slsurf forum posts in last 60 days

I would focus on what you want the board to do compared to your current. If its just a case that you want to try something different or hoping it will be better I would just get the one that captures your enthusiasm and imagination and fits best in a quiver scheme. To me that would obviously be one of the smaller boards. Whether they will be easy or fun is another story. Its hard to say much from the pics but you might enjoy a shorter faster turning, more reactive board in quick sectiony beachbreak waves. My vote would be for the 98 smik if it has more width in nose that should make it more forgiving. You could also ask smik how it would perform compared to your current which seems to be the info you are missing.

I would be very careful about dropping length below 8ft unless its a small weak wave specific board with wide nose and tail. I would try a performance shape 8'4 x 27 x 90 liters+- if you are ambitious and really good balance. I dont know 71 a high performance but still low volume longboard might be better. Length allows you to keep thin rails, narrow for hold and rail to rail, and a pulled in tail without it being so unstable its unusable.Yes low volume isnt bounced around as much but it can also be harder to recover once you get off center. Try first you might be surprised how much small changes affect balance of board. Forget everything you know about board length from shortboard prone surfing, 8 ft is really short for a performance sup for most people.