Good board for transitioning to shortboarding?

[beginnersurfer518]

So straight off, I'm a bigger guy. 5'9 230 lbs. I'm in decent shape, have strong shoulders, and decent cardio capacity but my weight definitely is a big factor in the boards I can surf. I'm not obese or anything, I just lift weights.

Right now, I have a 9'6 hybrid longboard and am demo'ing a 7'6 mini-mal type board with 60 liters of volume that I love. I'll have to give it back soon but I want something similar but with maybe more performance oriented.

I was looking a the Lost Crowd killer 8'0. It's basically a performance mid-length.

I'll also need even more volume this winter with my 6/4 wetsuit, booties, and gloves dragging me even further down.

What do you think about this board? Could it be suitable for me? https://lostsurfboards.net/surfboards/crowd-killer/

Kind of had my eye on it for a while now.

I live on Long Island NY, here on the East Coast. The log I have is great for most days we get here but with us starting hurricane season and winter swells on the horizon, I think it might be sensible to have something shorter in the quiver I can take out on those days, while still being suitable for smaller days as well.

Also, only 1 year of surfing under my belt. Started last summer, surfed through the winter. But had pretty bad arthritis in my left shoulder so that pretty much prevented me from having any type of good session over an hour long without severe pain restricting my paddling ability. I just had surgery on it 2 months ago and it already feels miles better. And I can feel my skill progressing faster than ever before because now I can actually paddle like a normal person.

[jaffa1949]

Hey, you are jumping all around the shop with board choice and awareness of your shoulder injury recovery.
The harder the paddling the harder it is going to be for your shoulder to recover, two months out from the surgery and it was mentioned to you that up to,a year could be likely.
Injure your shoulder again, recovery will so much harder..
You are looking for performance + paddling power, performance is your skills, paddling power is the board.
You will get neither at your weight by going short, just serious risk to your shoulder integrity, along with a lot less waves, and more difficult take offs if you manage to catch them.

Believe me performance is right up,there if you have a longer board when you can perform.
Most risk for you beyond paddling is turtle roll on a long board.

I weigh 210 at 5‘ 10‘‘ very experienced but everything in my performance drop away when I go shorter!
Don’t get paralysis by analysis, look at what will really work for you

[beginnersurfer518]

Hey, you are jumping all around the shop with board choice and awareness of your shoulder injury recovery.
The harder the paddling the harder it is going to be for your shoulder to recover, two months out from the surgery and it was mentioned to you that up to,a year could be likely.
Injure your shoulder again, recovery will so much harder..
You are looking for performance + paddling power, performance is your skills, paddling power is the board.
You will get neither at your weight by going short, just serious risk to your shoulder integrity, along with a lot less waves, and more difficult take offs if you manage to catch them.

Believe me performance is right up,there if you have a longer board when you can perform.
Most risk for you beyond paddling is turtle roll on a long board.

I weigh 210 at 5‘ 10‘‘ very experienced but everything in my performance drop away when I go shorter!
Don’t get paralysis by analysis, look at what will really work for you

okay so yes I did mention that I read that it could take up to a year to fully recover, my surgeon said at 3 months is when I will start feeling an improvement. 3 months will be September 14th and it's August 30th today. And it's already feeling miles better than it was so I'm ahead of the curve here in terms of recovery.
It also was not a major surgery. It was done by key-hole and there were no repairs. He just went in and "cleaned" the area up and shaved up a few mm of bones off my AC joint. There's nothing I could mess up or set me back. This is according to my surgeon and the physical therapist I was seeing. And it wasn't really an injury. I think it was just from the gradual wear and tear of lifting weights and surfing the last year. I did have a sort of incident body surfing when I was 14 when I crashed my shoulder into the sand which may or may not have contributed but I'm 26 now. That was a long time ago. I am 100% allowed to be surfing and paddling. That's straight from my surgeon. If anything, it will help strengthen and speed my recovery by using those shoulder muscles.

I just think a 9'6" longboard is going to be too big to take out on 4-5 or even 6 ft days that we usually get here in the winter. It would be nice to have a nice performance oriented mid length

[jaffa1949]

Having worked for over 30 years as a sport orientated, Chiropractor and Osteopath, working orthopedic surgeon, 12 weeks is right for basic healing, but there is always a number of post operative failures from going too hard too soon!
But your accessment could be about right, there are a number of shoulder exercise programs for surfing that stabilize and strengthen the rotator cuff and movement of the joint structure in good functional,alignment. Training those weight training muscle well will do much to give you a good joint function.

Boards well you know my thinking by the way I use a 9ft board in well over double overhead surf, getting my gonads aligned for the drops is often the problem, if I can’t get out the back, the surf has pressed the reject button

[tomthetreeman]

The Walden mega magic boards are known for paddling over their length and having performance board feel. I have a 7’ Softech foamie that I absolutely love for going a little shorter... I’ve almost outgrown it now at just over two years of pretty intensive surfing, but I highly recommend it as a transitional board!

To

[steveylang]

An 8' 60L thruster shape shouldn't be significantly more difficult to surf than a 7'6" 60L Mini-mal. If you could just buy the Minimal you've already been surfing, that should be just as good- I don't think either choice is necessarily more 'performancey' than the other, unless they differ significantly in rocker (I am guessing they are similar width.) Either should be a good board to complement your long board and continue your progress.