheriff's dive team will help recover the helicopter, which could be a long and tedious mission, said Deputy Kevin Deiter, from special operations.

The water where the helicopter went down is about 20 to 30 feet deep, Deiter said.

A father who lost a daughter in a parasailing accident earlier this month in Pompano has filed a suit against those involved.

In the suit, Dennis White names Wyndham Vacation Resorts, Pompano Beach Water Sports, and boat operator Scott Kipp.

White says his daughters, Crystal and Amber White of Summerfield, Florida, were staying at Wyndham Royal Vista Resort in Pompano Beach when they decided to take advantage of the parasail operation, Pompano Beach Water Sports, offered by the resort.

As the boat head north near Pompano Beach, the winds increased from 15 mph to 25 mph and seas became choppy. When Kipp tried to pull the girls back in, the tow line to their parachute snapped against the force of the wind and sent the girls flying towards the buildings on shore. Both girls crashed into a second story hotel balcony of the Beachcomber Hotel. 15-year old Amber suffered critical neck and head wounds along with internal injuries. She was pronounced brain dead Sunday evening and kept on life support until her organs could be harvested. 17-year old Crystal suffered a head injury along with numerous cuts and bruises. She was released from the hospital several days after the accident.

The suit claims Pompano Beach Water Sports and its employee Scott Kipp were negligent in that they put Crystal and Amber up in a parasail under “extraordinarily dangerous weather conditions” and failed to maintain control of the parasail once it was aloft.

White said in filing this lawsuit, he hopes that those responsible for his daughter's death cannot continue to put the lives of others in danger.

Attorneys Jason and Debi Chalik of Ft. Lauderdale have been retained by the White Family. In addition to representing the White’s in their Broward court case, they will also fight in Tallahassee to regulate the parasailing industry in Florida.

CBS4
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Members of Amber White's family came Monday to say goodbye, as they gave up hope the 15-year-old girl would recover from injuries suffered in a parasailing accident over the weekend off Pompano Beach.

"She's passed on," said James Day, Amber's stepfather, seated in the dimly lit seventh-floor waiting room of the pediatric intensive care unit at Broward General Medical Center. "She was declared clinically dead Sunday at about 6 p.m. She's still on life support, just to say goodbye."

The hospital later Monday removed Amber from life support and declared her dead, said administrative supervisor Tony Tutterow.

As Day spoke, another family member was on a cell phone giving directions to relatives trying to find the hospital from Interstate 95. Amber's mother, Shannon Kraus, was by her child's bed down the hall, he said. Amber's 16th birthday is Sunday.

"We're going ahead to donate her organs to other children they could save," Day said, with tears in his eyes.

Her sister Crystal White, 17, who was also injured Saturday, was released Monday from North Broward Medical Center.

As the girls, visiting from Summerfield near Ocala, parasailed off Pompano Beach on a blustery Saturday afternoon, strong gusts carried them toward shore, dragged them across the roof of a hotel building and into some palm trees. At some point during the ordeal, the tow rope broke.

About 40 minutes before the boat set out, the National Weather Service had issued a notice to boaters of off-shore thunderstorms and high winds heading toward a section of coast that included Pompano Beach.

The captain, Scott Kipp, 26, may face charges in the accident, according to an initial incident report released Monday by the Broward Sheriff's Office. The report blames "careless/reckless" operation, equipment failure and weather. An unspecified charge is listed as pending, while the investigation continues.

Reached by phone, Kipp said, "I don't really have any comment on that." He referred questions to his lawyer, Rod Coleman, who could not be reached despite three messages.

The report said the boat was owned by Island Waves Parasailing, which lists a post office box in Palm Beach Gardens. According to state records, Island Waves Parasailing is a registered trade name owned by Waterfront License Corp., also with a Palm Beach Gardens P.O. box.

The president of that company is Anthony P. Aiello, 41, of North Palm Beach, according to state corporation records. He was arrested July 12 and jailed for 11 days for failing to appear in court to face charges of retail theft and possession of drug paraphernalia, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.

The Coast Guard had reported the boat was operated by Pompano Beach Water Sports, of which Aiello is vice president, state records show.

Aiello could not be reached for comment Monday, despite attempts by phone and a visit to his home in North Palm Beach.

The parasailing businesses that dot Florida's tourist beaches operate with few regulations. Last year then-state Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, introduced a bill that would have required parasailing companies to obtain licenses, suspend operations when weather turns bad, obtain insurance, meet vessel safety standards, carry a marine radio, stay at least 2,000 feet from shore and meet several other safety standards. The bill died in committee.

Sebesta introduced it after two parasailing accidents on Florida's west coast. In 2001, a mother and daughter from Kentucky were killed after their line snapped in stormy weather, dropping them into the waters off Fort Myers. In 2004, two 15-year-old girls were carried into a power line off Bradenton Beach after their line broke free. They were rescued.

In his interview with detectives, Kipp said the winds suddenly increased from 15 mph to 40 mph, the Sheriff's Office report said. The hydraulic winch on the boat, used to wound and reel in the tow rope, was not strong enough to bring the parachute down.

The wind pulled the boat toward shore, according to the report, and the two girls were up in the air for about two minutes. The parachute then spun "out of control" and the tow line broke, the report states. It carried the girls atop the two-story Beachcomber Resort and Villas building and through several trees in the courtyard.

Crystal White came to Broward General on Monday, where she learned about her sister Amber's condition.

"She didn't take it very well," her stepfather said. "They're all they've got."

By David Fleshler, Macollvie Jean-François and Joel Marino
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Investigators are piecing together a parasailing accident that left one teenager dead and seriously injured her older sister.

A parasailing accident has killed one teen and left her older sister seriously injured, and now authorities are trying to figure out what happened and if the boat driver could have done anything to prevent the accident.

Careless boating, equipment failure and bad weather all might have contributed to the horrific crash Saturday in Pompano Beach that killed Amber White, one week shy of her 16th birthday, according to a preliminary incident report released Monday by the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Amber died Monday at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, the same day her sister Crystal, 17, was released from North Broward Medical Center.

BSO and the U.S. Coast Guard are trying to figure out what caused the rope to snap and if mechanical failure and driver error were involved. The results of that investigation will determine whether the driver, Scott Kipp of Island Waves Parasailing, is cited for careless operating.

An employee who answered the phone Monday at Pompano Beach Watersports said Kipp and the company's owners, Christopher Boone and Anthony Aiello, declined to comment.

Amber White, who had spent most of Monday in critical condition, was declared brain-dead the day before.

Crystal White was released from the hospital at noon Monday in time to join the family at Broward General, where she was reunited with her sister for the first time since the accident.

''Those girls were a team,'' said their aunt, Dina White. ``They were a duo. And now Crystal is flying solo.''

Monday was supposed to be the girls' first day of school at Lake Weir High School in Ocala, where Crystal was supposed to start her senior year Monday.

Amber and Crystal White asked to go parasailing Saturday while visiting South Florida with their neighbors from Summerfield, near Ocala.

The boat from Island Waves Parasailing, also known as Pompano Beach Watersports, was heading north near Pompano Beach when the winds suddenly increased from 15 mph to 40 mph, BSO said.

According to the report, winds were blowing between 15 and 25 mph with waves as high as two feet.

The driver then tried to pull the girls back down, but the boat's hydraulic winch wasn't strong enough and the parachute began to pull the boat toward the shore until the towline broke.

The force sent them flying past nearby trees like a slingshot before they crashed into a second-story balcony of a nearby hotel. The impact left Amber with neck and head wounds as well as internal injuries. Crystal also hit her head, according to the incident report, and suffered cuts and bruises.

The girls were taken to separate hospitals, and friends and family members spent the weekend driving the roughly 15 miles between Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale and North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach.

The girls' parents have been ''devastated'' since the accident and don't understand how it could have happened, said Dina White, who has spent the past several days flying between Fort Lauderdale and her home near Washington, D.C. Family members plan to donate Amber's organs.

Kipp, 26, had more than 100 hours of experience, according to BSO. He has a commercial boating license and was certified by the Professional Association of Parasail Operators, said Petty Officer James Judge, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman.

Wes Brent, owner of Atlantic Bridge Jet Ski in Pompano Beach, had employees renting water skis on the beach Saturday and said Saturday's winds came ``all of a sudden out of nowhere.''

He said that Kipp has been upset since Saturday.

''He's a good kid. He's been in tears,'' Brent said. ``He's just really hurt about it.''

But Rich Welter, who has owned Sunset Watersports in Key West for the past 25 years, said the typical parasailing rope can hold roughly 8,000 pounds and shouldn't break if it's in good condition.

''That rope is strong enough that you can lift that boat up,'' he said.

Amber leaves behind her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, an older sister and three brothers.

Dina White said they are comforted that Amber knew they all cared.

''I knew she knew how much she was loved,'' said Dina White, choking back tears. ``All I want to do is hold her and tell her that one more time, but she knew it. I never have to wonder because I knew she knew it.''

By Breanne Gilpatrick
The Miami Herald
Miami Herald staff writer Robbyn Mitchell contributed to this report.

The parents of a 15-year old girl who died in a parasailing accident off Pompano Beach and South Florida Senator are vowing to work toward laws and regulations to ensure that this type of accident doesn’t happen again.

Amber White was mortally injured, her 17-year old sister Crystal serious injured when the towline attached to their parasail snapped sending the girl crashing into the 2nd floor balcony of a beachside hotel.

In a statement Wednesday by Dennis White, the girl’s father, along with his sister Dina and their extended family said they appreciated all the prayers and kind words.

“We have been dealt a terrible blow, and the world has lost a precious soul. Crystal is doing remarkably well considering the circumstances and has demonstrated a strength unmatched by anyone around her…..We are working night and day to ensure a tragedy of this kind never happens again. We are focused on Crystal's recovery and the preservation of Amber's memory. Through her death, Amber will set into motion laws and regulations that will potentially save the lives of others. She would have had it no other way.”

Amber will be buried Sunday in Summerfield, outside of Ocala.

Also Wednesday, Senator Gwen Margolis drafted a bill concerning new parasail regulations that she intends to file when the new session begins next month.

Under her bill, parasail operators would have to stay a minimum of 2-thousand feet offshore and they would not be allowed to operate when the wind reaches 20 knots. They would also have to carry liability insurance policy.

“It makes me sick to see people dying for no reason, especially our kids,” Senator Margolis told CBS4.Com, “This bill will save lives.”

Currently, there are no state or federal regulations that apply specifically to parasailing, but the boat operators are covered by the same rules that apply to all commercial vessels.

Broward Sheriff’s investigators have yet to rule what may have caused the accident. Equipment failure, bad weather and possibly careless boating, or any combination of these factors, are all being considered.

CBS 4

It was noon and the wind was picking up as Capt. Andy Lepel cruised the waters off Pompano Beach. He had a half-dozen customers on board wanting to parasail — and a tough call to make.

As thunderstorms approached, Lepel made his decision: to head to shore.

"I reeled them back in. I said, 'I'm sorry, you can come back tomorrow, and I'll give you a free ride,'" he said later. "I lost probably $1,000 that day, but I didn't lose any lives."

Lepel is one of a growing number of owners and operators in the parasailing business — which historically has been averse to outside regulation — who are now calling for the government to step in and impose basic safety rules. Last week's fatal accident on Pompano Beach only reinforced their demands.

Lepel, co-owner of Sand and Sea Parasailing, said he saw the tragedy unfold after taking his own customers back to the beach. A National Weather Service announcement warned of approaching thunderstorms. Soon after, as two sisters visiting from North Florida were parasailing from another boat, a gust hit.

The parasail rope snapped and the girls were thrown into the roof of a hotel and several trees, according to a Broward County Sheriff's Office report.

Amber White, 15, of Summerfield, was fatally injured. Her sister Crystal, 17, was hurt less seriously. The Sheriff's Office investigation into the incident, and the role of boat captain Scott Kipp of Island Waves Parasail, is pending. Kipp's lawyer, Roderick Coleman, has said his client received no weather advisory on his radio's emergency channel and that "the day was perfect for parasailing."

Lepel disagreed. "We were standing there saying, 'Why is he still out flying?' It shouldn't be optional not to fly in 40-mph winds," Lepel said. "Someone needs to come in here and enforce the laws they have and create some new ones."

Officials have not determined whether existing laws were violated. But on the whole, the industry is loosely regulated. The Coast Guard requires operators of commercial vessels to be licensed, but requires no training for anyone who wants to attach customers to a parachute and a tether and tow them through the water. If a boat carries less than six people, as most parasailors do, it is not subject to Coast Guard inspections.

"Anybody can buy a parachute, hook it up to a boat and call themselves a parasail operator," said Jeannete Lewis, a partner at The Haggard Law Firm in Coral Gables, who represented the mother of a young woman killed in 1999 while parasailing in the Bahamas. A jury awarded the mother $1.8 million.

Inexperienced operators are one of the biggest dangers, said Sean Sandell, a parasail operator for 10 years who learned his craft in the Caribbean and now works for Visit Palm Beach at the Riviera Beach Marina. "It's safe and easy when you know what you're doing and follow the rules."

Arrit McPherson, president of the Professional Association of Parasail Operators based in San Diego, said that for years his group favored self-regulation, setting its own standards and seeking voluntary compliance from members.

But Amber White's death, McPherson said, convinced him the association's campaign for self-regulation has been a "failure."

"We've proved we can't do it ourselves," he said. "If laws were passed that were sensible and could be enforced, accidents could be reduced."

Parasailing accidents are relatively rare, according to the Coast Guard. Between 1992 and 2001, the agency reported 64 injuries and three deaths nationwide. Twenty-four of the incidents occurred in Florida, more than any other state.

From 2002 to 2006, Florida had seven injuries and no deaths. Compare that to sky-diving, in which 21 people died nationwide in 2006 alone, according to the United States Parachute Association.

In 2006, a state lawmaker from St. Petersburg introduced a bill that would have required parasail companies to carry insurance, stay at least 2,000 feet from shore, and shut down when winds reached 20 knots per hour. The bill died in committee.

Energized by Amber White's death, state Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Sunny Isles Beach, has said she plans to reintroduce similar provisions, which if followed, could have prevented last Saturday's accident. Because of the legislative calendar, however, the measure may not be heard until next spring.

Wayne Mascolo, owner of Aloha Enterprises, a company that offers parasailing in Fort Lauderdale, said he favors the establishment of legally enforceable safety standards. He follows the voluntary rules issued by PAPO, he said, but "a lot of people" don't.

Brian Marozzi, president of Visit Palm Beach, is more wary. He welcomes new safety legislation, he said, but worries about the government setting arbitrary requirements. What's more, he said, new rules will be meaningless unless they are enforced. "Are they going to send someone out with tape measures to see how far people are offshore?" he asked.

Sandell said any regulations should be made with input from people who know the business. "We're the ones who know the limits and what's going to keep people safe," he said.

On Friday, Sandell maneuvered a boat off Palm Beach County as a mother and son from Texas glided about 400 feet in the air, a large parasail behind them.

"If it's with a major company, I feel safe. They know what they're doing," said Debbie Vandecarr, after she and her son, Kohner, 8, finished their ride.

On Sunday, a memorial service for Amber White will be held in her hometown near Ocala. Since the accident, Lepel said, he had been in contact with the girl's family. Despite their grief, he said, they want to do what's needed so more families don't suffer the consequences of a serious parasailing accident.

"The sad part is over. Now it's time to get mad," Lepel said.

By Jamie Malernee and Rachael Joyner | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Staff Writers Macollvie Jean-Francois and David Fleshler contributed to this report.

By Bob Massey

If you operate a boat in Charlotte County, odds are one in 2,440 you'll be involved in an accident.

In Sarasota County, although there are more people and boats, your chances are slightly better, one in 2,725.

Charlotte and Sarasota are ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively among Florida's 67 counties for the number of boating accidents reported in 2006. Go south just a little -- into Lee County waters -- and you'll enter an area ranked fifth in the state.

But the concern isn't with local statistics -- it's with the statewide ones.

In 2006, only California (with 757) outpaced Florida (671) in the number of boating accidents. Yet Florida led the nation in fatalities with 69 -- as compared to only 47 in Texas and 44 in California.

That's according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation's 2006 Boating Accident Statistical Report, released last month by the agency's Division of Law Enforcement, Boating and Waterways Section.

So the FWC is preaching a gospel of salvation to boaters -- salvation of lives and property, that is. The report allows the commission to review the most common factors involved in boating accidents, as well as precise locations where the greatest numbers of incidents occur.

According to the report itself, the agency uses the statistics to formulate proactive plans to get -- or at least keep -- the numbers down.

"There are occasions when data ends up being used to identify areas where there are specific areas of safety hazard," said Capt. Richard Moore, the FWC's state boating law administrator. "We'll see if there needs to be an extra regulatory measure put in place, such as a speed zone."

But, Moore said, the area he's proudest to be involved in is public awareness.

"I've been in this business nine years," he said, "and I'm committed to trying to change our boating culture. Our ultimate goal is saving people's lives, so we've got to find a way to change boaters' behavior a little bit. We've even started an ad campaign statewide."

That has to be a tough job when the number of registered boaters in Florida is at an all-time high, at more than 1 million -- an increase of 14,000 over 2005. That doesn't include the estimated 350,000 unregistered boats in the state.

Although Florida is the top state in the nation for the number of recreational vessels, it is second (behind California) for the most boating accidents.

The FWC began a pilot campaign in 2005 in Lee County, Moore said, to educate boaters about the top safety hazards.

"Over and over again, there were three topics of concern," he said. "We found out three were too many to focus on properly, so we narrowed it down to two."

The first factor

The two most common factors may seem like common sense, but apparently that's not so common.

"First and foremost, accidents occur because somebody's not paying close attention to what's going on around them," Moore said. "If you're attentive, chances of you running into something -- or something running into you -- are pretty slim."

One person who would agree with that assessment is Capt. Bruce LaMotte, owner of Lemon Bay Tours in Englewood, which runs sightseeing and nature cruises aboard a 49-passenger catamaran. He said he sometimes dreads going out on the water on weekends.

"One problem on the weekend is boaters who have had way too much to drink or are not paying attention," LaMotte said. "A lot of people get in their boat and don't have a clue about the rules of the road. Some people have the hammer down, going 40 mph -- and I can't see their faces because they're looking at their GPS to see how fast they're going."

Alcohol (and other abused substances), though not in the top two, is certainly an issue. It contributed to 15 percent of all fatal boating accidents.

Drinking while driving a boat is as dangerous -- or perhaps even more so -- than drinking while driving a car, said Captain Ralph Allen, owner of King Fisher Fleet, a cruise and fishing charter service operating out of Fishermen's Village in Punta Gorda.

"On a boat, there are no white lines like there are on the road, to at least keep them going straight," he said.

The second factor

The second factor in boating accidents is as logical as it is preventable.

After careful analysis to determine the primary type of fatal accident, Moore said, "it came back pretty quick that the majority are falls overboard."

Surprisingly, it's not the less aggressive waters of the Gulf where most incidents of this type occur. A whopping 73 percent of fatal falls overboard take place on calm, inland waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks.

The problem of people falling overboard is not the main concern, however.

"People are going to accidentally fall overboard from time to time," Moore said. "And there are a lot of things we could say, but it would get confusing.

"When you look at Coast Guard statistics, one of the things they said in their national report is 85 percent of the people who drowned in boating accidents could have been saved if they were wearing a life jacket."

Moore compares life jackets on boats to seat belts in cars. They won't eliminate fatalities -- but they sure will reduce them.

"The only thing the law requires is having enough life jackets on boat for the amount of passengers," Moore said. "A lot of these people (who became fatalities) had enough jackets on the boat -- but it wasn't doing them any good because they weren't wearing them."

Moore noted that life jackets do not have to be bulky, obtrusive or uncomfortable.

"They even have inflatable life jackets that look like a fanny pack," he said. "They're flat until you inflate them. It's comfortable to wear in Florida's heat, and it won't even ruin your tan lines."

But how do you persuade boaters to do the right thing?

State of concern

Like Moore, LaMotte feels that education should play a larger role in boater safety.

"I don't like a lot of government," he said, "but I believe people who take boats out should have some kind of (mandatory) education or class."

But there's something else he would like to see: more marine patrols.

"I don't see them out there during the busiest times," LaMotte said. "It would be nice to have them enforce no-wake zones a little bit more. Maybe if they (the offenders) got a ticket, they wouldn't do it as much."

LaMotte is not alone in his desire to see more enforcement. In the commission's 2006 Florida Recreational Boating Survey, nearly half (47 percent) of boaters indicated they want to see more agency enforcement on public waters. A huge 81 percent want greater enforcement on careless or reckless boaters, while more than half (56 percent) want the FWC to crack down on boaters impaired by alcohol or other substances.

Allen said it doesn't seem as if 2007 will be any better in the state.

"It's sad that we have such a high accident rate and fatality rate," Allen said, adding that Florida has had a string of fatal accidents this year all around the state.

"It looks like this will be a record year, the way we're going."