Buying together as a beginner?

Hi readers,

I was wandering what kind of board I have to buy as a beginner. I figured out that boardlenght is mainly weight and skill dependent. Personally I am 70 kilo but my buddy weight 105 kilo and having different feetsize. Is it possible/wise to buy a wakeboard together, with my buddy, or is our weight difference to big and will it result in a hardlearing time for one of us?

As far as i know their are boots which are "one size fits all" is it a good alternative for us i.s.o. buying 2 boards+boots?

Another question:
I am a prety good snowboarder and Im already familair with waterskiing (Like alpine skiing, at some point in time you want to go for boarding!)
I expect a fast learning curve will it be wise to buy a beginner/intermediate board i.s.o a fullblown beginners board.


Wait, my money-box is yelling at me....
It asks how much it will cost to buy a reasonable beginners/intermediate set.


Regards,
from the Netherlands(Europe) which has the hottest summer since decades..

Andre

Is there nobody who can help me out?

Andre, you could buy a board with, for example Liquid Force MultiSuctions. These bindings you could adjust pretty easily couple of sizes. We have an extra board with these bindings if somebody new (or with big feet) is gonna join us.
As for a beginner/advanced board take a look on the internet. I've seen nice packages with LF MultiSuctions and for example LF Rythm board.
If you're buddy is above the 100Kg look at boards which are bigger then 138cm! Then it's easier to float for him ;-). These boards are heavier for you but at the other hand more stable.. So it has pro's and con's for you to share a board.

I shared my (our) board the first year of riding. After that I wanted something of my own. Expecially when you think; wakeboarding is THE sport for you.

Where are you riding in The Netherlands? I'm at Kerkdriel (the Maas).

Cheers Tommy

(Message edited by Laptom on August 11, 2003)

Well when the blody waterpolice is gone we ski nearby Hedel(familiar to you in some lake connected to the Maas. Some friends stay there during holiday.
If the police makes their round we have to take the Maas.


By the way do you know some shops in the Netherlands where skilled people are?


Thanx for your info.....
Regards,
Andre

We don't have that many problems with the waterpolice !

But I know Hedel. What lake are you meaning that's connected to the Maas? The one between the railroad and the highway A2?
We normally wakeboarding between the railroad and Kerkdriel, so you guys should be nearby! Wednesday evening we gonna be on the Maas, if you are there, drop by. We have a blue/white Barefoot Nautique with a wakeboard pole in it.

As for the shops... There is one in Amstelveen, one in Brielle (that's the CorrectCraft dealer of Benelux, Harry is the owner and a good guy. Despited he ripped us almost off this winter, by almost putting a new engine in our boat while a part of 7 euro was broken ). But he knows alot of wakeboarding!
And there is the Bol in Kerkdriel. You also can contact Duncan Zuur (Dutch champion and Liquid Force importer) or Ben at Riverside in Arhnem.
There are not that many shops around here.
Perhaps a better idea is to ride to Klagenfurt in Germany. That place is big and the prices are much better then in the Netherlands (except Duncan and Ben also have good prices for here).
We are traveling this saturday perhaps to Klagenfurt. Don't know for sure, but drop this wednesday by on the Maas!

Cheers Tommy

Yep, we were in the lake between A2 and the railroad, where the sand is acquired. It is forbidden to perform recreation, however we are allowed to transfer to and from the main ship (binnenvaart schip). It was here where we got a penalty from the police (68Euros, waterskiing).


Wednesday we are not in, friends of mine are traveling to Lisse. When we have the oppertunity to visit Hedel again i will check if i see you and drop in.



Thanx for the shop adrresses!
I visted yesterday a (little) shop in Best(Eindhoven) and wasn't confortable about the salesman and the prices he mentioned.

Regards, Andre

I know AquaBest. I'm living in Eindhoven, the idea of a shop is nice over there. But remember that the wakeboard community over here is small and so are the sales.

Checkout Germany or wait until the winter and go to Das Boot in Dusseldorf. There we bought last year a reserve board for 150,- euro with adjustable bindings.
It's an expensive sport!! Now you're talking about 500,- for a board+bindings, in 2 years you're talking about buying a 50.000,- boat . What type/color boat are you on/with?

Cheers Tommy

Well I know how it goes...
Two years ago I discoverd a new hobby called snowboarding...It was this hobby that cost me last year 5K Euro and a bunch of holidays

Well i'am willing to invest in decent equipment however i don't want to get #%#@ up.

Yeah , somehow i fall in love with expensive hobbies.... whats worng with playing chess? its much cheeper...

We have a white boat with bleu band.

Houdoe,
Andre

I would say that it depends on whether you want to just try out wakeboarding or you're going to be really serious about it. If you're just trying it out then I would agree with Tommy. If you're going to be really serious about it, you might want to just get your own board, and a really nice one, even though you're a beginner (assuming you can/want to spend the money). If you buy a not-so-nice board to share you'll want to get your own within a year. If you get your own really nice baord, then you'll probably be satisfied with it a lot longer. I'm a beginner and that's what I did. TFD DNA 136 with Highback Bindings and I LOVE it. I demoed a bunch of boards and I said "screw the budget" and bought the board that I really liked instead of settling for something that I would eventually be disappointed with.