Inland surfer 5'6" vs. Landlock

I know that people love to come on here and hype up whatever they happen to ride, oftern without adequate knowledge of the alternatives, so that is not necessarily what I am looking for. Specifically, I would like to hear from people who have tried BOTH the I.S. and the L.L. and can offer some comparison/contrast. I've only wakesurfed twice, but I thought it was a blast! I guess it was pretty easy to pick up, but I had a good driver and I'm familiar with ocean wave surfing. I was on the Landlock and I thought it worked fine. As I consider a purchase, I am interested in whether the I.S. might offer anything more, and what? Also, I enjoyed talking to the Shred Stixx designer at the NorCal boat show, and I like the looks of his product and his philsophy, but I am wondering what performance gains might justify the added cost of his boards. (note: I am not wealthy) Thanks!!

I have the landlock and have ridden the IS. If you are just starting to ride, the IS will be easier. It rides more like a surfboard and it is easier to ride without the handle. It is also not as touchy and you don't have to concentrate on your weight distribution on the board as much. The Landlock is definitley a little sketchier. It is not as bouyant so it doesn't plane out as easily. It does carve better though. I don't know how much you weigh but if you are near 200lbs or more, I think the Landlock is too small (The water will break about 6 in below the nose). I have heard a lot of good things about the Fish Stixx and am looking into getting one of those or a IS Chubby.

BTW I own a Landlock

It all depends on what you wnat to do! If your just happy fartin around and glad that you didn't fall the landlock seems like the board for you, but if your gonna rip it up and want to challenge yourself your gonna need something more custom. Like a shred stixx board or custom deck from "A" wakesurf boards. The guy that owns and shapes "A" wakesurfboards won second place in the amatuer wakesurfing contest last weekend. He really loves the sport of surfing and wakeboarding and his designs reflect that.

Thanks, fellas, we're off to a good start. C.L. says that the landlock carves better, so that sounds like it might be a vote for the L.L. in my book. S.D., I appreciate your point of view. I've competed for years as an advanced level wakeboarder and I've surfed Costa Rica and Hawaii, so although I've only wakesurfed twice so far, "just fartin around and glad that I didn't fall" is definitely not the highest level that I aspire to as I consider a purchase. I've read many on Wakeworld express their opinions that a custom board is better, but given my lack of experience, I am just looking for somebody to explain the reasons why and provide some detail based on their experiences. No disrespect to HL, but the best reason I've got so far to justify a custom board is simply the fact that I like supporting innovative grass roots businesses and people, a perfect example is the Shred Stixx guy who I know was doing this way before it was cool or commercially viable. I'm glad the world caught up with him, but given my current state of poverty, I need to know more about the performance characteristics before I decide if it is worth the extra $150 or more. Again, I appreciate everyone's points of view, and much respect.
Anybody else?

It all depends on what you are looking for! Here is a list of board companies and the style there best suited for. I have road all of them and they all stack up.

Surf style:
Surftech: Softops 5’6” Fish and 6’0” Swallow (Very durable and fast on the wake)
Shred Stixx 6’0” Fish Stixx (Damn Good)
Inland Surfer All models (Very durable and easy to ride)
Spun Surfboards Switch series original (hard to find because there from Australia but if you can get one you wont be disappointed)


Surf-Skate-Skim style:
Inland Surfer Red Chubby (Very easy to ride for a skim style board)
Surftech SofTops Trickster (Turns great with great edge control)
Trick Boardz Twin Tip (The most advance board on the market)
Phase 5 Prop (This is the board that Drew Danielo kicked everyone’s ass on at the World Championships, enough said)
Victoria Skimboards Ultra/Poly (Bill Bryan can make these boards do things you cant imagine, but you may want to put a fin on yours)

I suggest you ride a few; maybe you local dealers should put on a demo day! Ask them it can’t hurt.

Blaine:

Do you have any input on Surftech epoxy boards. I was headed down the path of a softop, but the shop talked me into an epoxy 6'-0" fish. More $, but they said there is no comparison in speed. It arrives next week, so I'll let you know.

I had the opportunity to talk with Randy French and the boys at SurfTech. I was told the Softops were the same boards as the epoxy boards just skinned with the urethane foam decks. I have and ride a 5’6” SofTops fish and it has good speed behind the boat, but I have to believe that the foam on the rails probably creates some additional drag, but not much. I can tell you that Heath Braddock ripped on the epoxy 6'-0" fish at the competition, so I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Plus if you decide to take it to the beach for some serious surf sessions you wont have the local gooks looking at you like your some ho-dad beanbag beginner. I do plan on getting a SurfTech epoxy 6’6” fish for my surf trips to the beach. I think you made a good choice so have a blast! I hope to see you at next year’s competition.

(Message edited by Bad_boy on June 20, 2003)

Thanks, again, everybody for the input.
I did get to ride the I.S. Blue Room the weekend at Mike Schwenne's camp, and I did prefer it to the Landlock for several reasons, more floaty, easier to stay on a plane, less work to get out of trouble, and the fact that it was slightly less edgy than the Landlock did not really bother me. It also could be that Mike's sicko huge wake also had something to do with it. Also, I'll attest to the durability of the Inland Surfer. My buddy (first timer) leaned too far back and ejected the board straight into the back of the boat like a rocket. The Blue Room bounced out like a champ. I guess I'll just try to demo as many different brands as possible.