THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270401
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A new high-flying thrill ride swung onto the Oceanfront scene Friday and Michelle Fillion was there to give it a test run - over the protests of her nervous mother and aunt.
``Don't do it!,'' aunt Lucille Gaya of Fall River, Mass., yelled from the sidelines.
``This child has always done this to me,'' muttered her mother, Collette Fillion, of San Diego, Calif., vainly trying to dissuade her daughter from sampling the ride.
Then Michelle, tethered to a steel cable, let out a blood-curdling yell as she swooped like a prehistoric bird of prey from a 100-foot-high tower As she began swinging back and forth at the end of her tether, she began humming gently, a smile spreading over her face.
``Maybe I'll try sky-diving,'' she yelled cheerily as mother and aunt looked on.
``Not today you're not!'' her mother snapped.
Minutes later, out of her fabric body harness, young Fillion, a Virginia Beach optician's technician, offered ride owner Felix Templeton the ultimate endorsement. ``I loved it,'' she crooned. ``I'm going to tell people about it.''
To which Templeton smiled and nodded his head in appreciation. This was his second try at starting up a thrill ride at Rudee Loop on the south end of Atlantic Avenue. The ride, called the ``Skycoaster,'' is basically a highly elevated version of a backyard swing.
Patrons can be strapped up one to three at a time and launched at the end of the cable. One end is attached to a giant white, steel arch. The other - the swinging end with riders attached - is hauled to the top of the adjoining tower and released. Riders soar out over the roof of a nearby concession shed and treated to a gull's-eye view of nearby Rudee Inlet.
Prices range from $20 to $30 per outing. The fewer the customers along for the swing, the more expensive it gets.
Templeteon operated Beach Bungee at the same location for the last two years, but bad weather, bureaucratic red tape and the high cost of admission forced him to close it down.
Last winter he sold his now-familiar steel arch to Family Magic Adventures Inc., of Miami, Fla., which in turn granted him the franchise to operate the trademark ride.
After taking the initial free swing, Michelle gathered up aunt and mother and trundled them off to lunch. Hopefully, said aunt Lucille, she could dip her spoon into one of her favorite local dishes - she-crab soup.
Michelle Fillion's ride brought out a small gathering of onlookers, including potential customers Brook Ketchum of Chesapeake and boyfriend Robert Dacumos of Norfolk, both college students.
Ketchum had tried Templeton's bungee jump last summer, and was anxious to try the Skycoaster as well.
``It was the scariest thing I ever did in my life,'' she said of her bungee jump. ``But this looks great!''
Aunt Lucille, however, remained a skeptic. ``No way Jose, '' she said. ``This thing is for the young and the not-so-bright.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on page B1 by David B. Hollingsworth, Staff
Michelle Fillion lets out a blood-curdling yell as she tries out a
new high-flying ride called the ``Skycoaster'' at Rudee Loop on the
south end of Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach. Thrill-seekers swing
back and forth tethered to a steel cable after they are launched
from a 100-foot-high tower. by CNB