Board size question?

Just got back from our annual Tahoe trip with my boys and a group of their friends. We've always been able to get anyone up on a wakeboard and over the years have gotten a lot of people excited about the sport. This year one of the guys we tried to teach was a 6'4", 280 pound high school offensive lineman. He has size 16 feet. I rented the largest board I could find which was a 144 with 07 Murray XL OT bindings. We tried every trick in the book to get him up, and just couldn't do it. He isn't real comfortable in the water and I think a little fear had something to do with it, but he tried at least 25 times over two days and never really got close.

I'm wondering if the board just wasn't bid enough to support him. I decided when I got home to Santa Rosa I'd just rent him something bigger and try again, but I can't really find anything bigger than that. Any thoughts or ideas?

The Hyperlite era comes in a 147. But I don't think it was the board really. Hard to say with his size

I am 6'4" too and it took me more tries than most to learn how to fold my frame up in order to get up the first time. It is probably more mechanics than board size. The HL Era is made up to a 146 I think. I would do some on the shore training if he is a little apprehensive in the water. I have found that the bigger/stronger a person is, the harder they are to teach. They usually try to use their muscle to get up, in actuality, they need to let the boat do the work and just learn to lock up in the proper position. Think of it as two friends helping you up from your back versus you using your own muscles pulling against them to stand up. It's much easier to lock out and let them pull you up. For me, I have to bring my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around my legs and hold the handle. It also helps if you tell them to keep their back straight or even arched some. Looking up while they are coming out of the hole can help. How was he falling the most? Was he popping the handle? Falling over the front?

My boss was a college All-American Offensive lineman, rides an Omega 146 and has no problem getting up...it is definitely mechanics.

I personally prefer a smaller board. I am 6'3" 180 and ride a watson 138. I would go smaller, but I take pretty much everything out into the flats.

Thanks for the tips. He popped the handle a lot of times (without that much resistance really) which had me wondering about the fear factor. When he did hang on he always went out the front. We used to all ride the ERA, but the biggest I have is my 142. Maybe I can rent something here and just fake him out with the size. He is determined to try again so we'll see what happens. If I can I'll post some pics. Thanks