Cross over sports for surfing

10'6" is a "sprint" board, mostly used in lifeguard competitions. those races are short & fast...no glide. they can also be really fun to surf, if you know what you're doing & have the skill to handle the board well. these are a totally different animal than what you see in the M2O, catalina classic, or just about any other race.

in prone paddleboard racing, 12' is "stock"...your basic open water paddleboard. most people are fine w/ these as long as you're under about 200lbs or are really tall. even then, you can make it work. 14' are for the bigger guys who want a stock feel, but need a bigger board. i'm about 6' tall & was weighing in at 220lbs or so when i got mine. given that i rarely put in fewer than 6 miles when i go out on mine, i'm still liking the extra length & glide i get from that. any bigger than that, & you have what's called an "Unlimited". basically, anything goes here. i've seen 16', 18', & 20'. IMO, they're a bit of overkill & can be hard to handle (a lot of them will actually have a tiller built into the board to aid handling) unless you really spend a lot of time on the water getting used to the thing.

i'd say that if you're of average height & weight, a 12' would be fine.