Parasailing Death

I'm not saying that they are not, but, local operators on STX should read these articles very carefully and ensure that they are operating in a very safe manner. Having read this thread, I would now never take part in this activity.

I've always thought this was a risky activity. I'm sure that the people running these operations are not as qualified or trained as I would like. And, when there is a mishap, they must accept responsibility. But nowhere are drugs or alcohol mentioned as a contributing factor which was the inference by Blu.

I've always thought this was a risky activity. I'm sure that the people running these operations are not as qualified or trained as I would like. And, when there is a mishap, they must accept responsibility. But nowhere are drugs or alcohol mentioned as a contributing factor which was the inference by Blu.

Looks like it was first inferred by VentoGT.

There is only one parasailing company on island that I am aware of. It's done for. The coast guard came out and drug tested everyone running the boats or offering assistance at the scene...I doubt any of the Parasail crew are clean and that will likely lead to criminally negligent homicide with a hell of a civil suit to follow. Not good for anyone involved.

Well looks like your (so-called "malicious" )assumptions were correct after all:
http://www.professionalmariner.com/Web-Bulletin-2012/Captain-indicted-after-fatal-parasailing-accident-in-US-Virgin-Islands/

"The Coast Guard takes safety at sea very seriously, and will ensure that any mariner who causes another’s death through misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties is held accountable in a court of law.” ...even if it creates a PR nightmare for the accused's pals......

It helps to be a fully licensed and competent captain that would not put profit before safety.
Ditto for the owner of the company.

According to the article cited, strong winds and faulty equipment were the cause of this accident. They do not mention drugs. Do you have more/different information?

I can't fathom why this old thread has been resurrected. The news release quoted is from November last year. Obviously this is an ongoing issue which hasn't yet been adjudicated.

Unfortunately some "things" are resurrected without any ones consent. Like it or not. *-)

Unfortunately some "things" are resurrected without any ones consent. Like it or not. *-)

:S

I'm not saying that they are not, but, local operators on STX should read these articles very carefully and ensure that they are operating in a very safe manner. Having read this thread, I would now never take part in this activity.

I'm well acquainted with (what I believe to be) the only parasail operator / captain & his crew on this island.

I have gone out on their boat several times (they work out of C'sted) & will tell you that safety is the first priority always, in fact you cannot even step foot on the boat with out a 15 min safety briefing, equipment is checked before every outing and at the end of the day.

The originating post on this thread shows poor judgment on the captains part, the fact that someone died is a very very rare thing, I'd wager to guess that statistically it is more dangerous to drive your car (not to mention going to a hospital these days, have you seen the number of accidental medical deaths? INSANE!) than to participate in this activity.

If this island is to survive economically you should be supporting these local small businesses not bashing them on the internet with ZERO actual knowledge of the activity itself or this unfortunate accident from 2 years ago.

I would not hesitate to suggest this activity to anyone and everyone I know & it is one of the FEW activities that we have to draw people to our island.

This thread makes me shake my head, accidents happen & so does negligence; don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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LiquidFluoride, I'd appreciate a cheat sheet of questions to ask to determine the safety precautions of a parasail operator. A friend wants me to go with her on STT, but I want an assurance of safety. I can't determined if a parasail had "issues".

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First & foremost see if they have a "chute wrangler"; this would have prevented the death that this whole post started with (its basically a water break for the chute should the ultra rare separation from the boat event occur) take a look at the ropes involved none should look frayed or visibly "old", there should be a clear & easily understood safety brief telling you what will happen & what to do should something go wrong.

Weather is key: wind is needed for parasailing, but too much wind can be bad, the company I deal with (sky high flyers on STX) only flies up into the low 20's mph winds at the high end; but too little wind & you won't be able to land back on the boat (which isn't terrible as traditionally water landings were the norm, the new method of taking off and landing on the deck of the boat is much nicer IMO); I'd say the weather portion is just common sense.

That's basically it, it's an extremely safe activity, you are attached to a parachute & have a life-vest on.

The originating post on this thread shows poor judgment on the captains part, the fact that someone died is a very very rare thing, I'd wager to guess that statistically it is more dangerous to drive your car.

In the US, in absolute terms (deaths per year), there are far more car deaths than parasailing deaths. In relative terms (deaths per mile of travel), there are far more parasailing deaths than car deaths.

Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year , the absolute stats are roughly 40,000 deaths per year on average over the past 30 years. The relative stats are roughly 2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

From http://blog.lipcon.com/category/parasailing-accidents : I believe these figures are for the US: "Statistics from the non-profit organization Parasail Safety Council reveal that as many as five million people go parasailing each year... In the past 30 years alone, over 1,200 accidents have taken place, resulting in more than 400 serious injuries and over 70 fatalities." So the absolute stats are roughly 2 deaths per year, on average. The relative stats, assuming each trip is about 3 miles, are roughly 13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

In the US, in absolute terms (deaths per year), there are far more car deaths than parasailing deaths. In relative terms (deaths per mile of travel), there are far more parasailing deaths than car deaths.
Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year , the absolute stats are roughly 40,000 deaths per year on average over the past 30 years. The relative stats are roughly 2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

Ok, how long have we been driving and how long have we been parasailing, 30 years is a ridiculous time span to use for a sport that barely started thirty years ago. Did you know that for a large portion of those years they would take off from LAND?!? & until recently water landings were the norm? Both of those lead to more fatalities than was needed, but the sport has matured greatly recently & is vastly safer than before. In addition, the "chute wrangler" (which is a new safety device as I mentioned in my earlier post) saves lives in the types of situations that would have previously been fatal. The sport does have risk, but those risks have been greatly minimized in recent times. I am sure that your research also showed a decline in injuries and deaths over over the years.

The originating post on this thread shows poor judgment on the captains part, the fact that someone died is a very very rare thing, I'd wager to guess that statistically it is more dangerous to drive your car.

In the US, in absolute terms (deaths per year), there are far more car deaths than parasailing deaths. In relative terms (deaths per mile of travel), there are far more parasailing deaths than car deaths.

Based on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year , the absolute stats are roughly 40,000 deaths per year on average over the past 30 years. The relative stats are roughly 2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

From http://blog.lipcon.com/category/parasailing-accidents : I believe these figures are for the US: "Statistics from the non-profit organization Parasail Safety Council reveal that as many as five million people go parasailing each year... In the past 30 years alone, over 1,200 accidents have taken place, resulting in more than 400 serious injuries and over 70 fatalities." So the absolute stats are roughly 2 deaths per year, on average. The relative stats, assuming each trip is about 3 miles, are roughly 13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

Bob, Nice job with the stats. I was starting an average annual "minutes behind the wheel" v. "minutes in the harness" comparison; but you beat me to the slide rule.
For some additional geeky reading, USCG's stats on fatal accidents came out yesterday: http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/News/2012ReportR.pdf
look at table 38. The top three most dangerous places to boat #1=AK (no surprise), #2=MT (Why?), #3=USVI (again no surprise).

For some additional geeky reading, USCG's stats on fatal accidents came out yesterday: http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/News/2012ReportR.pdf
look at table 38. The top three most dangerous places to boat #1=AK (no surprise), #2=MT (Why?), #3=USVI (again no surprise).

Blu4u, I have thoroughlyreviewed the documents you linked from the USGC. I noticed a couple of things.

1) parasailing is not specifically mentioned anywhere within the documents (which means that any conclusions we make to link to parasailing will be speculative at best, but lets play with it anyway). I do believe it would be listed as one of many "tow sports" in which there were 28 deaths during 2012 (swimming and snorkeling had 39 deaths) the chart does not break down "tow sports" into categories like banana boats, water skiing, wake boards, tubes, parasailing etc. There is no way to know, from the data given, if 0 or more deaths were caused by parasailing.

2) 300 deaths happened while fishing! Seems to be at least 10 x more dangerous that "tow sports".

3) graph 38 shows VI as #4 (not 3) and does not take into account the massive numbers of vacationers we get every year. It only shows how many boats are registered to the USVI. We get many boaters here that are not USVI registered that could be added to the data, but it isn't in there.

4) graph 33 shows that the fatality from 2012 happened as a result of "collision with recreational vessel"....not parasailing.

I think that I have found that the statistics can be misleading because though we have a high ratio of boats to deaths in the VI, no data was collected or analyzed to reflect the huge volume of passengers to deaths. This skews the data because we have many boats that never go out at all, the ones that do are servicing large numbers of visitors and yet we only had one death last year. Having zero deaths would be ideal, but life itself is dangerous, so deaths will occur no matter what activities people choose to enjoy.

I wonder what sort of insurance an operator would need to run such an enterprise?

The only parasailing that I know of like LF stated on STX is Sky High Fliers. While I never have done this, I not not hesitate for any of my children or grandchildren to go up with Bob Riggs. Bob does NOT use drugs. Bob is a captain. He takes safety very serious. He is insured! He is a fine upstanding man, family man and a Christian. He and his wife, Gail, are very good friends of mine. Bob was at my house just yesterday afternoon and we talked about the instance on STT and this OLD revised thread! He explained that, in him opinion, he would never had gone out that day for a parasail as the weather conditions were not right!

Please, if anyone reads this thread, understand that most of the first page posts were from a year and a half ago and it happened on STT and DID NOT INVOLE SKY HIGH FLIERS OUT OF STX! This is how rumors get started.

30 years is a ridiculous time span to use for a sport that barely started thirty years ago...I am sure that your research also showed a decline in injuries and deaths over over the years.

I used 30 years because that's the data I found. I just found this additional parasailing data http://www.teampapo.org/documents/USCGParasailStudy.pdf which shows a general year-to-year increase in deaths per year from 1992 to 2001 (see page "5", or PDF page 6). That may be due to increased popularity of the sport, but it doesn't say what the participation rate was. So in absolute terms, there were 59 deaths in those 10 years, or an average of 5.9 deaths per year.

I’m assuming that “as many as five million people go parasailing each year” from my earlier research applies to all years, although it may only be true of more recent years. But I’ll use 5 million and call it a conservative number, because more participation makes the sport look safer relative to the number of deaths. Again assuming that each trip is about 3 miles, it works out to about 39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

In summary, my rough numbers are:

Parasailing over the past 30 years:
2 deaths per year
13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled

Parasailing from 1992 to 2001:
5.9 deaths per year
39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled

Cars over the past 30 years:
40,000 deaths per year
2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled

These are all rough stats, based on the data I found. If anybody has better data, please tell me.

These are all rough stats, based on the data I found. If anybody has better data, please tell me.

but again, we are comparing apples to oranges here, road miles vrs water miles are very different things, vehicles on land travel on predictable improved surfaces with traffic guiding safety devices, water vehicles travel on WIDELY variable water conditions that are extremely prone to weather change.

Another difference, for example most boats burn around 1 gallon of fuel per mile traveled, while the average vehicle in the us currently burns around 1 gallon per 24 miles.

So if I changed the statistic to "gallons of fuel burnt per death" we would get a much different number.

Now granted, it was I that brought up vehicles vrs parasailing, I'd say this was possibly a bad example but the numbers really aren't there to show either way (and it is apples vrs oranges); as you've noted the increased popularity in the sport has brought the numbers of participants to high levels in the recent years (further skewing historical data) but this has also spawned safety devices & new techniques that have changed the sport so much that numbers are not very reliable at this time.

Bobby (of Sky High Flyers) and his crew participate in random drug testing (voluntary) and he is a fully licensed captain with over a decade of experience doing this sport; I cannot vouch for other businesses but if his is an example I would not be hesitant at all; the level of professionalism with him and his crew is among the best on the island; companies like Sky High Flyers are an asset especially in this struggling economy.

STXBOB, is the "miles driven" figure for USA or international. Likewise are the parasailing figures USA or international?
LF, When comparing "danger", "relative ratios" are more indicative than "absolute numbers". You need to look at the ratios.
The USCG report was for accidents. The 2011 incident was investigated and a finding was detrimed in 2012. I don't believe the fatality was classified as an accident. Perhaps USCG is waiting for verdict in the criminal trial. I doubt any more info will be forthcoming until case goes to federal court.

STXBOB, is the "miles driven" figure for USA or international. Likewise are the parasailing figures USA or international?
LF, When comparing "danger", "relative ratios" are more indicative than "absolute numbers". You need to look at the ratios.
The USCG report was for accidents. The 2011 incident was investigated and a finding was detrimed in 2012. I don't believe the fatality was classified as an accident. Perhaps USCG is waiting for verdict in the criminal trial. I doubt any more info will be forthcoming until case goes to federal court.

it was due to equipment failure according to what I read, is that an accident or negligence; I'm sure that's up to the court to decide.

I personally do not think the word "accident" is applicable anywhere, there is always a reason for an "accident" be it negligence or intent or other, hell even "act of god" could be listed. Accident in general seems to be a way of saying something was unavoidable & nothing could have been done to prevent it by any party involved; I've found this is almost never the case.

IMO (and I do not know all the details) the 2011 case was due to negligence, an unfortunate but rare occurrence.

STXBOB, is the "miles driven" figure for USA or international. Likewise are the parasailing figures USA or international?

All figures are for USA.

LiquidFluoride: I compared deaths based on vehicle miles traveled because it's a common way to compare transportation safety. Deaths per 100 million hours of participation might be a more relevant comparison. So here it is. I’m re-using some of my earlier rough figures and adding new rough figures, so these answers are also rough.

Assume the average parasail speed is 20 mph

Parasailing over the past 30 years:
13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled at 20 mph = 260 deaths per 100 million hours of participation.

Parasailing from 1992 to 2001:
39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled at 20 mph = 780 deaths per 100 million hours of participation.

Car: Assume the average car speed is 25 mph.
2 deaths per 100 million miles traveled at 25 mph = 50 deaths per 100 million hours of participation.

In summary, my rough numbers are:

Parasailing over the past 30 years:
2 deaths per year
13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
260 deaths per 100 million hours of participation

Parasailing from 1992 to 2001:
5.9 deaths per year
39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
780 deaths per 100 million hours of participation

Cars over the past 30 years:
40,000 deaths per year
2 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled
50 deaths per 100 million hours of participation

Edited to fix the quote box.

I compared deaths based on vehicle miles traveled because it's a common way to compare transportation safety. Deaths per 100 million hours of participation might be a more relevant comparison.

well I'd hardly say the word "relevant" belongs anywhere in this comparison.

When's the last time you drove down a road with 8 foot swells?

now if you were comparing stats with off road vehicles and boats perhaps it would be a little bit closer (though I've never been off road and had the ground cause my vehicle to bob up and down).

I'm glad your enjoying your math exersize but it really is a completely irrelivant comparison.

http://www.mikeyscruiseblog.com/2011/12/06/coast-guard-continues-to-investigate-st-thomas-parasailing-accident/

The below link is the latest update I found on this accident:

http://www.professionalmariner.com/February-2013/Grand-jury-indicts-boat-captain-in-Virgin-Islands-parasailing-death/

Here's another interesting link I found having to do with Cruise Ship's liability toward its passengers and mentions the shooting at Coki where the 12 yr. old girl was killed by erupting gang violence at a funeral there.

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/tags/st-thomas/

I'd prefer para-sailing (and yes, have done it - just not with the company in question) to bungee jumping, any day!

I compared deaths based on vehicle miles traveled because it's a common way to compare transportation safety. Deaths per 100 million hours of participation might be a more relevant comparison.

well I'd hardly say the word "relevant" belongs anywhere in this comparison.

When's the last time you drove down a road with 8 foot swells?

now if you were comparing stats with off road vehicles and boats perhaps it would be a little bit closer (though I've never been off road and had the ground cause my vehicle to bob up and down).

I'm glad your enjoying your math exersize but it really is a completely irrelivant comparison.

Somebody on this forum said, "I'd wager to guess that statistically it is more dangerous to drive your car ... than to participate in this activity [parasailing]."

So it was relevant to that person, even if not relevant to you. 🙂