How does board size affect air?

I've got a board that according to specs is way undersized for me. I know I need to buy a new board and that different boards have different characteristics, and there's also a lot of personal preference/style involved. I was just wondering about your experiences with different board sizes and how they have affected your progression.

I'm a huge fan of big boards! I used to ride short boards (Neptune Impala 132cm, Liquid Force Super Squirt 128cm), then in '99 I switched to a Hyperlite Project (142cm) and haven't gone under 140 since. At barely 150 pounds I "shouldn't" be riding boards this big, but they feel better to me. They get more pop and are MUCH more stable when landing in the flats. I've tried riding boards in the mid to upper 130s (where I "should" be), but don't ride as well on them.

I did things in a bit of a strange order. I bought a boat (old cheap & nasty) then I bought a board and then I went wakeboarding.

I've got a surfing background and I used to go to a cable park when the surf was no good and jump on skis or skurfboards (years ago). So I was a bit of a tool and went to the ski shop without any research and said I don't want a super beginners board, give me something that's a bit more advanced. Knowing nothing about the sport I let the sales guy tell me what to buy. He suggested the LF Trip because it had good tracking etc and 2 years ago they were pretty hot.

The only problem is that I'm 190 punds and the board is only a 128 and I'm starting to come to the opinion that it's having a negative impact on my progression, sure I mightn't have my edging right but I just can't get into the flats. I've now got a proper wakeboarding boat, balast tanks etc with a good sized wake and I can go w2w consistently but I think that's more speed than pop.

I don't want to blame my equipment, I know it's not a good thing and I'm sure that there would be riders capable of doing all sorts of tricks on my board, I was just wondering about people like yourself bird that had had positive experiences by changing board size. Thanks for your input.

(Message edited by murph on September 20, 2003)

Murph, unless you've gained a LOT of weight they set you up on the wrong size board! Either they screwed you or just didn't know what they were talking about. I wouldn't put you on anything under a 135, and I'd try to talk you into a 140+. Like you said, there are people who can rip on your board, but most of them weigh about half what you do.

hm....i weigh bout 150 and i feel most confortable on the cwb platinum 134 or my hyperlite tfd 136 dna i like them both for spinning there a lil shorter i feel like i can thro it off the wake a lil faster and its just smaller so i can spin fast. longer boards they ride me to high on the water at my regular speed and so i have to slow down which i dont like to do. A lot of times it just has to do w/ what feels best to you so im not dissing the long boards there cool to. Its all about what YOU like and what YOU feel most confortable on.

my bad its the absolute platinum 134

Bird,

I'm the opposite of you. I weigh 210 lbs, and should be riding a beast of a board, but rather I prefer a shorter one, mid-high 30's. I spend most of my time on a 139, but have a 137 that I just adore. For me short is the way of the future!

Stu