Newbie with full of passion but need help in board choice.

SEBASS · Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

So over the weekend my bud took me first time wakeboarding and wow.
I'm in love. I got out of water on 5th try and was doing very well for first try. I'm coming from water skiing and regular winter skiing background.
I've looked at the sticky but too many boards to choose from and most of them don't appeal to me.

If you guys can guide me what board, binding and links i should be looking at to get better, much better. Any guides or videos that could help me would be great.

So far I'm good in getting out of water. Can do carving. Go to side from side but, not too good with controlled by me turns. Not looking to do jumps yet basically. LOL. However I'm aggressive learner so once i learn something i like to get up to speed fast. I need board i won't outgrow either.

I was learning on liquid force stance 138.

Boards that appeal to me are 98 O’Brien Valhalla and 08 O’Brien Vice....so far. I'm referring to shape more then anything else. Would those be good choice for me? If not then which ones? Also i have no idea if to look at wide boards with fins or skinnier once without fins. Don't know what's the difference. And i don't think i will be looking at current year boards as they seem to be on expensive side and not sure i can take advantage of differences of feature unless they are big. Need to be schooled!!! lol

pet575 · Posted: Jun 03, 2009 7:51 am Post subject:

How big are you? Height/weight? How old are you?

I'm not a board expert, so I'll let someone else handle that.

Video/DVD- I own, and am a big believer in, "The Book: Volume 2." There are other good ones out there, but that is the one I know from personal experience.

Fins v. no fins- fins will help you learn because they will stabilize the board some. But, they will also hold you back because you won't be forced to really use the edges of the board like you should with fins. So, whatever you get should at least have a removable center fin. Mine has the option to remove all fins, but many boards have a pair of molded fins that are near the corners of the board. These will be fine too.

SEBASS · Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

I'm ~175lbs, 5 10' and in my 30's.

I was also looking into liquid force watson and shane but i guess that's out of my legue?

dalderman · Soul Rider Joined: 08 Aug 2008 Posts: 356 City: Carlsbad

My first board was a LF PS3. It's got a pretty mellow rocker so you won't get booted straight up. I was sold on the rounded off edges that are pretty foregiving in case you catch one and makes it easy to learn surface spins.

SEBASS · Newbie Joined: 02 Jun 2009 Posts: 3

Thank u bud. I just started to watch "the book" and so far so good.
Not bad. They go kind of quick but there is a lot of material to cover and it's not boring.

I'm thinking of LF watson and shane or ronix vault or cwb kink.
O8 watson looks much better to me and it's probably cheaper but i can't find it anywhere used, besides brand new. Any site besides ebay and buzzillion and wakeside that sell used boards. I would love to buy it used with bindings already to save.

Also do those comp NCGA vests float you in the water and how come they're not approved? What does that mean that one would get a ticket on the water if seen in one?