Re: New to Wakeboards and have a couple questions
Good advice in the previous posts. My old boat was a 21' cuddy cabin with a 125 HP 4 cyl Volvo, and it pulled me (6' 200lbs) just fine. Now, weighed down with 5 other people in the boat, it took a while to get on plane....but we only had that many people once.
If you can snowboard, you can wakeboard. If you are an avid skiier/waterskiier, there's a bit of a learning curve to get over because youre feet are strapped in and pointed "the wrong way". But once you get the hang of it, boarding is way more fun than skiing. You can do more tricks on a wakeboard, and even just fooling around between the wakes is entertaining.
The issue of sizing is definitely important. Read a bit online about sizing - and keep in mind that a 6' 150 lb person needs a different board than a 6' 220 lb person.
As for boards in general, if you're looking at an older board it likely has just one center fin, and little/no "rails" or "ribs" on the bottom. Newer boards have multiple fins and rails, which make a HUGE difference as far as control when you're cutting in/out. Also, older wakeboard boots tended to be velcro and wrap affairs...not very supportive. The newer lace style boots tend to be more supportive (as long as you don't get the bottom of the line stuff), which translates into better control and response to your movements.
My first board was an old used board, along with old used bindings. I thought it was awesome, until I spent some money and bought new gear - it blew me away! What a difference. No more fighting to keep the board from nosing in, and no more sore feet.
(incidentally, check out
www.boardersmall.com. I'm not affiliated with them at all, but they have some really great prices. Subscribe to their emailing service - if you can be patient some fantastic deals come along. I've bought gear for myself, my father, and most recently my girlfriend, from them and have been happy every time).
Hope that helps,
Chris
