O’Brien and Randy Harris came together perfectly on this board in their efforts to design a finless board that feels great on the water and rides with a snowboard feel. The board is simple yet effective with great pop off of the wake and excellent release from the wake. The molded fins are perfectly placed to help you when you need it, but do not get in your way. The loose feel of the board is great to help you learn the progressive edging technique that every instructional talks about.
Size
The 2002 Harris series comes in 141 cm and 137 cm sizes. The 2.4 in of three stage rocker and 2.6 in on the 141 will deliver a clean, smooth pop off of the wake without a bucking feel. The 141 is 16.4 in wide midway through and 10.4 in wide at the tip and tail. The 137 is 16.2 in wide in the middle and 9.02 in wide at both ends. The very outer binding settings give a little wider stance option than most boards, which adds to the snowboard like ride.
Shape
The shape of the Harris series is similar to Randy’s boards in the past. Randy seems to like a board that is slightly wide in the middle with a unique tip and tail design. The exciting part of this board is the molded fins and how they flow out past the end of the board extending the tip and tail a few centimeters. This allows for a free feeling ride, but also allows the rider to turn on the gas when they need to. This is a true “finless” board. By that we mean that there are no pre drilled holes for fins to attach. Randy Harris was one of the first to design a molded fin board and is a firm believer in the molded fin. The board is only available in a foam core in both the 137cm and 141cm.
Graphics
Randy really put a lot of thought into his graphics on both the 137 and the 141. The graphics tell a story about the man himself. He also has a picture of himself on both models. The 137 has Randy looking up at a big tree on the top with an ax in his hand as if he is going to cut it down. The bottom is the tree after he cut it down and the ax is still stuck in it.
The 141 has a great graphic on it that we all should take a look at. The top has a picture of Randy with his back turned looking up at a scale. On one side of the scale is a heart and the other side is loaded with stacks of money. Although the money is stacked a lot higher than the heart, the heart is still out weighing it and is tipping the scale over. The bottom has a picture of Randy’s hand holding the heart on one side and the scale on the other side with the money flying off of it. In other words, he chose the heart over the money. There is also a big great looking O’Brien logo in the middle of the board. I particularly liked the graphic on the 141.
The Ride
I was able to take the Harris 141 out on the water for a test ride. The first thing I noticed was the straight up pop that I was generating on this board. Not only did I notice the feeling of it, but the spectators in the boat were also noticing it. It was a straight up pop, but did not buck me over the front of the board. The board felt very comfortable coming off of the wake and the landings are very smooth. Landing wake to wake or out in the flats are both really soft. The molded fins will help a little on a sketchy landing, but don’t expect them to keep you from looking goofy if you are not use to riding a finless board. The loose feeling of the board is awesome if you like that kind of a ride. They do not correct you as traditional fins do, so this board practically forces you to learn how to edge correctly and progressively into the wake. The board was great on spins as well as inverts. The straight up pop of the board made regular and off axis spins feel big and floaty and the same on inverts.
Rating
The Harris 141 is a very exciting board to ride and is great for riders looking for a loose feeling with plenty of freedom on the water. We would not recommend this board for beginners because it is so free on the water, but you do not have to be a pro to ride it. It has great pop off of the wake and is excellent for spinning. Landings are soft and smooth and the graphics are killer. It is hard to get a perfect score on a review, but O’Brien and Harris were pretty close on this board. We give this board 4.75 out of 5 stars. The only thing we did not like about this board was that the holes for the biding screws were too shallow. Other than that, this board blew us away.
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The shape of the Harris series is similar to Randy’s boards in the past. Randy seems to like a board that is slightly wide in the middle with a unique tip and tail design. The exciting part of this board is the molded fins and how they flow out past the end of the board extending the tip and tail a few centimeters. This allows for a free feeling ride, but also allows the rider to turn on the gas when they need to. This is a true “finless” board. By that we mean that there are no pre drilled holes for fins to attach. Randy Harris was one of the first to design a molded fin board and is a firm believer in the molded fin. The board is only available in a foam core in both the 137cm and 141cm.
I was able to take the Harris 141 out on the water for a test ride. The first thing I noticed was the straight up pop that I was generating on this board. Not only did I notice the feeling of it, but the spectators in the boat were also noticing it. It was a straight up pop, but did not buck me over the front of the board. The board felt very comfortable coming off of the wake and the landings are very smooth. Landing wake to wake or out in the flats are both really soft. The molded fins will help a little on a sketchy landing, but don’t expect them to keep you from looking goofy if you are not use to riding a finless board. The loose feeling of the board is awesome if you like that kind of a ride. They do not correct you as traditional fins do, so this board practically forces you to learn how to edge correctly and progressively into the wake. The board was great on spins as well as inverts. The straight up pop of the board made regular and off axis spins feel big and floaty and the same on inverts.
