Sending. (photo: Ephrom)

In 1998, Launch Wakeboard Magazine ran an article focused on the concept of participating in four sports in one day — surfing, skating, snowboarding, and wakeboarding. One of the principles was Christian Fletcher, the original “air guy” in surfing and no stranger to taking the road less traveled. This was Christian’s version of “wakeboarding” on that day; an opportunity to go out and do something different on his surfboard. Nine years later, airs are no longer an oddity for pro surfers. They now are a requirement and ironically surfers are even giving their airs goofy names, just like wakeboarding’s infancy. With the recent increase of winching (everywhere from downtown fountains to the Pacific Ocean) the lines between all board sports are being further blurred and whether he realized or not, that’s what Fletcher was doing all the way back in 1998.