Need a new wakeboard

Growing up, my brother was always the wakeboarder, and I stuck to slalom skiing and kneeboarding. When my brother would buy a new wakeboard, he\'d give me his old one, which I\'d ride and mess around with. Now, I\'m a little more serious about wakeboarding, and so is my wife and our friends. Right now, I have an old WakeTech Flight 69 board, and I am looking to replace it. Any suggestions from ya\'ll? I need a board that is a fairly good intermediate board, because I want my wife to be able to use it, and I want my friends who have never wakebaorded before to be able to get up on it, but I also want it to be able to handle what I am going to want to do with it as I advance as a wakeboarder. My current board is real narrow, and my wife and friends have a heck of a time trying to get up on it. My brother has a Byerly editon Hyperlite, which he loves and I like to ride on ocassionally...but I\'m looking for something that everyone can ride. Any ideas?

I have a Hyperlite 3DS that I just took out for the first time last weekend and its an intermediate/advanced board that is pretty forgiving. The landings seem softer than my old board (Hyperlite Twin BAFF) especially in the flats. I bought it for a song on eBay over the winter. You might check there first. Good luck

The O'brien Ambush is a good board for beginner to intermediate skill levels. It's not that expensive, but it does have nice traits.

One size does not fit all. You want to get a board that will handle your weight range. Light riders will use a 131-135 up to 170 lbs. Over 170 you are looking at a 138-143 board.
Wakeworld.com has a board wizard that may help you decide.
My son rides on a CWB Absolute Platinum 135 with Zeus bindings and I use a CWB Prodigy 140. Both boards ride very well.

Good point wakemaster. I hadn't even thought about the weight range. I am about 190, my wife is a lot less, so that will make a difference. Guess I am trying to get out of this deal not spending 800 dollars for 2 boards, 2 sets of bindings, etc. Thanks!

I ride two different boards a 133 and 135. I weigh in at 165lbs as well. As for bindings go i tried 5 or six pairs before i found the ones i like. I have the 04 liquid force exos and 04 parks. The boards are 03 133 Parks DNA and 04 Absolute Prodigy. Like wakemaster said find a board that fits your riding style, to do this many board shops will have demo boards that will allow you to try different boards without buying them. Check into your local shop.......good luck

If you have a local board shop give them a call, they will most likely let you try a number of board/binding combinations prior to actually purchasing them which is key in finding what works for you. You could look to see if any of the traveling wakeboard shows (mission 2 ride etc) come to your area. They will have boards/bindings that you can try for free.
The key is finding something your are comfortable with, I have big feet but really small ankles so it took me a while to find binding that were large enough that I could still tighten enough around the ankles so they wouldn't fall off when I land on my head.