Surfing Waves

Do you (or anyone you know/see at your local break), surf one day with a 9-10ft longboard come back in another session later in the week on a mushy small day on a <6ft retro-fish, then opt to ride a custom 6ft shortboard a week later when a storm blows in? Is this normal (to jump around on shapes sizes depending on conditions) or is it too difficult or not a preferred surfing style by most? My impression is folks find their niche/preferrence regarding board style/surfing style and don't stray around much.

I guess another question (similiar) would be do you know anyone who can tear up the local break on a shortboard or retro-fish and also is recognized as a respectable longboarder as well (or vice versa)?

Well I surf by myself so I have no idea what other people think of my surfing.

But depending on what the swell is looking like I will either ride my 6'2" fish, 6'4" short board, or 7'6" fun board/minimal. On more of a punchy swell I will take my shorty out but if it medium and mushy I will take my fisah out. If it is really small then I get out the 7'6". Would go longer if I had a longer board but haven't got that far yet. Have to have the proper hardware for the conditions.

yes to everything bub says. However people general hold preference over a board shape usually shortboard vs longboard.

Having a quiver is very very important as your surfing skills progress. People make the assumption that its eaither longboard/shortboard/ or fish. This is wrong. I have 2 shortboards i ride which are for very different conditions. I have a mal when its very very small (i consider this to my longboard ) I have a retro fat thruster when well the surf is fat and mushy.

Generally though you have an everyday board in my case its my 6'0 shortboard. But having the ability to change it up on a given day and wave quality is paramount to utalizing the best of what is out there. Basically this equates to how much fun you can extract.

Work smart not hard in other words.

Aside from beginners, who should stick with one style board to learn on do alot of intermediate/advanced surfers have much trouble adjusting day-2-day on drastically different boards or does it only take a few paddle-ins and poppups to adapt?

Usually only takes a few waves at most to make the adjustments needed to use a different board day to day.

should only take a few waves to get used to a board you are good enough to ride. should take even less if all you have done is switchd to another board in your quiver.

Yeah, I think it does only take a couple of attempts to readjust. Even myself as a beginner, have been able to adapt the 3-4 different boards I've tried out within a short time in the water.

Interesting, I watched my bro-in-law take a spin on my new 7'2'' custom funboard and actually surfed it much better then what he was doing on his 10 ft Walden earlier in the session (that he has 2-3 years of surfing on).

Sort of hijacking my own thread here...anyone ever see a surfer compete on a retro-fish (not one of those hybrid/shortie/fish but a true retro-fish with the wide body and deep tail)? Just curious.