Board sizes, fins

[MacMillions]

Hey all,

I have received some great tips so far in here for being able to get out of the water. Now I'm looking at some other basics:

How big of a board should I be riding? I am 6'2", 215lbs, size 12 shoe. The board my friend has that I use is 142. It seems to be OK to me, but as another newbie said, how would I know the difference?

Also, this board has 4 fins on it. We were wondering if they should come off or not. My friend has been practicing going back and forth from switch to regular. He feels as though the fins might be hindering his progress. Any thoughts?

Thanks again!

[Christobull]

142 is fine. What kind of board is it? I think most people leave the side fins on, but my suggestion is to leave them on till you start going wake to wake, then pull them off. If having them off set you back too much put them back on and try it again later to see if anything is different. They aren't hindering his progress, but they might be teaching him bad habits. XL bindings will usually be the size you need, the high end bindings gear more towards actual shoe size though.

[MacMillions]

Thanks again Chris. I can't remember what brand the board is, but the bindings are XL. Still a bit of a pain to get my big clodhoppers in and out, but I am getting better at selectively applying dish soap to speed up the process.

[Christobull]

Make sure it's bio-degradable soap. Gotta keep it green.