IT’S PIE IN THE SKY : Hydraulic Winch Has Enabled Parasailing to Take Off in Southland

Getting a bird’s-eye view of the world, Clint Schwald of Newport Beach gazed upon the rippling green ocean, the majestic white clouds that spanned the horizon and onto the decks of boats below.

Julie Hank, a hotel employee from Costa Mesa, talked of the breathtaking view on one brisk and particularly clear day, of the posh seaside homes seen from above and of the peaceful feeling she got from rising hundreds of feet suspended beneath a wind-filled parachute.

Most of all, Hank was pleased by the relative ease with which she was able to handle dangling some 300 feet above the surface with nothing beneath her but a vast expanse of water and what looked like tiny boats with tiny people on them.

“I didn’t know if I wanted to do this,” she said. “But I could have stayed up there all day.”

Schwald told her: “I don’t like heights either. But that didn’t bother me at all. I get more scared on the Ferris wheel right here in Balboa. But this thing didn’t do anything to me.”

Armida Sigismondi, a friend of Hank, was skeptical as well. But once seemingly above the rest of the world, where the clouds were so close you can almost touch them and the view so great you think of practically nothing else, she was just fine.

Then there was Steve Barnes, a magician by trade, who after watching the others take off and land safely, was still a bit apprehensive. His eyes widened and his knuckles paled when he was shoved by crewman Mike Perrin off the boat’s stern and carried out over the ocean.

Garbed in a black suit and colorful tie, Barnes was soon weightless, his long legs and pointy black shoes dancing on air as he flew up and away from the boat.

Magic could not help him, now. But none was needed.

All that was needed was the boat, equipped with a winch spooled with 600 feet of nylon rope, which was attached to a parachute tucked neatly in a compartment on the stern. And of course a licensed and qualified skipper and the handful of customers who pay $39 for this 10- to 15-minute sail-in-the-sky.

Parasailing, so popular at many tropical resorts around the world, is taking off in Southern California.

The difference is, parasailing operations at Southland sportfishing landings and harbors are employing a hydraulic-winch system that enables the passenger to forgo water skis and take off and land without getting wet.

“You don’t need a ground crew and you don’t have to run on the beach (to take off),” said Eddie DiRuscio, manager of Davey’s Locker Sportfishing, which began offering parasailing this year.”You take off from the boat and land directly in the boat--that’s a safe way.”

Said Bill Kimball of Flying High, a Long Beach-based parasailing operation that began a month ago: “All the horror stories (involving parasailing) come from Mexico, but when you use a winch on the back of the boat--that’s safety. You’re not going to get hurt falling in the water. You’re not going to hit a high-rise and you’re not going to break an arm (by falling and being dragged along the beach).”

Insurance companies had previously declined to insure prospective parasail operators for those very reasons. But with the advent of the hydraulic winch, the circumstance has apparently changed.

Catalina Parasail’s Guy Ciletti, who began the Southland’s first parasail operation four years ago at Avalon, has enjoyed a steady business--without any serious incidents--ever since, and in recent months parasail operations have sprung up from San Diego to Redondo Beach.

Aside from the safety factor, the winch increases the sport’s appeal in that people of all ages can participate. Newport Parasail, owned by DiRuscio and Doug Ferrell, has catered to customers from 6 to 72 since opening in July, including one person with an artificial leg.

“If you can sit, you can parasail,” DiRuscio said.

The fact that you don’t have to get wet, most operators say, also has helped their operations because they can stay in business year-round. Sweaters and jackets--no problem.

“During whale-watch season, a lot of people will do it,” Ferrell said. “That won’t necessarily mean they’ll all get to see a whale. But I will go out in the morning and put Mike (Perrin) up in the air and he’ll spot ‘em from up there.”

Said DiRuscio: “They’ll be able to get a bird’s-eye view. We’ve already had individuals and groups inquiring about that very same thing.”

Already, DiRuscio said, customers have marveled at large schools of porpoise and sea lions, which are visible beneath the surface from 300 feet. Kimball’s said his customers, “can see the sights of Long Beach from 600 feet.”

The Queen Mary never looked so small.

But first, these seekers of a new thrill must take off.

The boat is steered into the wind, the parachute unfurled by the crewman. There it is held until the passenger is harnessed in a sitting position. The skipper steps on the gas, the crewman lets go and it’s up, up and away.

Once in flight and away from the noise of the world, the passenger merely sits and enjoys the view.

From high above the diesel-powered Newport Parasail, that could include developers’ machines tearing relentlessly at the last of Orange County’s barren coastal slopes, breakers methodically pounding the rocky shoreline or ships sailing into the harbor. All this with just the turn of the head.

The sky’s the limit.

Until Ferrell cuts the engine.

Then the parasailor actually parachutes, floating toward the water while wondering if there might be a problem. Just before the parasailor figures to hit the water, however, Ferrell usually speeds up and it’s back up into the friendly sky.

Schwald, who took off his shoes before his turn in hopes of getting his feet wet, got just that, and more.

He descended once and dipped his feet into the water. Ferrell than sent him skyward to about 250 feet before stopping the boat again. This time Schwald hit the water and kept sinking before Ferrell’s burst of speed sent him back up, dripping wet.

“I was under water and before I knew it, bam! I was back up in the air,” the exhilarated parasailor said. “That second dip was incredible because I was like . . . under. That was excellent.”

And the loss of a cheap pair of sunglasses didn’t bother him a bit.