[JonPop]

15


When we arrived at the boat dock, there was a crowd gathered as there usually is when the para-sailors go up. This crowd I'd say, was 80% female and dressed mostly in Bikini's and thongs. They heard that Rob was going to sail today and wanted to be on hand to see him. Rob and Betterman are quite the celebrity in Hilo.
I noticed in the crowd, were a few people I had seen at dinner last night and assumed they were security.

George let us out at the ramp and went to park the Escalade. Rob approached the owner of the service and introduced him to me.
"John, this is Andrew, he and his wife Lisa run the para-sailing ride." Andrew indicated the equipment laid out on the dock and said, "This chute is a modified version of the Army's T-10 parachute used by our paratroopers today, except several gores (panels) have been removed to facilitate lift and reduce drag on the boat."
He asked me if I had ever been in a parachute harness or done any para-sailing. I said, "Well yes, I had been in a parachute harness many times as I was former 82nd. Airborne." He laughed at this and said, "Well you'll find this rig to be much more comfortable as it is rigged more like the seat on a swing. Not so much crotch pinch." And again laughed.
As Andrew is talking to us, the crowd has edged around us and I am looking at a sea of beautiful legs, tits and asses. They are waving and trying to catch Rob's eye and several are trying to talk to him. Rob is very polite with this and talks to a few of them. One especially well endowed girl yells, "Rob" and whips off her top, Rob turn's, see's this and smiles. He moves over to her and gives her a high five, and then another high five, I guess just to see them jiggle, because they sure were. The crowd laughs at this.

Andrew is helping me into my harness and Lisa is assisting Rob. We get strapped in and Andrew and Lisa get into the boat. The dockside crew turns on a large fan that inflates the chutes and Andrew guns the engines and we are lifted smoothly off the dock. We head out of the inlet toward open water, the view is magnificent. Lisa plays out more line until we are well over 500' in the air. The sound of the boat is muffled by the height and Rob and I are able to talk back and forth. Just like when I used to jump out of an airplane, had all the engine noise for a long time, where you had to shout to be heard and when you went out the door, it was total silence with the noise of the aircraft receding in the distance and you could talk to the troopers around you. This was bringing back some old memories.