WILDWOOD – Ed Quigley of Richmond, Virginia, was at Bethany Beach, Delaware, on July 7, 2015, when he was struck in the head by a beach umbrella that went airborne due to the wind.

The oak shaft of the umbrella penetrated his left eye and breached his brain cavity.

“I died during brain surgery,” he said.

Quigley told the Board of Commissioners last month that the medical team did 23 minutes of chest compressions and used a defibrillator seven times, eventually bringing him back. However, he lost his left eye, his sense of taste and smell, and his ability to paint, a hobby of his.

The experience has given him a mission in life: to educate the public about the dangers associated with beach umbrellas and wind.

According to Quigley, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that, over the past decade, more than 4,000 people nationwide have been injured by beach umbrellas.

He said he knows of at least four women who were impaled through the leg by a flying beach umbrella. A woman died after being struck by an umbrella at Virginia Beach, he said.

As to his own injury, he said, “I had to stop painting because I can’t tell when the brush touches the paper or canvas.” He used to like cooking and creating new recipes, but that pleasure was also taken away.

Quigley said his wife suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and separation anxiety due to the incident.

He said that, in a 30-mph wind, the average 7.5-foot-diameter beach umbrella requires 75 pounds of weight to hold it in place. He said that in a 30-mph wind a beach umbrella becomes a javelin with a sail on it.

In 2021, a team of engineers was assembled to study umbrella accidents and safety.

Quigley told the Wildwood commissioners the engineers found there were two major concerns: tipping over and flying away.

The generally accepted practice for securing a beach umbrella is to insert the pole into the sand to about 2 feet deep. The engineers determined that this method was “ineffective, obsolete and extremely dangerous,” according to Quigley’s website, www.BeachUmbrellaSafety.org.

In 2024, the American Society for Testing and Materials issued a set of standards for beach umbrellas, saying:

*Beach umbrellas must remain secure in winds up to 30 mph.

*A compliant beach umbrella anchor for a standard beach umbrella with a 7.5-foot-diameter canopy must provide at least 75 pounds of resistance to the wind and remain secure on a sandy beach.

*A warning label should be displayed on the canopy of beach umbrellas.

*All compliant anchor devices must pass testing and display the prescribed compliance label on the device.

Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. asked Quigley if there was a wind velocity recommendation when no umbrellas should be used.

“If the umbrella is unstable and moving in the sand it needs to be taken down,” he replied.

He added that the screws or anchors that are sold to hold beach umbrellas are not really effective, and there are devices that can be filled with beach sand to provide the 75 pounds of weight needed to secure the umbrella.

Quigley declined to mention any brand names, saying he didn’t want to be seen as endorsing a particular product.

“Typically, it is something that uses sand to stabilize the umbrella,” he said.

He added that in most cases, when the wind is close to 30 mph, beachgoers are not going to enjoy being pelted by blowing sand, let alone be exposed to flying umbrellas or other objects.

Quigley has been taking his message to town council meetings along the Atlantic coast. He said he can provide signs informing the public of the dangers of flying beach umbrellas.

Troiano said he could ensure the signs were placed at all beach entrances and possibly on lifeguard stands.

“We would need about a hundred,” Troiano said.

Quigley said he would provide them.

Contact the reporter, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or call 609-886-8600, ext. 128.