Two water sports to resume toda

Panaji: The Captain of Ports (CoP) on Thursday partially lifted the ban on water sports activities in the state. Only jet skiing and winch parasailing activities will be allowed from Fridaybetween 9am and 4pm, but the ban will continue for all other water sports activities and boat rides. The operators of both jet skiiing and parasailing will have to stop operations by May 30 noon.Water sports are not allowed during monsoon, and operators have to shut operations by May 31, every year.
Sometimes, they are asked to shut opeartions earlier than official closure date if the weather turns bad.
Consequent to the Colva incident, wherein a tourist from West Bengal died after he fell off a parasail on Tuesday, the CoP suspended water sports activities at all beaches in the state.
CoP James Braganza said other water sports activities have not been allowed to continue in view of rough weather. Jet skiing and winch parasailing are relatively safer sports.
While jet skiing and winch parasailing actities will continue till Monday, the operators will have to stop their operations immediately in the event wind speed exceeds 15 knots and greater than 1.5metres towards the beach. The operators have also been asked to take all safety precautions.
Close to 400 to 500 water sports operators are given permissions every tourist season. The CoP issues NOCs to water sports operators at the start of the season after checking sea worthiness of their vessels. Water sports operators and all kinds of adventure sports also have to register with the tourism department even as it is not a licensing authority. The water sports and adventure are termed as tourists trades.