Big Stance and Big Fins

[rank_amateur]

Hey,
I've just taken up wakeboarding (been 4 times now) and have a couple of questions I'd like help with. I enjoyed it so much the first time that I went out, did a bit of digging for information and decided to buy a 2005 Hyperlite Motive 140 package. I set it up with the bindings similar to how I have them on my snowboard (been doing that for eleven years) but when I got to the lake for my second try, the guy told me to set them much further apart. Its feels unaturally wide now so bending my knees much doesn't feel right. Should they be set up wider than my snowboard stance or should I put them back to how I felt comfortable ? Which is usual?
Also the guy told me I should cut the standard bolt-on centre fins down to about half the size. The board he lent me for my first lesson (I think it was a JStar) didn't have centre fins at all and I had no trouble with that so I'm not really sure what difference it will make. Any ideas?
Thanks.

[DBJTS]

General rule of thumb is to set your bindings at shoulder width and slightly duck footed. Jump off a chair and wherever your feet land that’s where your bindings should be.
I’m not a big fan of the centre fin, its like having stabilisers on your bike when learning and then leaving them on whilst competing in the Tour De France.
If you can manage without them I’d take them off.

[Rocket_rob]

The advantage of wide stance is edging, you can dig a much harder edge if you have a wider stance. However since you are just learning a shoulder width stance will be ok untill you get to the point of edging hard for large jumps. If you are riding cable go for wide stance stright away as to do anything on cable you need to edge hard i.e. Railie's.

As for the Fins thats a hole new can of worms, mordern boards don't realy need fins. Once you are stabe on the board take them off, your fins will get ripped of the first time you hit an kicker/slider anyway.

[rank_amateur]

Thanks for the tips. I've got a set booked on Sunday so I'll leave the stance wide and whip the fins off. I'll let you know if I break myself in half ;-). Cheers