There's a certain amount of fantasy involved in buying watersports equipment, starting with the boat. Only a watersports boat lets Joe Six-Pack experience the exact same performance from his equipment that the world champion gets from his. Unlike, say, NASCAR, where you can buy a car that may look a lot like the one on the track, but you're never going to experience 220-mph potential, buying a top-level watersports boat such as Correct Craft's new Air Nautique 196 means that when you ski behind it or take the helm, you'll get the same wake, power and performance as the pros. Or pretty damn close.

The Air 196 doesn't give exactly the same wake, power and performance as the pros might get because it's not exactly the same boat. (That boat would be the Ski Nautique.) But it's incredibly close, and it comes with the added bonus of delivering not only a tournament-level ski pull and wake, but an impressive wakeboard pull and wake as well. Bowing to the realities of watersports today, Correct Craft's designers have tried to give the Air 196 a combination of the best features of the Ski Nautique and the Pro Air Nautique.

From the Ski Nautique, the Air 196 gets the highly acclaimed (and deservedly so) Total Surface Control (TSC) hull, giving it one of the best ski wakes on the market. At 36 mph, the Air 196 wake is a thing of beauty. For those who do their recreational skiing at slightly slower speeds, around 30 mph or so, the wake is every bit as good. Simply put, if you can't cross this wake, you can't ski. Seen from beneath, the TSC hull has a sharp bow to cut cleanly through the water, reverse chines, spray relief pockets for a dry ride, a keel relief pocket to reduce rooster tail, and a tapered transom that gives the hull a sort of canoe-like shape that delivers a beautiful wake.

From the Pro Air, the Air 196 gets a Flight Control Tower for bigger air and even more board-carrying capacity for wakeboarding, as well as added passenger capacity (up to eight people) so more of your friends and family can join in the fun ' as well as acting as that all-important human ballast for a bigger wake. There always has been and probably always will be a conflict between delivering a flat ski wake and a big, well-shaped wakeboard wake, and while the hardcore 'boarders will be able to tell that the Air 196's wake is a little better for skiing than wakeboarding, everyone who's not spending his or her weekends competing in wakeboard tournaments should be more than happy with the launch ramp the 196 provides.

While the wake may be oh-so-slightly better for skiing than wakeboarding, the Air 196 interior may be oh-so-slightly better for wakeboarding, balancing things out. The bow seating area is tiny, as one should expect from a boat that's only 19 feet 6 inches long (not counting the swim platform; with the platform, the Air 196's overall length is 22 feet 6.75 inches), but with the filler cushions in place it makes a decent little playpen area for the kids. There's a walk-through windshield, but not a walk-through dash, so you have to sort of clamber over the dash to get to and from the bow area, making it even more of a kids-only place. The cockpit is roomy for an inboard, with the 91-inch beam allowing the Correct Craft designers to put relatively wide walkways on either side of the engine box and plenty of room fore and aft of said box. The observer seat has room for two and lifts up to reveal a huge storage area. There's storage in the gunwales and a trunk aft that can accommodate gear or ballast bags for the wakeboarders.

If there's any doubt that the Air 196 is designed to stay out all day long, it's eliminated by the discovery of three built-in, self-draining ice chests in the cockpit ' two in the dash on the passenger side and one in the floor just forward of the engine box. These should hold at least 36 cans of whatever it is you drink, plus ice, so the only reason you'll need to go in is if you need to go. The ice chests, as well as all the access points where you'd get in or out of the boat, are covered with a black rubber non-skid mat for solid footing with or without shoes.

The Air 196's dry ride, booming sound system and great wakes can be enjoyed by everyone, but only the person sitting at the helm gets to really appreciate some of the sweetest aspects of this boat. First and foremost is the Nautique Smart Pod on the dash, which features a keyless ignition with the ability to store two ignition codes, so you can give someone else access to the boat. For extra security, if the pad's not touched in 10 hours it automatically shuts off and returns to the locked mode. The Smart Pod is completely sealed and waterproof, part of the 'no rocker switches' movement in electronics that has everyone smiling, and will automatically backlight itself if any part of the pad is touched for easy operation in low light.

Above the Smart Pod are a fully digital tachometer and speedometer that take a little getting used to if you're accustomed to analog, but they're remarkably accurate, with the speedometer actually reading out in 1/10 mph detail. Powered by a 320-hp, 5.7L PCM EFI engine, the test boat accelerates from 0 to 30 mph in 5 seconds, 0 to 36 mph in 7.2 seconds, and tops out at 41.4 mph in smooth water. At all speeds, handling is as precise and instantaneous as anyone could want, with the boat responding to the slightest flick of the wheel and carving smoothly even in full-throttle, wheel-lock turns. And the boat turns flat, so no matter how hard the corner, the driver never loses sight of the horizon or oncoming traffic for safer returns to a downed skier. The handling can be fine-tuned even further thanks to Correct Craft's Tunable Rudder, which allows you to easily correct ' or increase ' the boat's pull to the left or right by rotating a small foil on the upper aft corner of the rudder blade. Just don't try making the adjustment while the engine's running.

There is one small ergonomics-related note: The stereo needs to be repositioned. Because the stereo is mounted on the gunwale right next to the helm seat, it's easy for the driver to keep hitting the on/off switch with his elbow. The problem is corrected by having the driver keep his arm atop the gunwale, which is perfectly positioned as an armrest. But every time he has to make a major throttle adjustment, off (or on) goes the stereo. A small thing, yes, but worth noting.

Aside from that minor nag, there's little about the Air 196 to interfere with the fantasy that when you're up and skiing behind this boat, you're every bit the equal of anybody on the pro tour. Okay, there's the monthly payment, which the pros don't have to make. And there's the sponsorship money. And there's not falling. And that's why it's fantasy.