Over the last couple years I’ve tried a lot of different size boards to find out what works best for me. I’m 6’1″ 175-180 lbs. I’ve tried 7.75, 8, 8.25, 8.5. A shaped Creature board that was 8.0, and even a small freestyle board.

When I was a teenager just starting to skate, I always favored smaller boards, around 7.5-7.75. No real reason why. I just thought “they’re supposed to flip better, and flip tricks are cool, so I’ll get a board that flips better…” This of course didn’t take into consideration I couldn’t even do a flip trick, but hey, at least I had an idea.

Begining a couple years ago (and even when I was a teenager), I was breaking boards seemingly all the time due to just not being very good at skateboarding, and landing wrong. Weighing 175-180 lbs doesn’t help either. I was looking up skateboards that hopefully didn’t break (or weren’t supposed to) and I came across Flight boards from Powell Peralta. Doing some research, they have a couple layers of carbon fiber, so they’re even lighter than normal skateboards, and also, only a bit more money, not crazily more expensive. So I opted to get one. I loved it. I didn’t break it. It was an 8.0. From then on, all I skate(d) was/is Flight decks.

After the 8.0 wore out a bit, I decided to try a 7.75 Flight. It was ok, but I was sort of used to the 8.0. I tried an 8.25 for a while after the 7.75. I really liked the 8.25. Everyone kept telling me “You gotta go 8.5”. Since I’m a bit bigger and taller, this seemed to make sense. I mostly skate stuff like bowls and transition, so most basic knowledge says “go wider board for that.” For some reason the 8.5 didn’t feel as good as the 8.25. Maybe I was just so used to the 8.25, and the 8.25 felt “right”. I told myself “OK, the 8.25 is what my size is, that’s what I’m going to skate.”

And then I came across Andy Anderson Via NKA Vids on Youtube, and he instantly became my favorite skateboarder. Turns out, he got sponsored by Powell Peralta, and they made a Flight board for him. Now, Andy Anderson has his own shape to his board. He’s got a theory and philosophy behind his shape that makes it super unique. The other thing…he skates his board super wide. It’s a 9.1″, or something close to that. It’s hard to really say the dimension, because it’s got little “wings” and stuff. I told myself, “I need to get this board.” When Flight released it, they also released it in a 8.45″ model. I thought, maybe I’d get that one, BUT…to do it right, I had to try the 9.1″. They instantly sold out. I missed my shot for a couple months. Once they came back in stock, I bought one the first day they were back.

I had to buy new trucks to fit it (8.75″). I opted for the normal Independant trucks. I was skating mini-logo trucks for my last set, and I had some thunders before that, and some old grind kings I was skating earlier too. I’ll maybe make a truck blog review later.

So once I set my board up, it was time to hit up the park and test it.

I LOVED it. Just the wideness of it, and how it balances, I had a sick session. I was joking around with my buddy that the board had the spirit of Andy Anderson in it. I was trying some stuff I hadn’t ever tried before, and just having a sick session.

For the mini ramp I was skating it was working really well, then I switched over and skated some street stuff and it performed just as good there. Maybe it’s just the odd shape, or the fact that it’s so wide, but it seems like there’s more “give” and you don’t have to be exactly perfect a lot of the time.

I’ve skated it now for a few weeks, and I think when they come back in stock I’m going to just order like 4-5 more, and they’ll just be my go-to board. Once it wears out, I don’t want to wait a month or 2 for them to get back in stock, so it’ll be nice to have a couple just waiting.

Oh, and as far as “flippability”, I was able to land a kickflip pretty much 2nd try, and my Heelflips are just as consistent with on a 8 or a 7.75. It’s all in foot placement.