All, <BR> <BR>Im looking for a cruiser board, no big tricks, etc., but one that can keep me going. The key is that i'm 240 (down from 250!). Any advice? I've been using a Ja-Mako and recently a Red Tide, but neither can quite hold me!

Congrats on the weight loss, first off. Secondly, if the Red Tide isn't doing it for you, it's not a board issue. Tell us what seems to be the problem, you can't stay with the wake? <BR> <BR>Are you able to generate slack in the rope, or are you tossing the rope rather quickly?

Cris, <BR> The 5'8" Stixxtreme is specifically built for guys your size.

Chris, <BR>I am about 265 and I started on a 6'2" board and have progressed down to a 5" Walker board. Jeff is right that the problem is more likely setup or technique than board size with the Red Tide.

At 220 pounds and a little over stock ballast I'm rideing the Red with my eyes closed. If I go full ballast I'm riding postatge stamps. <BR> <BR>What's your boat set up like, are other riders doing OK, they are smaller right?

The other guys are riding fine, but our wake is RIGHT on the back of the deck. '06 MB 230V, the left and front is full, plus extra saks in left and front, plus 6-7 people stacked on the left. How far back should the sweet spot be from the deck? Also, I am able to slack the rope fairly quickly, but lose the wake if I maneuver at all... Thanks guys!!

The size and location of the sweet spot is dependant on your hull and setup. If your too close to the boat try moving weight up front, that will lengthen the pocket. You should be able to ride say 10 feet back. If you've got a very good wake then maybe 20 feet back. <BR> <BR>We slow the boat down for beginners but that tends to make the pocket shorter and closer to the boat. If your running slow and you have an adjustable trim tab try setting the trim tab down until the wake perks up a bit. <BR> <BR>230V should be a good wakesurfing hull.

I agree with Jeff and Dennis that the Red should be big enough with the right wake and a little practice. Keep experimenting with your wake and you should be fine. On the other hand, my bro is 200+lbs and as an ocean surfer he has a great time riding his fish. It's a little over 6' and very thick and fast but he sacrifices <i>a lot</i> of quickness.

Chris -- how fast are you going? If the wake is right on the back of the deck it sounds like the boat is not going fast enough.... many of us found that there is an inverse ratio to weight and speed (see Ed's note above). not always, but often with more weight you can go a little faster, with less weight you need to go slower. Seems kind of counter intuitive, but you may find with a just little less weight the wake will clean up and be rideable as well. Try with just 3-4 people on the boat instead of 6-7 until you get the wake dialed. Case in point -- I was on the new Epic last year and we had that thing weighed down with full tanks in the back and middle with about 8 people on the back surfing corner. the wake looked horrible. but i've seen some recent fotos where they look like they have the wake dialed in a bit better. <BR> <BR>Another thing, not sure if you are doing this, but if you are tossing the rope quickly when you get up, try to hold onto it for a little while instead. Let it get some slack for some time while holding on and just continue to get the feel for staying in the pocket. <BR> <BR>Last thing -- in teaching a lot of people, I've found that when starting out, they typically don't use their front toes to lock the rail into the wake. (assuming you are riding frontside). use those toes to keep pressure on the rail to keep the board pointed towards the back of the boat rather than slightly away from the boat. once you are comfortable with that you'll be able to carve up and down the wake and keep the rail locked in just enough to not loose the wake. <BR> <BR>Here's an example of what I mean by having the rail locked in. The board is almost horizontal. I'm putting pressure on my front toes to keep the rail dug into the side of the wake. <BR><img src="http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/559019/455536.jpg" alt="Upload"> <BR>You can see I'm not the lightest dude out there... but I think I'm on the Shredd Stixx Piranha here... <BR> <BR>Anyway, I'm just throwing a bunch of ideas out there. <BR> <BR> <BR>If you have pics of you riding, post them up and we might be able to give some specific advice. <BR> <BR>Good luck!

I'll try the front toes advice, i'm sure I could improve this. <BR> <BR>I hang on to the rope until there's plenty of slack, then throw it in. So I don't think i'm too quick on that - I thought it was me dragging, but it sounds from everyone that it may be building a better wake. <BR> <BR>Looking at smedman's pic, the pocket is much farther back than ours - one guy even stepped onto the deck at then end of his ride this weekend (to give you an idea on how close we are). <BR> <BR>We'll try lightening up and/or speeding up next surf day, as well as shifting more to the bow. <BR> <BR>You guys rock, thanks a $mil for all the advice, we've got a crew of us buddies having a ball and we're all addicted!!!!

Sorry, forgot speed - we're running perfect-pass at 12.2...