By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY – Sherie Preister was praying as the Ocean City Parasail boat roared into the back bay behind Ocean City.
She and Vivian Reavis were the first in their group of seven getting ready to go aloft. They would be suspended in a harness beneath a parachute 500 feet in the air, tethered by rope to the boat.
As the parasail boat moved into position in the bay, Preister was keeping up a nonstop commentary that kept the rest of the people in the boat in stitches. Then she closed her eyes and started praying.
What was she praying for? “Just to get back down,” she laughed.
When she and Reavis – who went up together – came back down, she looked relieved.
“It felt like heaven,” she said. “It felt scary, but it feels like heaven. The view is beautiful, but it is scary going up because the wind blows – I’m a tiny woman – the wind goes wooshing through.”
Part of the ride that takes them up in the air also brings them back down and dips their feet in the water. That, she said, also worried her a bit. “It was a little scary because I can’t swim.”
Preister said she did feel safe because she was wearing a life jacket, knew there were other safety features and that Ocean City Parasail first mate Marty Cattie was there to act as rescue swimmer in case of any trouble.
Reavis also found the experience a mix of frightening and fun.
“It was a little scary at first, but it was nice,” she said, “but I wouldn’t do it again, though. As a first-time experience, I loved it, but I wouldn’t go back up again. It was almost like being in a plane.”
Sahara Maddox, another one in the group, didn’t stop smiling.
She went up alone after her sister, Paige Maddox, took a tandem ride with Shamirah Vance. Those two were not as thrilled with the experience, judging from their expressions from start to finish.
Sahara, however, not only enjoyed it but was ready to do it again.
“My favorite part was watching my sister scream and going into the water,” she said, smiling.
The other two tandem riders in the group, Julia Preston and Antione Garrett, appeared to enjoy the experience.
“I haven’t been up before. I was nervous,” Preston said. “Once you’re up in the air it’s beautiful. It’s like being up on a swing.”
She didn’t plan a second time. “One time is enough.”
When it was mentioned that everyone noticed she and Antione were smooching while up in the air, Preston looked a bit embarrassed. “Oh, wow! Sorry.” So what was it like kissing while floating? “It’s wonderful because I knew if I was going down into that water, he was going to go right in with me.” She laughed when asked if that was a kiss goodbye, just in case.
Captain Joel Richard drives the boat with first mate Cattie doing everything else. Cattie, an Ocean City High School graduate who was a standout lacrosse player for the Red Raiders, gets the participants into their life jackets and harnesses, explains the safety protocols, moves them into position on the back deck of the boat and attaches them to the parachute harness. He unhooks them after the tow rope reels them back to the boat. Cattie also amuses the riders with a pair of big fake scissors, pretending to cut the tow rope while the riders are aloft.
Captain Joel, as he’s known, used to do Cattie’s job when he was younger in the Florida Keys. He started working the beaches, then on a jet ski rental and when the business there bought a parasail boat, he became a crew member.
“Then I got my captain’s license and the rest is history,” he said. He works in Ocean City in the summer and in Key West in the winter. He has been around, having lived in the Virgin Islands for 17 years along with spending time on other islands including Antigua, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, but is back in the Keys again, coming “full circle,” as he put it.
He knows some people are a bit scared, but that usually wanes once aloft.
“I think they enjoy the thrill of it,” Richard said of riders, “but once they figure out it’s not totally scary they enjoy the peace and tranquility of it and the view. It’s not terrifying.”
Along for the ride that afternoon were Miss Ocean City Mary Grace Jamison, Junior Miss Ocean City Natalie Argento and Little Miss Ocean City Antonella DiAntonio. They went up parasailing together – all three at once. Chalk them up as eager to go back up again.
They loved the parachute ride above the bay and just enjoyed riding in the boat with everyone, including chaperone Michael Hartman, who works for Ocean City and oversees the pageants.
DiAntonio, the youngest of the three, said she was a little nervous, “but once you’re up there you’re a little relaxed. It was crazy and we got to see a beautiful view and it was fun.”
Argento said she liked the privacy, being 500 feet away from everything above the bay. “I think what I enjoyed most about it was spending time with my (pageant) sisters up in the air and just talking about everything with some alone time.” She wouldn’t spill on any secrets they discussed, leaving those between them, the wind and the occasional bird that flew by.
She said she agreed with DiAntonio: “I really enjoyed the boat ride and having tons of laughs.”
Would she go again? “Definitely.”
How about DiAntonio? “One hundred percent.”
Jamison was excited that “I got to fly for the first time in my life.”
She liked “just being able to spend alone time with the girls and seeing Ocean City from such a high view really makes you think about how beautiful the place that we live in is and how lucky we are to spend every day in it.”
The coolest part of the ride, she said, was “definitely the dip in the water. I’m more of a water girl than anything,” the 2020 Ocean City High School graduate said. “I liked getting dipped in it and I liked hearing Natalie scream.”
As Ocean City’s pageant winners in August 2019, Jamison, Argento and DiAntonio were supposed to give up their crowns this August, but are getting an extra year to wear their crowns. This summer’s pageants were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic as were many of the events that would have featured the three girls. Instead, they have been helping out this summer, in part by working with the Sure Guide and sister newspaper the Ocean City Sentinel to promote the downtown, the boardwalk and the activities on the bay.
“I really enjoyed the fact we’re able to give back to Ocean City businesses after such a tough time during COVID-19,” she said.
Ocean City Parasail, at 232 Bay Ave., offers trips for $80 per person with discounts available by booking online. For more information, call (609) 399-3559 or go online to oceancityparasail.com
