ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609030094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
WITH SCHOOL DAYS RIGHT around the corner, these teachers decided to parasail through the end of summer.
With school starting Tuesday, what did teachers spend their weekend doing? Solemnly preparing lesson plans? Sharpening their pencils and filling Tylenol bottles?
Nope. Some, in fact, were out defying death high above the waters of Smith Mountain Lake.
Of course, if you were a teacher, maybe the thought of school starting again would drive you to do the same thing.
On a beautiful Sunday before Labor Day, framed by blue skies, white clouds, gentle winds and blue-green waves, a boatload of teachers from Henry County and Martinsville spent their final hours of freedom para-sailing above Smith Mountain Lake.
At least three out of six of them did.
The rest watched from the boat. "We're chicken," middle school teacher Judy Dashoff admitted.
For second-grade teacher Cindy Cobler, it was her first time aloft on a parachute pulled by a boat. "Breathtaking," she said. "It looks worse than it actually is."
Michael Burnett, a high school history teacher, said he found para-sailing "very relaxing." But taking in mind the risk involved and the proximity to the first day of school, he joked, "If something's going to happen, it's a good time for it."
Teachers didn't monopolize the lake fun this weekend, though. Parents, kids and lots of other folk were out making the most of the waning summer vacation and the beautiful weather, too.
Matt Kluender, a rising 10th-grader at E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, and David Ping, a rising eighth-grader at Lynchburg's Linkhorn Middle School, were riding across the lake on Ping's purple-and-white Sea Doo jet ski, throwing waves of white spray in every direction as they sped by.
Kluender spent most of his summer fishing at the lake, and Ping fished at small ponds. Neither boy was ready for school again, but for Kluender, the end of summer brings at least one good omen: "We'll start fall bass tournaments after school starts," he said.
Though many merchants said it's been a slow summer at the lake this year, boats of all shapes and sizes shared the waters this weekend - pontoon boats, sailboats, fishing boats, jet skis, houseboats and yachts.
The Virginia Inland Boating Association Yacht Club sponsored three sailboat races Saturday and Sunday. Gliding like bird's wings, hosts of sailboats bobbed gently across the lake's slightly choppy waters.
Naomi Delzell, an educational software designer from Roanoke, had a baby five weeks ago. This weekend, she and her husband Bob raced their individual sailboats.
Naomi's been racing boats since she was 10. Her sporty rainbow-sailed Laser sailboat took fourth place out of eighth in the race. And what about Bob? Naomi remained demur on his ranking, saying "I want to stay married."
Roanokers Stan and Lauren Breakell and their sons Alexander, 6, and William, 4, spent their weekend at a less hectic pace, gently sailing the lake in their 381/2 foot sloop, named the Triumph.
Alexander starts first grade this week and William goes back to preschool. "I want to see some more summer," Alexander said. "I want to see some more school," said his mom.
Stan, a general contractor, grew up learning to sail from his dad at the lake. Now he's trying to teach his sons about boating in anticipation of his "top-secret master plan": a family adventure on the Chesapeake Bay in a few years.
"We are definitely in training," he said, wearing a ball cap that reads "Captain Da Da," a reference to a favorite bedtime story-character invented by the sailing dad.
Lauren, who gives her occupation as "domestic goddess," said of staying on the boat, "It's like a little condo, though I have spent most of time in the galley, cooking and cleaning.
"There's still a lot of work involved for the mother, even here - packing, unpacking, cooking, cleaning - but it's more fun to be on the lake doing it than anywhere else, I must say."
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Michael Burnett, a high schoolby CNBhistory teacher from Martinsville, sails on a parachute high above
Smith Mountain Lake on Sunday. 2. Naomi Delzell of Roanoke sails
back to shore Sunday after competing in a race on Smith Mountain
Lake. color. 3. Riding their sailboat around Smith Mountain Lake
(left to right) are Stan, Alexander, 6, Lauren, and William
Breakell, 4. They plan to take their boat to the ocean sometime in
the future and ride the big waves.