Carlo

Another thought would be a Gong board. They make several short high volume performance boards that are made for those kind of waves. You have a winter board now the Shroom, and it sounds like you are progressing fast enough that it won't be long until you are comfortable on your son's Nut. Finally France is not that far away......yes you could go up and demo some boards.......Colas is close to your dimensions has a lot of experience with Gong boards and hopefully he can chime in? Just a thought.

Cheers

Bob

Linkus said..
My son's first board was a yellow Gong 7.6x31 MOB x 120 lt woodkfusion....

The construction:Hi, for the woodkfusion I did not hear of specific quality issues. What were your problems?

Gong had some quality issues (pinholes) with some boards of the Portugal factory recently (but they would find a solution if you contacted them about it), this is the reason they have switched back to Chinese factories. But I have heard of these issues only on the Pro, not the woodkfusion one.The FSP construction is a full vacuum-build PVC sandwich that really wraps on the rails, even with the very thin rails of boards such as the Mob, see details: www.facebook.com/gong.sup/posts/1070404606462639Chinese factories did not have the expertise for this kind of technology that has been used for years elsewhere (Cobra, JL, ...), this is why it is only available now.

The FSP Mob is exactly the shame shape as the pro ones.

The shape:
As you have seen, Gong shapes have always tried to mix performance and a true surf feeling with ease of use: migrating the volume away from the rails, especially at nose and tail is what gives them the character a lot of us get hooked on when they try a Gong shape (especially on Mediterranean waves, as you could see with your Italian friends - do you know Filipo? www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=127566 ), but with a comfortable width to stay easy to handle. This is for instance why the Mob does not have the cumbersome feeling on the water compared to full-on square nosed board with more volume in the rails, that are better adapted for beginner SUPers. In the Gong line, we advise the NFA or Cloud if you do not have yet the technique to use a Mob or Fatal board.On the Mob, the sweet spot for the feet in paddling position will be smaller, but on the other hand, the board will be more responsive to feet movements for turning...

Do not hesitate to mail or phone the Gong team, or post questions in the Gong forum to get advice on finding which Gong board is more suited to your level and expectations. Gong has a lot of board models, with various characters. From what you say, I guess a NFA or Karmen (which replaces the Cloud) will be adapted to your needs.

For instance, In 2018, the Mob shape has been tweaked for better performance, the Cloud and NFA being more advised for beginner SUPers.
www.gongsup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=127006#p127006

Linkus said..
A thinner board is more responsive but for me is tiring and more difficult to ride. For me the priority is catch and ride the bigger number of waves in a easy way. There are several months before next summer and a lot of thoughts about my next board.

By reading you, I think you should try to keep some length in a board, and not try to get too short a board. The Mob is a very stable shape for its size, if you have problems with it, it was most probably due to the short length.

Short boards are performing great on the short Mediterranean waves, but they require more commitment, in placement for the takeoff, paddling technique, and explosive paddling power. I think you are looking the wrong way when you say "my skills are quite lower and my age higher and so I need something "easy&short"". You seem to need something easy and nimble, not necessarily short. There is no shame in not wanting to invest the time to master a short board and prefer having more immediate fun.
In the Gong line, that would be the NFA, or something similar in other brands, that is a modern performance longboard shape: longboard outline, but with some rocker, performance rails with medium volume, strong and light construction, and not too narrow.