Step up for winter and bigger swell

That's my old board. It is awesome. If I weighed 10 lbs more I'd be all over that again.

 

2-3L is a BIG difference! i can pretty happily ride a board that's 32L in most conditions, not so much a board 29L. don't underestimate the impact of subtle variations. you say you don't want to get another board that's just like the rest, but when it comes to waves of consequence, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. the idea of the dwart is definitely NOT what i'm talking about. 6'1" or 6'2" is prob. spot on for the length, & i'd say keep the width & thickness the same as your 5'10", & add a rounded pintail. personally, i like the added control & hold it provides, but a small squash isn't outside the realm of possibility. i'm just not sure why you'd want that when there's no advantage to it.
i'd say go w/ the tri-quad option...as someone else mentioned, sometimes the extra speed & holding power a quad provides can be the difference between the barrel of a lifetime & getting swallowed by the foam ball. plus it's just nice to have that option. it doesn't cost that much more, so why not? it's like 2 boards in 1.

my old dims:
standard hpsb: 6'4"x19 1/4"x2 1/2" 31.7L
step up: 6'8"x19 1/4"x2 1/2" 33.3L

 

granted, i tend to like a little more paddle power built into my boards b/c i mainly surf shifty beachbreaks in a lot of rubber, so "swimming" my boards around the line up generally sucks.

 

you use a a board like that in South FL?

 

Monahan's?

 

HOL:
did you see the way Ryan DID NOT name the spot?
did you see the way you DID name the spot

step back and reflect

 

good luck w/ that. getting HOL/RISurfer to self-reflect is like trying to get an echo to stop repeating itself.