Raves On The Waves -- Fast Boats, Leisurely Floats, And Thrill Rides Add Cool Choices When Your Summer Warms Up

Three hundred feet in the air over Elliott Bay, I gingerly dangle from a harness under a huge and gaudy parachute. I'm tethered to a dot of a boat that cuts a white line in the dark water. As I drift over Myrtle Edwards Park, then pass over the heads of waterfront diners, people rush forward, pointing and waving to me.

Wow. I'm famous. I release my death grip on the harness for just a moment and wave madly back.

Parasailing is just one way to get out on the water this summer. You can be as adventurous - or as tame - as you like. There's plenty that's fast and furious, like the Argosy Cruises Rocket boat at Pier 54 in Seattle.

Long and narrow, banana yellow, it's clearly a tourist lure streaking across Elliott Bay, but we local types aren't immune from the speed-racer's thrills. It hauls at 40 knots, which may sound slow on land, but on water feels very, very fast.

The Rocket's captain, Dan Kohler, takes 124 people at a time on this wild ride. Those in the bow tend to get the full force of the leaping and pounding across the waves. Folks in the back are more likely to get sprayed by curtains of water kicked up by the Rocket. "We especially like to jump the wakes of the ferries," Kohler explains with a smile.

A tour guide provides mildly educational banter about the working waterfront, and most important, the location of MTV's "Real World" when it passed through Seattle.

The Rocket slices across the shipping lanes, zigzagging through boat wakes, then heads to West Seattle, pausing at the lighthouse so people can take pictures and catch their breath.

Joelle Thompson, a Rocket tour guide, claims that the ride actually puts babies to sleep. "They never cry or throw up. Maybe it's the motor or the rocking, but most of them just nod off."

Of course, the ones who squeal are the older kids. Raven Hughes, 9, from the Seattle area, was inundated by a wave during a sharp turn across a wake. "It was fun! Really cold! I'd do it again!"

An adult tourist, Keith Koepke from Nebraska, enjoyed the tour also, but seemed less impressed than Raven. "We have boats in Nebraska, too," he said, puffing on an apres-Rocket cigar, "and you can gamble on them."

Safer than the freeway?

Close by and down a staircase to the water at Pier 57 is the parasailing speedboat. Operator Steve Arbaugh reassures his passengers that there's nothing to fear. "This isn't hazardous. Driving from my home in Everett to get here - that's hazardous. This is really just a carnival ride over water."

As the speedboat plows into Elliott Bay, the giant canopy unfurls behind the boat, opening with a snap to its full 32-foot width, then hovers there, a shock of color. The rider, wearing a harness, is clipped onto the parachute and when the boat picks up speed, the parachute lifts gently off the back of the boat, very quickly rising to 300 feet. Ten minutes later, the rider is reeled in to float gently onto the broad back of the boat.

Arbaugh has taken up people in their 80s and little kids sitting between their parents. He's wary of the yahoos: "Hotdoggers, or some guy who's been skydiving. They'll get up there and start messing with the lines," he says. "They counter what I'm doing down here."

He had no such problem with me. I cooperated fully during my ride, remaining more or less rigid, unwilling to disturb the parachute's equilibrium. I took in the sweeping views of city and shoreline by carefully moving my eyes back and forth, not my head.

Except for the soft flapping of the parachute, it's surprisingly quiet up there - that is, until Arbaugh offers this amusing trick: He cuts power so the rider drifts down to within a few feet of the water. Then he revs it up and the parachute shoots up, just in the nick of time.

"Very funny, ha, ha!" I shouted at him, but he couldn't hear me.

Some people want to get dipped. "I had a fellow who turned upside down and went in right in front of a ferry boat," Arbaugh recalls. "He got a standing ovation."

If the combined weight isn't more than 300 pounds, two people can go tandem, as did Denver residents Bev Deutsch and her friend Mary Ann. Deutsch has a little healthy vertigo: "Ledges are a problem for me but this was nice," she says. "I liked the quiet and the freedom." Mary Ann, a veteran of bungee jumping, found parasailing somewhat tame, "but I like being in a place where I'm normally not."

An easy introduction

If all this is just a little too exciting, consider the perfect peace of pedal-boating on calm waters. Barbara Sherrill, who owns Klub Kayak on Lake Sammamish, added pedal boats to her inventory of canoes and kayaks this year because they offer an easy introduction to water sports. "This is a good way for families with small children to get out on the water, or for people who haven't been around water much. Their hands are free, they can talk and drift. It's great."

Sherrill recommends visiting on a weekday if possible, "then you'll have the lake to yourself." Another good time is during evening hours. "The water is quiet and the sunsets are pretty here," she says, adding that's the time she pulls out a kayak and goes for her daily paddle.

For the more goal-oriented, paddleboating can be an excellent workout, much like a stationary bike, but not as boring, and featuring much better, ever-changing views.

There's the bucolic beauty to look at, but pedalers can also marvel at how the other half lives, gaping at fabulously expensive homes along the shore of Lake Sammamish.

Fortunately, it doesn't take a lot of money to enjoy Northwest waterways, just the desire to rent a few minutes on - or above - them.

--------- If you go ---------

The Rocket speedboat (Argosy Cruises)

Pier 54, Seattle waterfront. Prices: adults $11; children 5-12 $6 (younger than 5, free); seniors and groups of 10 or more, $10 each. Departures daily, on the hour from noon to 4 p.m. 206-623-4252.

Parasailing

Pier 57, Seattle waterfront. Price per person, $49; tandem (300-pound limit), $89. Departures daily, on the hour from 11 a.m. to sunset. Reservations recommended. 206-622-5757.

Pedal boating

-- Klub Kayak, Turtle Beach, Lake Sammamish State Park, Issaquah. Directions: From Interstate 90, take Exit 15 and turn left. Go over the freeway to the second set of signals. Turn left on West Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast. Go a quarter-mile and turn right at the park's entry gate. Take the first left into a parking lot. Walkways lead to Klub Kayak (follow signs). Prices: $14 per hour. Open 9 a.m. to dusk Saturday and Sunday; noon to dusk Monday and Friday. 425-957-7673.

-- Green Lake Boat Rentals, Seattle. Located on the northeast side of Green Lake, next to the Green Lake Community Center. Hours: weather permitting, daily 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. 206-527-0171