The new sport of parasailing seems to be set to go through the same stages of enthusiasm, disillusionment and consolidation as hang gliding did some years ago. The high number of injuries we see in our clinic, which is in one of the areas of Germany where parasailing is most popular, shows that the phase of enthusiasm is still in full swing. A total of 48 injuries sustained during parasailing and treated in our clinic within 6 months were analyzed with reference to causes, patterns, and frequencies. Most of the injuries occurred with unfavorable wind and weather conditions; 58% of them occurred in the start phase as the result of falls on uneven ground, on rocks, or trees; 10% during the flight phase as a result of turbulence or collisions with obstacles; and 32% during the landing phase, mainly by falling on the back from some height while landing too slowly, or by falling forward while landing too fast with back wind. As to the sites of the injuries, 60% were to the lower extremity, 26% to the upper extremity, and 14% to the body. The most serious injuries were fractures (42%), contusions (26%), ligamentous lesions (19%), luxations (6%), and deep wounds (6%). The most frequent injuries were ligamentous lesions and fractures of the upper ankle (14), spine contusions (5), radial fractures (4), knee contusions (4), hand fractures (3), calcaneus fractures (2) and shoulder luxations (2). We classed 56% of the injuries as mild, 42% as moderate, requiring subsequent operation or hospital treatment, and 1 as severe, with 2 months' hospital inpatient treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)