nah. Its got a good deal of pop, but the landings were pretty comparable to my transcend, which I feel is decent. I rode on the lagoon though, so that might throw my judgement off...
In my opinion anyone can ride the watson, it is just a matter of if you should put on a center fin or not. I'd say that if the rider is gonna learn some surface slides then leave it off and if they are gonna work the wake then throw on a 1 inch fin and they are set.