Surfing Waves

I live in Florida where the waves are small and crowded and was getting frustrated on my 6ft 19 1/2 shortboard and started riding a fun shape that is 6ft 6in with a wide nose but I was needing advice on a board that will catch a lot of waves but is also high performance..any suggestions would help thanks

What do you mean by high performance?

You can do a fair bit with a grovellor type board ie wide and thick and short; but that might be the kind of board you already have (the 6'6). But I'm thinking maybe its just a bit too long.

So something like a hypto krypto style board, or a firewire sweet potato etc. Pretty much every large maker has a version or two, they are the in thing at the moment.

If you can ride a 6ft shortboard (in good waves) then you are probably looking at a 5'10 ish grovellor, or maybe even smaller (ie a few inches shorter than your shortboard). Dont go too big, these boards need to be ridden shorter because thats how they deal with the 'downsides' of being wide and fat.

Look at the conditions/specific break you'll use it in as well.....small but well formed with power vs. small mushy onshore and blown out....slow building or fast jacking.....whatever the conditions are it should weigh heavily into your choice. I have a board (pictured) that is 6'2" with 39L....high volume shortboards don't necessarily always come in groveller designs.

Big H wrote: I have a board (pictured) that is 6'2" with 39L....high volume shortboards don't necessarily always come in groveller designs.

For sure but I assumed that the OPs 6ft6 board is high volume but isn't working for the OP, for whatever reason. Possibly its too high volume for its size

Of course, the other option is to go longer. A nice 6ft10 hybrid, maybe with a wider than normal tail, would likely go very nicely in weaker waves. May not be 'high performance' - you don't do airs with a 6ft10 board, or at least not intentionally - but you obviously can move around the wave

I assumed the same....round nose fat rail fun shape is what it sounded like....could ride a 5'8" sweet potato with 43L volume like you suggested (high performance depends on the user)....I got from his post that the 6'6" fun board was too big and funboardy for his taste and wanted something that he could work in small stuff.

Basically it's a fish.

A necessary question, for a 200lb guy is , "how well are you riding at the moment? "
Experience would play a lot in performance If he is as advanced as the title says then no problem but to me advanced is about what he is able to do already which usually entails knowing what works and what doesn't.
So Mr. Florida, how well are you riding now?
What will a performance board enhance in your riding?
This is not disrespectful but rather trying to get an honest gauge on your surfing to help!

I'm a little over 6 feet, about 200 lbs and would consider myself an advanced surfer. I surf 3+ days a week and my go to small wave board is my 5'10 lost puddle jumper. it is 5'10 x 22 x 2.75. It's funny, on the board is written 38L, but everywhere I look online stock dimensions say it is 40L. Great board for mushy surf and is easy to paddle and throw around. It is a little too wide and lacks the rocker for when it gets bigger and more hollow, but serves its purpose very well in anything below 5 feet. I've been losing weight lately and I bought this when I was around 220 lbs. If I was to do it again, I'd probably step down to a 5'8. For reference, my normal shortboard is around 32/33 L.. something like 6'2 x 19 x 2