It’s a roll of the dice to make the one hour drive from my house to one of three lakes where wind and wing come to play. Of the three I choose the one with the most fluky wind because the lake is just so absolutely pristine clean and beautiful at Elk Lake Resort and Marina. I usually start down in a bay in the southwest corner.

On August 14, the conditions did not disappoint!

This 4 in 1 inflatable board by Starboard has delivered immeasurable fun to me since I got it just 4 months ago. This picture is very misleading because the bay where I put in and took out was dead calm (hence the paddle to bring me out to the windy area of the lake. But just beyond the calm bay the wind was a fairly steady 8-9 mph with wonderful, frequent gusts of 20-22 mph.

An array of various sailboats from Hobie Cats to 23 foot sloops were zooming on every tack – and I was right there with them with my 5m Freewing AIR V2. For the first time I had the “feel” for tacking – getting my board around like never before. Everything I learned from Jonathan at Cascade Kiteboarding was becoming more natural. When the wing was nearly pulling me off the board, for the first time I locked my feet in the foot straps and sped across the water like never before.

Oh yeah! I am hooked. I can’t help but dream about the Starboard 169L Air Foil Inflatable Wing Board!