Mwa ha ha ha! I sent my parents and brother to Marine Products and then asked for their feedback. For the record: they were shopping for a surf board and no one in my family had every tried wake surfing before so they were true neophytes.

The store was busy (a good sign). The sales guy who was helping them (I didn’t get a name, sorry) was helping several different people at the same time, but my family still felt taken care of. It’s an admirable salesman who can juggle multiple customers without making them feel unimportant. The guy helping them suggested a board he felt beginners could use but that we wouldn’t outgrow too quickly.

[Ha! We'll never outgrow this board seeing as how my dad was the only one who managed to get up on it. But I'll get to that in a bit.]

There is a possibility that perhaps the guy steered my family away from the dirt-cheapest option. Perhaps to increase his commission, perhaps because dirt-cheap is never the highest quality. We really don’t know and we really don’t care. Bottom line: we felt like we got good advice and a good product at a good price.

*To those of you considering making a how-to DVD: it is not helpful to watch a professional get up effortlessly. Inspiring, yes. But not helpful. What would be helpful would be watching a professional teach a beginner. A brand-spanking new beginner. I would like to see a more realistic version of what learning entails. Also, there are probably some details to getting up that you seasoned athletes are forgetting. Showing a beginner would help cover those.

[Remember how I said my dad was the only one who got up? Yeah, wake surfing is harder than the 3-minute DVD made it look. And I think my dad got up because he's an athlete. They guy did 3 triathlons last summer. As a regular gal, I struggled.]

Also, I would appreciate a section in how-to DVDs where the seasoned professional coaches a driver who is new to driving for the sport with and without someone behind the boat. That would be a helpful detail that would put your instructional DVD above and beyond the competition.

If you need a beginner for your DVD I hereby volunteer myself. And I may have family (spies) interested as well.