Chris Parker, a founder of the Bonefish Grill restaurant chain, went missing in Tampa Bay after a high-powered speedboat he was driving flipped at more than 100 mph.
Two women who were on the boat with him were hospitalized, authorities said. The accident occurred about a mile south of the Gandy Bridge as Parker's boat sped alongside another boat, whose occupants were unhurt. They pulled the women from the water.
At the time of the accident, authorities said, the temperature of the water was about 60 degrees and Parker was not wearing a life jacket.
Tampa Fire Rescue Capt. Bill Wade said Parker had been headed north toward the Gandy Bridge at speeds in excess of 100 mph when the front of his 36-foot Spectre racing boat lifted out of the water.
It came back down on a wave and lifted again, and this time the underside of the aerodynamic boat was hit by enough air to flip it over backward, Wade said. The three riders were tossed out.
The boat, its sides battered by the water, eventually righted itself. It drifted a mile toward the bridge before authorities hauled it out. The two people in the other boat were not involved in the crash, Wade said. They rushed to Parker's craft and pulled the two passengers out of the water. They did not find Parker. The passengers were taken to Tampa General Hospital.
"There's no way they should have been going that fast in an area with a lot of boats coming up on the Gandy Bridge," said boater Dave Bodner, 50, of Tampa, who helped search for Parker. "It's unsafe for them and the people around them."
Jim George, a former Coast Guard captain and Air Force pilot who works at MarineMax boat sales in Clearwater, said that "the faster the boat goes, the less of the boat is touching the water.
If a boat hits the wake of another boat, or any other sort of wave, it pitches the front of the boat into the air and forces the boat's engines deeper into the water. That gives the boat a lift like an airplane wing.
"Basically the driver of the boat was driving faster than conditions allow, something wasn't right, or they were totally inexperienced," he said. "It's a dual hull boat; that's the worst kind for catching air."