Tourists Lured by High-Flying Fun

Above the swimmers and sunbathers, the sailboats and the occasional dolphin is pure tranquillity.

“It’s unusually quiet when you’re up there,” Corona del Mar resident Eileen Lewis, 48, said Wednesday as she unfastened her gear after 10 minutes of para-sailing 400 feet above the coastline.

Honey Moore, 16, a Simi Valley resident vacationing with her parents in Newport Beach, said of her first venture, “It’s so peaceful. I couldn’t keep from smiling.”

Marketing that peaceful, easy feeling has made Balboa Para-Sailing a success and may even be contributing to the Balboa Peninsula’s increasing popularity with visitors, city officials say.

Rosalind Williams, executive director of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, said, “One day visitors may go para-sailing, the next day they may go to Disneyland.”

That fits well with the city’s marketing campaign to attract tourists, Williams said. “It’s all these elements working together that make people want to come here and spend some time.”

Apparently, the formula is working. The city’s so-called bed tax, a levy on guests’ bills at hotels, is up 12% so far this year, which works out to a windfall of about $700,000, according to visitors bureau statistics.

The owners of Balboa Para-Sailing are sharing the benefits.

“We’ve found that if people know we are here, they’ll come,” said Newport Beach native Mike Perrin, 34, who with partner Ron Jensen, 36, started the business eight years ago. Their first “office” was a pay phone.

The partners, who now operate from a stand at 700 E. Edgewater Ave. on the Balboa Peninsula, have launched more than 25,000 customers into the air without an accident.

They operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Memorial Day to Labor Day. A 1 1/2 hour boat ride and 10-minute sail costs $45. Couples and groups get a discount. During the off-season, weekend excursions are available at a lower rate.

The business is doing so well this summer that Balboa Para-Sailing will add a second boat next week and will move to a real office next door by Sept. 10.

“This is the Riviera of the West Coast,” Jensen said Wednesday as he navigated the para-sail boat into the harbor. “This place is only getting better.”