THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510190153
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
The DUCK rides that began at the Oceanfront with much fanfare in mid-May have quacked up on shoals of harsh reality.
Saltwater damage to internal parts of the World War II vintage craft and less than break-even ridership has caused the operation to fold for good.
That was the bleak picture painted by Thomas H. Mountjoy, president of Spirit Marine Co. and Recreational Concepts Inc., originator of the short-lived amphibious resort tour.
``The season is over, and I don't much think we'll be coming back,'' he said Monday.
``I feel we were making some progress, but the main thing is the operation in salt water - it has required a lot of maintenance.''
While Mountjoy's DUCKs toted some 14,000 paying passengers from mid-May through the end of September ($12.95 for adults, $8.95 for children), there were not enough of them on a regular daily basis to make the tour ride a profitable enterprise.
Surveys showed that those who did ride the circular route along Atlantic Avenue to Linkhorn Bay and back were satisfied, Mountjoy said, adding, ``The bottom line is the saltwater environment couldn't be overcome.''
The DUCKs, or DUKWs as they were actually named by the U.S. government in the mid-1940s, were just too old to handle the punishment.
Mountjoy had three of the amphibious vehicles spruced up and refitted to haul up to 30 passengers each along the Oceanfront.
They were part of a war production output from the General Motors assembly lines and were used to ferry troops from ship to shore in military actions, such as the Normandy Invasion June 6, 1944.
Mountjoy, a main player in an ongoing campaign to get riverboat gaming legislation passed in Virginia, received the sanction of city tourism officials to introduce the DUCK rides to the resort district.
Going into the business, he realized that selling amphibious tours to summer visitors wouldn't be DUCK soup. He was competing with other thrill and amusement rides introduced to the resort strip in recent years, such as Wild Thing and Beach Bungee, for example. Both have since departed, victims of financial difficulties.
Wild Thing was a high-speed passenger boat that zipped along the city's ocean shoreline. Beach Bungee offered customers a fall from a high platform at Rudee Loop while tethered only to an elastic line.
Mountjoy said he borrowed the idea of using DUCKs to ferry tourists from ``Ride the Ducks,'' a Branson, Mo., company headed by Robert McDowell, who has been operating a fleet of 20 for recreational boating on fresh water lakes and waterways around Branson for two decades.
Mountjoy leased several of McDowell's motorized amphibians for his Virginia Beach operation last summer.
The ungainly vehicles became a part of the Atlantic Avenue scene this summer, like the trolley, the rental mopeds and bicycles. They took passengers on 15-to-20-minute tours, complete with a running commentary from the drivers. The route began at 19th Street and Pacific Avenue, swung over to Atlantic Avenue and continued north to Seashore State Park, where the DUCKs, passengers and driver took to the water for a brief tour of Linkhorn Bay. ILLUSTRATION: Three DUCKs, or DUKWs as they were actually named by the U.S.
government in the mid-1940s, had been spruced up and refitted to
haul up to 30 passengers each along the Oceanfront. Some 14,000
paying passengers took the 15-20 minute tours, said Thomas H.
Mountjoy, president of Spirit Marine Co. and Recreational Concepts
Inc.
Staff photos by
DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
by CNB