Paddle board free all day on May 1 at Soap Lake

SOAP LAKE — If you’ve ever wanted to try stand up paddle boarding, then you may want to mark May 1 on your calendar.

Columbia Basin Standup Paddle Boarding, a new business owned by Mindy Miksch of Ephrata, will be at the Lake from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. offering free rides. Even basic instruction for beginners will be free.

“It will be a free SUP demo day,” Miksch said.

Normally Miksch will charge $25 per hour for the use of a board. Lessons (1.5 hours) will cost $45.

Miksch’s new business grew out of a passion she has developed for the sport. But the passion didn’t come right away.

The first time Miksch tried paddle boarding was on Whiskey Lake in northern California in 2012.

“I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t think much of it,” she said.

Last summer, Miksch noted the sport was starting to catch on in the Basin. She bought her first board and started training herself on Banks Lake.

“I grew up with my four siblings and a single mom around Banks Lake (Coulee City),” she said. “We did a lot hiking and exploring around the lake. We were poor. So we didn’t have the means to enjoy the water from the water.”

Miksch had has been on the water so much since the purchase that there has been a positive change in her body. Planning for her attempt at business, she has acquired 13 more boards.

“I haven’t lost weight, but I’m all muscle now,” she said. “Carrying those boards (35-40 pounds) and paddling is a workout.”

Whereas most new business owners look for a building, Miksch is seeking a 16-foot trailer. Hers will be a mobile business. Besides the boards and paddles, Miksch’s tools will be a pickup, a cell phone and a trailer.

This is Miksch’s first attempt at business, but she has already made one brilliant move. She called a man she chatted with during stopover at SeaTac four years ago.

It was just a chance meeting, but this Ian Jacobson mentioned that he had a SUP business in Chicago, on Lake Michigan. She sent a Facebook message asking if he even remembered her and telling what she had in mind.

“He called me within five minutes,” she said.

Jacobson was the right man to call. His business, Chicago SUP has grown to the hundreds of boards. He allowed her to pick his brain.

According to Miksch, Grant County is home to more than 140 lakes and is a popular destination for outdoor recreation.

“From the tip of Banks Lake to the belly of the Potholes Reservoir we have personally scouted and paddled the finest SUP locations,” she said.

Some of them are Soap Lake, Blue Lake, Sun Lakes, Deep Lake, Banks Lake, Billy Clapp Lake, Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir.

Miksch plans to center her Columbia Basin SUP at Soap Lake Monday through Friday, but on weekends she’ll go to where people will be, even the river.

“If there is a festival having to do with water anywhere in the county, that’s where I’ll be,” she said.