[snwbrd]

Just recently started riding park again and I'm hooked so looking for a wake skate to get around on. I may ride behind a boat if I can make some friends however at the moment its going to be purely park. I have been out of the sport for a while so I am pretty clueless on how things have progressed over the years so really just looking for some guidance on what some more experienced riders think.

I highly doubt I am going to be doing jumps or rails I just like playing around on the wake skate and was looking for something a little more stable than the hire skate I have been riding at the park which has no fins and is loose as hell.

I guess the general things I am a little unsure of are deck surface and length, I am pretty sure I ride a 137 wake board back in the day and I assume a slightly longer skate is going to be a little more stable... The hire boards had regular deck grip but I remember riding a mates skate which had a rubbery deck. Not sure if there are any advantages / disadvantages? Id probably prefer riding barefoot as I don't think I am cool enough to wear shoes in the water.

Liquid Force Reflex - The marketing blurb says its 'forgiving' which sounds pretty good to me
Ronix Boomstick - This looks pretty cool, people say its heavy but very stable. I was curious if anyone had any experience on them as I thought this may be a good option for me..

Anyhow good to be back on the water and if anyone can give me some guidance let me know! thanks.

[will]

Welcome back! Skating at the park is a different experience depending on the amount of chop you get. The deck I love behind the boat rides terribly @ cable so I reckon try as many as you can. At your stage, there's certainly nothing wrong with riding the foam deck! You may want to go to the grip tape & shoe stage down the track but foam is nice because you get less sandpaper grazes when you fall off. Shoes are great as a protective covering however and you will probably want to go that track if you start hitting smaller obstacles. I bought a cheap pair of sneaker for 13 bucks @ big w and they're perfect. Size is again subjective, but if you can, try try try! Let us know how you go!

[snwbrd]

Thanks mate.

The nice thing about wake skates is they are not that expensive so if I really hate what I buy I can probably ditch it and get something else.

I just came across the Ronix Electric Collective which has a Hybrid Rocker and I am now trying to figure out what that means Its got a cool picture on it of a bear and a fish so that may well be a reason to buy it haha. I have been reading a bit and thinking I may need to man up and wear some shoes, seems there is a decent advantage to doing so.

[snwbrd]

I am a bit limited on what I can get over here so had to get one shipped from the US. Ended up choosing the Liquid Force Reflex as I was able to get it shipped at a reasonable price and it seems to be a suitable board for a chump like me.

http://www.liquidforce.com/int/wakeskates-reflex.html

Hopefully it arrives before the weekend so I can try it out. I'm headed to the UK soon so if I don't like it I reckon I might pick up the Ronix Electric Collective which I really wanted but could not find anyone that would ship here at a reasonable price...

[will]

I'm a big fan of the reflex! It's a forgiving skate that's lots of fun.