Longboard or Quad?

Like the others said, if you want to ride a longboard get a longboard or since your small, a mini longboard is fine.

If you want to continue learning the cutbacks, floaters etc. that you mentioned then get an appropriately sized small wave quad, fish or plank shape. 5'6" is fine since your on the small side. Those are pretty much all I ride in knee-stomach high mush. I find it way more fun than a longboard or mini log.

 

what board are you thinking about getting? big name or local shaper?

 

I'd go with the mini LB, I got one and its so nice being able to catch waves on the small crappy days (which seems to be most of the time lol). You don't have to kill yourself paddling either to catch the waves.

A buddy of mine has a quad fish, he started on it, and he's learned to shred it pretty hard. If you would rather ride a quad fin, it might take a little longer to figure out how to get enough power to get going on the waves, but it's definitely do-able.

I'd recommend renting a quad on a normal day of swell and see how it is. Def best to try something out before dishing out a lot of money on it.

 

$260 is a great price, but "Slightly based off a round nose fish...only with a squash tail and pulled in nose" would be too close to a hpsb for me. The pulled in tail is debatable (although not many quads are than pinny), but the nose doesn't look wide enough to get an easier plane going...other than that, the dims aren't bad.

 

i think it will be awesome in small waves. the shaper carries alot of volume past the mid-point of the board.

 

you can never go wrong with an old school twin fish. get it oversized. So much fun and catches waves so easy! check out what a local shaper near you has to offer.

 

Hey Georgia - It sounds like you want to try a short quad -go for it!!
maybe it works and maybe it doesn't but for $260 you can probably resell and get most of your $$ back. Besides you will probably learn some about what works for you and your waves
Sounds like you are young and learning don't be afraid to try some different things- quads, fish, whatever. You will find what you like and that may not be what "most people" like or maybe it is - won't know until you try.
Sounds like you are close enough to Jax that you could talk with Jim Dunlop of Mystic Surfboards, always nice to get some help from experienced and established shapers