First, thanks for all the great help on this forum. Since I found it a while ago, I've been lurking and got some great pointers!
I'm 5'8 and 195 and 40 yo. We ride behind a 2012 SAN 226. I use factory ballast full on port and belly. We plumbed in an additional 600 in both lockers and fill the appropriate one (depending on goofy or regular). We also have a 750 lb sack on the floor all the way against the rear seat. So, when riding, we typically have 2000 lbs +/- with one adult and two children riders. At 10.5 MPH this gives us a very tall and clean curl though it's not as long as I would like. I ride a LF Noserider 5'2".
My kids wakeboard (11 and 8) and I have a skateboarding background. Of the wakeboard, skate, and surfboard, I picked up surfing first. I am also beginning to pick up boarding and skating (the cable park has definitely helped).
I've been riding about 2 months about 1.5x per week. It took me forever to go ropeless. The key was putting pressure on my front big toe. I can carve pretty hard with all three fins on the LF board and even got a little air the other day. No problem going from the top of the wake back down, but I've been unable to break the fins loose for a surface spin (not surprising). I'm going to take the outer two fins off this week and see how it goes.
I now realize that this board will limit me in the future and may be limiting me now. It's a ton of fun, especially for beginning, and I don't regret purchasing it, but I'm not sure where to go next. So far, I really enjoy the surf-style board, but have no other point of reference. I've ridden the Ronix Marshmellow Thrasher and the Ronix Longboard. I didn't feel like either of those were a significant enough upgrade over my board to justify changing.
I definitely want a surf-style board and a skim board going into next season. So, should I ditch the LF and get a better surf-style board first or pick up a decent skim board and stick with the LF until I exhaust it? How limited am I with the nose rider or, rather, is there a better surf style that will make a noticeable difference in performance? If not, what is a good skim board to start out with that I can grow into for a couple of years? I'd really like to stay under $800 and the less the better. Thanks in advance.
Patrick
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