Purchasing a 3rd board

Florida may be the home of wakeboarding, but wakesurfing is far behind. I would like to demo a board other than a Hyperlite,LF, etc etc board, but none are available, at least as far as I can find. Anyway, if I am to purchase a board without a demo, I need some clear advice.

First of all, I have a Hyperlight Landlock and a Shred Stixx Ja Mako. I like both boards becasue I can do different things with them. The HL is cruising board that i can cross over more easily and ride one side of my wake and then cross to the other side and back again. The SS is FAST and is fun to come out of the water and side slide and manuver around. I use both boards with friends and we ride doubles too. (my boat is an 02 Tige 22 IR wiht custom sacs i the rear lockers and an under seat bow sac.)

What I think I want is skim style board. Something to try 360's shove its and maybe 180 and ride switch. I am 55 yrs young and weigh 185. The board is going to be for me, but others will ride it too.

Your thoughts and comments will be appreciated.

Hey Dennis, tell me something. The Tige DD's take a bit of weight to develop a BIG wake and the one comment makes me wonder what size you've got:

"ride one side of my wake and then cross to the other side and back again"

Typically with a BIG wake, the pocket on the opposite is completely washy or just really small.

With a skim style board, you'll need to step up the size if you are in a small wake.

There are a relatively small number of skim style boards available commercially:

IS 4Skim
Calibrated
Phase 5
Walzer Skim Pro
Trick Boardz
LF Custom (I would consider this skim'ish)
Victoria has a wakesurfer
Surftech Rousch (eventually)

are the market leaders.

With the wake size nailed down we can give you size recommendations.

Are you really going to try shuv's at 55? Never too old! You rock Bro!

Hey Jeff,
Would you consider the Walker Composite X 4.5 a skimish board also?

I would consider my wake to be medium in height. It is above my knees generally. This past weekend was the first time I was able to get a pretty long pocket with a more vertical roster tail. Most often the tail is mellow and this allows me to cross over it and then back again.

The boat is weighted with 450 lbs in each locker and probably around 400 in front. I have 250 lbs of moveable lead shot weight in 1 gal gas cans that i shift from side to side, since I have a variety of riders, left or right foot forward, going with me. The nice thing is that my boat sets up nicely on either side. I once rode behind a Centurian and the wake was to my waist and intimidating at first.

You are as old as you feel and I feel pretty young. I start out most days on the water with two sessions of wakeboarding and then switch to surfing. On occasion I slip on a slolum ski for a couple runs, though I am terrible at it.

BK, as I mentioned on the phone, I'd like to see Mike configure the Comp X 4.5 as a thruster, such that the two C-5's could be removed and you'd have a TRUE skim style board. I think that would make an excellent price point model: thruster, twin or single. All for one low price.

Dennis, I think you could go with models from any of the manufacturers above. You'd probably want to stick with the larger models. For example P5 Prop, Calibrated's largest Telum or Lovett, etc.

The single-fin/twin-fin "thruster hybrid" design is already an option on Walzer boards. This is what I've been riding the last several months.



(Message edited by caskimmer on June 23, 2007)

Hey Sean, when did you guys start offering that? Yeah, to me, this makes this most sense for that outline. If you want a single trailing fin, just pop the C5's out. I like that concept and to me, makes far more sense than buying say a Phase 5 Prop AND a separate twin fin like the WP Comp x 4.5 or Calibrated Piscus.

It's only recently became an option but I've been playing around with one since April. I believe I hinted about it to you at the time.

Really? I don't remember it - it's a great idea, the old Awake Stealth and of course the Big 3's have offered it on their boards. It makes a great deal of sense for folks that TRULY ride skim and enjoy riding a more traditional surf feel. Great option - Walzer's are always innovative. I like the new logo too, did you design that?