Hi All,

My background: I ride about 10 days a year. I've been riding for five
year at this pace, and I've been an intermediate freerider almost the
whole time. I like powder and groomers the best, park and bumps the
least. For four years I've had a Burton Supermodel 62. This past May
at Mammoth I was having the best boarding day of my life, relaxed and
despite the icy conditions and everything was flowing. But I got
tired and started boarding with my legs too straight. Then I swerved
to avoid a skier and got launched over a bump, and tumbled. I
dislocated my right shoulder and subluxated my left shoulder (like a
partial discloation). This crash cost me $1000 in doctor/hospital
costs and also was a huge bummer to recover from.

Now I still want to board, but would like to take it easy. If I crash
hard and stick my arms out to break the fall, I'll dislocate again and
maybe need surgery. So I don't want to get high speeds. I just want
to have fun cruising the groomers making carves at slow speeds (if
that's possible), and enjoying the pow.

My question: I've had my eye on a Donek Wide 161 for a while. I'm
5"10, 175 with size 10 (sometimes 10.5) feet. I figured the 161 would
float me better in pow, even if I could get away with an Incline. I'd
be going from a very noodly board to a super stiff board. Will it be
the wrong board for what I want to do? Will it still be fun to ride
more slowly? I don't want a board mismatch.

Thanks for any opinions!

Johnny