Justin beard

Owner | Paradise Parasail

Born in Vicksburg, MS, I was raised in Missouri on Lake of the Ozarks. By the age of 13, I was operating my family's boats, a Sea Ray 340 and an LS2000. At 16, I started working for Forever Resorts at a marina, renting out pontoons and wave runners. The summer after high school, I began working at Iguana Watersports, owned by Dennis Reese of Springfield Armory. This operation was located right by Paradise Parasail. The head captain met me at a restaurant mid-summer and asked if I wanted to pick up some shifts. I said yes, and the following summer, I started parasailing full-time. At 21, I got my OUPV license and began learning how to fly parasails. I attended the University of Central Missouri, where I was a decathlete on the track team and studied Communication, while parasailing during the summers.

In December 2014, after college, I moved to Fort Myers, Florida, where I started parasailing full-time for Paradise Parasail on Fort Myers Beach. By the fall of 2016, I was ready for a new adventure, so I moved to Breckenridge, Colorado, and spent the winter snowboarding, actually with the intention of leaving the watersports industry. However, I received a call from the owner of Chelan Parasail asking if I wanted to come operate his business. I quickly accepted and moved to WA in May 2017, sight unseen. After the summer, I returned to Breckenridge for another winter on the mountain. Unfortunately, the season was terrible with little to no snow. I started making calls and moved back to SW FL in February to work for Siesta Key Watersports and Englewood Parasail. After spring break, I moved to the Outer Banks in NC, where I operated for Corolla Duck Parasail.

Toward the end of the summer, I received a call that the captain who replaced me in Fort Myers had a seizure on the boat, which ended his captain career at the time. The owner was looking for an operator and asked me to come back. I moved back to FMB in fall 2018, where I ran the company until May 2022 when I purchased the parasail company where I first started my career, Paradise Parasail on Lake of the Ozarks.

Since purchasing the company, my family and I have moved to Orlando, Florida, during the fall, winter, and spring. I picked up a job as a tour captain on Lake Dora and an airboat captain on the Saint John’s River. Nowadays, I am an active member of the leadership council for the parasail committee through the WSIA. I am also a committee member for the ASTM. I want to help ensure the preservation and prosperity of parasailing in the watersports industry as a whole.