Size Range 5'6" - 7'2" Typical Dimesions 6'1" x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 Design Features Super narrow, high performance board - suitable for an intermediate &/or advanced surfer only Characteristics Loose fast - ultimate high performance. The traditional foam and fibreglass shortboards are still the prefered choice of the majority of advanced riders. Being specific about shortboards is a tough job. There's a lot of variety and because we are talking about the radical performance side of surfing little differences in the board can make a massive difference to the surfer. A lot of surfers who ride shortboards also have their own ideas (be them right or wrong ) and to be honest if you're a good enough surfer and you believe in a certain design then that's probably good enough. So if there is any such thing as your average shortboard then it would probably have a squash tail. Squash tails are very user friendly for snappier turns with quick and easy release. Concave bottoms also feature because they are highly responsive and very forgiving in terms of recovery. Recovery from maneuvers is a huge issue with shortboards. Because if you want to surf vertically , obviously going up to bash the lip is 50% of the job, the other 50% is coming back down and landing it. To help with recovery our modern shortboards have quite soft rails in the front part of the board which lets the water flow easily under the board and helps to avoid the rail catching. The rail then gets a lot harder in the last 1/3 of the board forcing the water to leave the board via a hard edge, giving you tight and accurate control. Most Suitable for... I guess we could split shortboarders into two main categories; those who buy off the peg and those who go the custom order route. I suppose to ride a shortboard at all you really must be able to surf rail to rail and take late drops or at least heading that way. The surfer that buys 'off the peg' can walk into the show room and happily see a board that suits their surfing needs. Usually these surfers prefer the standard rockers and less exaggerated bottom shapes. Surfers with more specific surfing needs due to their weight, height or ability like their custom orders and work directly with their shaper.