My husband and I just upgraded from a 17 foot Ranger to Nitro Z-9. Although my husband has always driven our boats, I'm new to the game. I absolutely love to bass fish but being a passenger has its limits for me. I'm recovering from neck and lower back injuries from last year (got rear ended in my truck not once but twice), anyway, we upgraded for a better boat for 2 reasons. 1 - The most obvious, who wouldn't upgrade from an '86 Ranger to a '15 Nitro Z-9? 2 - A bigger boat should ride better in lakes for my pain issues. My question is with our Z-9, is it better to ride the waves or cut into them? I don't care about getting wet or sprayed, I care about slamming down on a wave and feeling like my spine just snapped in two.