Parasail Operators Symposium Success
February 3, 2011
The WSIA hosted a first of its kind Parasail Operators Symposium Jan 6 – 8, 2011 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The Symposium focused on parasail products from Custom Chutes, Fineline Industries, Belter Insurance and CWS Boats.
Friday was a full day of Seminars. Speakers from the USCG, the FAA, NOAA, Florida Fish and Wildlife, and Garmin were the main draws. We also heard from one of the preeminent defense attorneys, Peter Rietz, from the Snow Ski and Bicycling world, that spoke on waivers.
Four committees were formed from the meeting to begin work on establishing “Best Practices” for a Training Manual, FAA, Equipment, and Cordage. Since the meeting, another topic has risen and that is Emergency Procedures.
On Wednesday, Feb. 2nd the WSIA, Custom Chutes, Daytona Beach Parasail, and Sammy Duvall’s Parasail was asked to participate in a teleconference with Senator Jones’s office. He is the author of the pending commercial parasailing bill called the Alejandra White Act. In addition, several from FWC were in attendance along with Major Jack Daugherty. We were given the opportunity to review each and every item contained in the proposed Parasail Bill.
We are pleased to report that the Senator’s office was very receptive to all of our concerns. It must me pointed out that even though we received much positive feedback to our concerns, we were not guaranteed that all were to be accepted by the Senator. It is the Senator’s bill and he will have the final word.
Our job is to stay engaged. Major Jack requested, at the Symposium, that we remain engaged and that is what we plan to do. We even asked the Senator’s office as well as FWC to allow Major Jack to be our point of contact on this matter and it was agreed by all.
The WSIA will be in Tallahassee when this bill moves closer to the floor. We will also be sent an updated version of this Bill when it becomes available. We will, at that time, post it on the WSIA website for all to see.
Stay tuned and stay safe.
For more information, contact the WSIA headquarters at info@wsia.net or call 407-251-9039.
