What is the best small wave board out there?

Yeah..ive ridden my retro fish on small weak days too. Its not a bad choice, and works in those conditions better than many other boards would.

I think there are a lot of weak/small wave shapes out there that would be a little more fun in those conditions than a retro fish with keels

Mini Simmons

A rounder fish shape like a ...Lost Uber, Bing Dharma, WRV Stingray...everyone seems to be making one

Even a small egg like a compact disk kind of shape.

Something wide in the tail and round so the turning radius is tight do it for me on small days, more so than a retro fish.

 

I'm 190lbs and that Groveler I mentioned back on page one is 5'8... and it's not 3" thick... maybe 2 5/8 or 2 3/4?... with medium performance shortboard rail volume. Nose template, rocker, and foil (both nose-to-tail and rail-to-rail) are really important factors in small wave boards.

But... that Groveler will not work half as good as a retro fish in even chest high surf. Sure, a fish will work in the small stuff about as well as a longboard, AND give you the ability to do some turns. But even a retro fish doesn't work as good as that Groveler in the tiny stuff. It's another animal completely. But the performance window is very narrow in terms of what kind of size wave it will work in... whereas a fish will work in almost anything.