buying my first board

hi ive been goin down cornwall fror a while i live miles away from any surf so havnt really needed to buy a board i just rent obne out for awkk or two in summer. now ive got alot better and find the boards im renting out arnt that good most all those crappy faom boards i want to have a bit more of a challange and carve into the wave more. so ive decide to buy a board the thing is im not sure which one to get im 6,3ft im in to snow boarding and skating u know teh size of teh waves around the uk i dont want somthing too small ive tried one out and fopund them too hard to paddle in and stand up, nothing too big like a long board so im stuck between a mal and a mini mal, then a shart board a fish or somthing. does ne one have ne ideas?