Runaway Parasail Rescue
Historically, when a mob of 100 people has you on the end of a rope, it´s a bad thing. There are exceptions. Take the rescue of the two 16-year-old parasailers whose cord snapped as they were being towed out to sea off Madeira Beach. It would have been a tragedy if not for the tourists, sun-weathered layabouts and assorted passersby who scrambled pell-mell down the beach and through the surf until one or two of them managed to get a grip on the cord, anchoring it just enough to allow other rescuers to catch up and begin to reel in the girls. It took the crowd nearly a half-hour to drag the panicked girls onto the shore, where one told a local TV anchor ¨it was really freaky.¨ That it was. Many apologies to the flash mobs who, initially at least, were weirdly amusing, but what can we say? Mob actions just don´t get any better than this.
