board advice: 06 LF Watson 138

[wakeywakey]

i haven't been riding for quite some time now but i'm planning to get a new board and start riding again. How does the LF Watson ride? I used to ride an 03 byerly 137 and an 04 RickyG 138. How does the Watson ride compared to these boards? What kind of ride should I expect from the Watson. I won't be able to demo in my country so all the feedback I can get will be of great help. Thank you.

[RufioSwashbuckle]

wakeywakey, I rode the Byerly last year, then went to an Obrien Vision 140, which was huge. I just recently downsized and upgraded to the Watson 138 and I must say that I love it. When you have the center fins in, itl ride just a wee bit looser than the Byerly without the P-Wing fins. That being said, once you slap fins on the Byerly it'll ride real tight, way too tight for my taste. With fins in the Watson you can hold a pretty hard, into the flats edge. I just took my fins out yesterday and I was still able to hold a really tight edge, but do surface spins like nobody's business also. The Watson edge is really rounded off, not as much as the PS3, but still enough to where I dont worry about catching my toeside edge. One problem I had with my Byerly was that I couldnt do surface tricks for the life of me because it was on edge ALL THE TIME... As for pop, well...its got a bunch, but as with every board the amount of pop will vary with the rider. Some of my friends pop straight up and down, while I tend to fly out into the flats. If you're a wake to wake rider, landing will be easy. I take some pretty hard landings in the flats, but once you learn to let your knees and thighs absorb all the impact that shock/strain factor will be reduced by quite a bit...The overall shape of the board is pretty wide. Im really diggin the wider tip and tail. It adds surface area for pop and makes coming down from sloppy spins easier, at least thats what I attribute to it...
Dang, I have a tendancy to ramble...Anyways, I love my board and havent found one that I like better amongst some of the other LF and Hype boards. As far as the graphics go, plaid is in, its classy, it has withstood the test of time from the very day our forefathers stepped foot on this great country of ours and shall forever be fashionable and not to mention sexy on the ladies... Screw all the old tribal "woo Billy Badass wakeboarding" crap...Its ugly.

[wakeywakey]

Rufio... many thanks... you pretty much made it clear to me with the comparison to the byerly... i was looking for something a little bit looser than the byerly finless.. looks like this is it... i like the plaid graphic too... i'm a gettin a watson tomorrow! thanks again rufio!

[RufioSwashbuckle]

wakeywakey, no problem!