THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040167
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY
DATELINE: DUCK LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
About 200 feet above the Currituck Sound, seagulls start swooping beneath you, diving into the shallow swells in their insatiable search for sustenance.
A couple of hundred feet higher, boats below begin to look surreal - toy-sized vessels trailing silver streamers across the coffee-colored sandbars.
Almost a quarter-mile over the barrier islands, you rise above it all.
Although nylon webbing and thick thigh-harnesses still tether you to a fiberglass craft, there is a feeling of complete freedom when you're floating above the Outer Banks.
Salty smells, shopping plazas, even the steady hum of boat engines disappear when you're gliding on air currents 1,200 feet above the earth. For 10 minutes this morning, there is only you, sparkling sunshine and a gentle wind cupped in your colorful sail.
``It's beautifully tranquil at the top. Quiet, peaceful and unearthly. There's the same feeling of escape you get when scuba diving below the sea's surface,'' said Scott Bohon, a 39-year-old resident of Madison, Wis., who was vacationing in Duck last week and talked his sister, Carol, into going parasailing.
``I love stuff like this. I've always been the daredevil in the family,'' said Carol Bohon, 40, who lives in Memphis, Tenn. ``We just both wanted to do something exciting on our summer trip together.''
As incredible as it is to fly more than eight stories above the sound, the experience is actually more serene than it is exciting. Parasailing takes virtually no effort from anyone other than the boat's captain - and there is no time on the trip that you feel unsafe.
If you weigh between 100 and 300 pounds, can clip a window-washer's harness around your hips and aren't afraid of soaring at low altitudes, you, too, can fly from at least a half-dozen Outer Banks locations.
``People have been parasailing for years. But they used to take off from a platform in the water,'' said North Beach Sailing owner Bill Miles, whose Duck watersports operation is based at Barrier Island Inn. ``Early platform boats were developed specifically for parasailing in 1987-88. We brought the first one to Outer Banks beaches in 1990.
``We take more than 2,000 people parasailing each summer season,'' Miles said last week. ``And the worst accident we've ever had was a sprained thumb.''
Would-be parasailers leave Duck's wooden docks in a rubber boat filled with five other passengers. The makeshift ferry carries the group to a parasail boat, which waits in deeper water. Trips run hourly, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Costs range from $44 to $84 per person, depending on what height you want to reach. Reservations are strongly recommended.
``OK, we're gonna hook you right up here and get you flying. All you have to do is step through this harness, that's it, and now sit down on the deck with your feet straight out in front of you,'' parasail boat Capt. Kevin Simpson said, strapping his first flier of the day into the blue-and-gold webbed contraption.
``These are 12-strand nylon cords you're attached to. The same stuff they make airplane seatbelts out of. They won't break,'' Simpson reassured his parasailing passengers. ``You can hold onto these straps at the side if you want to. Or you can let go, hang upside down, do a flip. There's no way you can fall out of this harness.''
After checking all the clips and tightening proper straps, Simpson steers his boat into the wind. An assistant maneuvers hydraulic gears on the back deck, letting out the thick cord that attaches you - the parasailer - to the vessel. Soon, the 30-foot diameter parachute begins to swell, filling with air.
You feel your feet being lifted lightly, slowly, as the sail behind you unfurls in bright splashes of yellow, orange, purple and blue. You watch the boats and people shrinking below as you're lifted above the flat horizon. And, unless you want to, you never get wet.
``We've watched the parasailers soaring over the sound every morning from our rental cottage's windows. And we kept wondering how much fun it might be,'' Carol Bohon said as Simpson strapped her in for the ride.
``It was awesome,'' she exclaimed about eight minutes later, after touching softly back down on deck. ``You could see clear across the islands to the ocean. Seemed like you could see everything from up there. And it wasn't a bit scary at all.''
Even landings are easy in the sport of parasailing. Not one of the six passengers on Simpson's boat last week even stumbled during the descent. Everyone ended up in the same sitting position they started in - without even so much as a bump during touchdown.
During most of the ride, parasailers remain at full extension - suspended either 300, 500, 700 or 1,200 feet above the water. Simpson also gave some of his passengers an extra treat - lowering them close enough to the sound to dip their toes in, then hoisting them back into the air before their feet could get wet.
Everyone seemed to enjoy the uplifting experience.
``It was really, really great. Cool. Amazing,'' said Lauran Crafe, 26, who took a tandem ride with her sister, Carolyn Ceribelli, strapped to the same sail. ``Next time, though, I think I'd rather go alone so I could turn around and see the whole spectrum from up there. It was the perfect day today. The whole trip was really wonderful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
For 10 minutes, reporter Lane DeGregory lifted off on a parasail and
soared over the Outer Banks. Writes DeGregory: As incredible as it
is to fly more than eight stories above the sound, the experience is
actually more serene than it is exciting. Parasailing takes
virtually no effort from anyone other than the boat's captain - and
there is no time on the trip that you feel unsafe.
by CNB