Board too big?

I am 5'10" and around 180. I am riding an Obrien Natural 144. We have been playing musical boards lately and I've ridden a bunch of different boards ( including both Slingshots) but like the Natural the best. I only wonder if I should be on a 139. Is there any real downside of a bigger board?

What wake are you riding and what is your level of riding? If it is working well, I would say to stick with it.

In my opinion, board size only becomes a big factor on small wakes and spins 720 and up.

I rode a 142 Watson all last year. I am 5-9 155lbs.

I normally ride behind an X-2 or VLX with 1500-2000lbs in either. I've got the basic grabs & 180's. Nothing special.

I understand at my level it's probably not going to make a huge difference more just curious if a board can be "too big" and what difference it would make...........

I'm the same height and weight as you Tracktor. I ride a 138 Valhalla and have ridden a 139 Natural. Gives me good pop and fine for the inverts. But I have been thinking of going up to a 143 Valhalla/144 Natural. I tried a 140 Shane once some time ago and felt it boosted me up a tad easier.

Downsides I've heard is larger swing weight, slightly heavier board weight.
Upsides would be softer landings and larger pop.

(Message edited by fbricard on May 14, 2007)

Ha, I can live with alot of "downsides" for soft landings. Thanks for the response....

i don't think too big would be an issue for you. i'm 165 and ride a 142 transcend. all of the pros are tending towards bigger boards because of the better pop and softer landings.

smaller boards=hard landings. stick with it if you like it.

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quote:

smaller boards=hard landings. stick with it if you like it.

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That maybe true for some boards but not all. I switched from a CWB Tattoo 143 to an Obrien Natural 139 and could not tell any difference in the landings. I think your technique matters more than the board will.

Im about 6' 1" and 187 so I was hesistant to ride a smaller board. Overall this board is awesome. Like Justin said just stick to what you like.

This past weekend I picked up Josh Sander's board and tried to go home with it.

I was surprised how small his board is. The thing can't be more than 3.5 feet long.


"Send Ed Down Under"

Bigger is not always better when it comes to boards. Because of my job, I ride a lot of different boards in a lot of different sizes.

I always hear "bigger boards land softer" but between sizes of the same board I can hardly tell the difference. As Pierce said - your technique plays the biggst factor, especially on the same model board.

From my experience, when a board starts to get too big, it's not usually the swing weight that tells you its too big - it's that it's harder to set a good edge on your cut to the wake, the surface area makes it harder to ollie, choppy water makes you skip across the water, etc.

From my experience, 180 lbs is probably pushing the lower weight limit on the Natural 144 - the board is wide & the tips are really wide as well. But - as has been said - if it feels right - stay with it!

(Message edited by team_o on May 16, 2007)

A smaller board with a larger bottom spine would land softer than a slightly larger board with a flat bottom if technique wasn't added into the equation.

Ed G, isn't the Vice pretty wide as well, makes up for its shorter length, similar to the LF Fish & CWB Marius.

Chris, pretty much dead on there, when my wife took out my Valhlla 138 for a try, she experienced all those things above. A lot of the advantages and disadvantages thrown around really are generalisations, and individual board + people combinations can be quite different.}

(Message edited by fbricard on May 16, 2007)