Board help stepping down from a 9’4”

[Busdrivah]

Hello all and thank you for your time. I have been riding longboards on the east coast most of my life. In the past I had some smaller boards but due to the usually very small surf on the east coast I typically only had one board and it was in the vicinity of 8’6” to 9’. My most recent board is a locally shaped 9’4” x 23” x 3” with very little rocker that is great at catching anything and does well in the smaller surf on the Florida east coast. I recently rented an 8’6” board when I was out of town and had a ton of fun with something a little smaller so I have decided to add something else to my quiver. I like the buoyancy and wave catchability of longboards and have a pretty docile “just for the fun of surfing” type style. I started doing some research and found that I can find a board with nearly the same volume of my current longboard but in a much shorter package so here are the boards I’ve found. The Walden mini mega 7’6” looks like a neat shape and Is more like a short board than I have ever owned before. Also from Walden the mega magic in either a 7’2” or 8” size. This is more the usual longboard shape that I’m used to. Lastly the Modern double wide in 7’4”. Right in the middle between the two Walden options and similar longboard like shape I’m used to. I think this is the one I’m leaning toward the most. I really like the idea of stepping down and keeping the volume up so I don’t sacrifice much wave catching ability. I estimated my current board to be around 75 liters and these three options are fairly close to that number. I would love to hear opinions if anyone has any experience with these but I was hoping for a little more speed and maneuverability than my current board without having too much difficulty catching the same waves I catch now. I am also open to other options but I don’t want to deviate too far from this type of shape. Thanks for any input.

Edit. I’m 6’3” tall and 200lbs/90kg. Surfing Florida east coast from as far north as Jacksonville pier to as far south as Sebastian inlet.

[dtc]

The mega magic is a really easy board to surf, super stable and great wave catcher. Its very wide (23 1/2) so doing 'radical turns' is a bit hard, but that doesnt seem to be what you are looking for. It has a really wide front half, you can see the rails are pretty parallel for most of the front, which makes it extremely stable and very forgiving if your weight or feet arent that well positioned. I have surfed this board at 7'2 (although I dont own one) and its almost cheating how easy it is to catch waves and not fall off (its almost impossible to fall off). Although its wide so you have to sit with your legs quite askew. (note - I'm an Australia surfer so my comments are based on Australian conditions - which are usually swell waves rather than wind)

The modern double wide is pretty similar but a bit (just a bit) more rounded rails. So it will be a tad less stable but a tad easier to turn. Its pretty thick but not sure if that is needed. Anyway, as you say its more of a traditional longboard shape. I havent surfed this board although have seen it in 'real life'; I'm guessing its a pretty good easy to surf board

The mini mega magic is a wide fat hybrid. It will be the least stable of the lot and the easiest to turn, but probably also the hardest to surf - that said, it wont be all that difficult to surf. Its probably the best board (of the three) for steeper faster waves, but its not the best board for mushy waves (of the three - its still not a terrible board for mushy waves). As the blurb says, its a longer shortboard rather than a shorter longboard. I have also surfed this board at 6'10, but have my own 6.10 with a similar shape but a bit narrower and thinner - and much preferred my board. All that extra volume in the walden just wasnt beneficial, I felt it was a bit corky and bobbed along the surface (I'm 185lb). But I'm comparing it to a custom built PU board which I've surfed a lot and which is what I'm 'used to', so the mini mega may be totally fine for you. Nonetheless, if you wanted a board of this shape, I suggest checking out the Torq Bigboy 23 as its slightly smaller and lower volume and just does the job it is designed to do better (keeping in mind that the 'job' of this style of board is not the same as the 'job' of the other two boards)

So... from what you have said, probably the Modern offers the most of what you want (and there are plenty of similar style boards around if you want to go slightly narrower or thinner). The walden mega magic is the cruisiest board.

I have seen some people complain about the quality of the modern but have seen others say its great and no issues - I will leave that up to you (I doubt there are any major manufacturers without complaints against them).

hope that helps. Any of them will be 'good' boards; the differences between the modern and the mega magic are pretty small so either are fine; the mini mega offers a different type of surfing and is ok if that is what you want (but personally I suggest one of the other boards first, then get this hybrid style board as your third board in a year or two)

[tomthetreeman]

To dtc’s Modern quality comment, I think it’s lack of quality control with mass production. Check the board veeery closely before you buy. I have a friend with a Modern Love Child that has spider cracks all over after just a handful of surfs, and I personally inspected one at a local shop that I could have easily damaged with my thumbnail... I just gave a little push and the glass flexed. I’ve talked to other people who have Modern boards with zero issues, so it seems like kind of random qc/production issues.

Tom

[oldmansurfer]

Another option might be to get a custom made board. You just need to find the right shaper. I have used almost entirely custom made boards so maybe a little biased. My current board is 8 foot and floats like a longboard but I can ride it like a shortboard. I just so happened to have a neighbor who is overweight and older and he had a board made by this shaper and let me use it. So I took the plunge and had the shaper make me an all round board. It was good from 2 to 10 feet he says. I love that board. Easy to catch waves with but can do fairly radical turns like a shorter board. It's all about rocker and rails and learning to use the board. (I am 6'2" and 215 pounds)

[dtc]

To add to oldman's comment - yes, a custom is also a viable option. You will almost certainly find that a custom board can be obtained for the same price (or less) that a Walden and probably than a modern. It probably wont be in epoxy (for good or bad), but you can get your own custom spray job to make it exciting. Some extra glassing to make it tough, maybe even a centre fin box to let you try a single fin (or 5 fin box so you can try it as a quad).

[oldmansurfer]

My custom boards are all epoxy so extra durable as epoxy/eps foam boards are lighter allowing the use of more glass to make them stronger. But the great thing is that if you find the right shaper they can make a board just for you, for your size, for your surfing ability, for the waves you surf.

[Busdrivah]

Thanks all for all the help and ideas. I usually do custom boards. My go to is Stu Sharpe for locally hand made boards but this time I just didn’t want to wait and wanted to try something different. I ended up getting the modern 7’4”. Should show up tomorrow. Conditions look to be super choppy and basically unrideable but i may just go paddle around depending on just how sloppy it looks.