I have just surfed knee high onshore waves by myself and had fun. I had some time to think about this question as i have on numerous surfs with all types of craft.
I am 52, 6'3" and 100kg and mainly ride a 6'3" webber minifish. It goes great in crap waves and is suited to very small surf. My biggest board is a 6'10" Simon Anderson which goes great in overhead waves.
There are so many boards around for fat old guys like me, why would anyone want to ride a 9ft long board that you cant turn in tiny waves and when the waves are good why not ride a high volume short board?
Is it that these longboarders have just given up on short boards because they are crap surfers? Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, Rabbit are all older than me but ride shortboards. I have a metal hip replacement so its no excuse that your body is not up to riding a shortboard.
Is it the nostalgia of riding the first surfboards, why not then drive a 1968 Holden with no power steering? I like 1975 single fins but i would never ride one in decent surf as my first choice. Maybe 62mac can enlighten me?
It's kinda like if you love your footy, rugby or soccer. You're never going to convert one to the other with what it appeals to you. When I had a log, I loved how easy it was to pop up and glide but it didn't feel right or what I liked hence SB'ing was the go. I'm keen to find a decent longboard though. Would be good to reaffirm my hypocracy by jumping on one due to how much crap I say about it in the LB forum 
P.s. The mini fish is a great board hey. When I get the footing right, it just goes!
Well - I would always prefer to be riding my 'big blokes fish' but thankfully today i took the 9.1 out - as I know I got twice as many waves -and for twice as far. No i didn't get any reo's or cutbacks in, but I zipped through the flat and the fast sections that the guys on shortboards could not... and importantly I had FUN.
I think it also helps you appreciate the fish when I get back on it.
it's your day off...you have an assortment of surfcraft in your car and your up early and off to the beach...you pull up at your local and it's tiny, but it's perfect little pealers rolling through...you wax your nine two and don your boardies....you casually walk to the water...the early morning sun feels great...you paddle out...swing around and take off on a clean little wave...gracefully you swing out of a bottom turn that takes you to the top of the wave...you cross step to the nose...in 4 steps you have five of your toes over the front of your board...trimming with the nine feet of board locked into the curl of the wave behind you...shifting your back foot up next to the other you have all ten toes over the front of your board........It's then kleb when....you will never ask that question again
At 100 kgs your going to need some juice to surf a shortboard and living on the eastcoast we don't get it often,so do we sit around for months like so many shortboarders do waiting for the swell,hell no we can ride anything from one foot up and have some much fun.Nothing sh-ts me watching a shortboarder pumping along a wave just to keep on the thing,its not a good look and cant be fun.Dont worry we can ride a HP longboard like most shortboarders can, yes going vertical.I was a shortboarder for years and at 50 the longboard keeps me in the sport.
A big volume single fin log is so much fun in one foot and a HP is even more fun when the waves are on.
ignorance is bliss, with this comment if u dont ride all surf craft in all conditions then how can be called a surfer, u should ride everything from hand planes to sups
Ha ha a webber minifish is a longboard for guys who can't turn a nine footer. 6'3 and 50 litres that is high volume, HP longboard volume... personally I like to be able to sink my rails in a turn and a rail over 3 inch think just don't do that.
And yeah I have ridden a Minifish, they are a nice board. Fins are a bit odd, are you using the webber fins?..
I agree high volume shorties are good but so is a longboard.... Just try it or at least don't write off people who do, ride what you want...
Stuffed shoulders is another reason....
Much easier to paddle a 9'2.
The over 40 surfer's curse-wouldn't wish it on anyone...
All valid points, i have ridden 9ft long boards when i was a grommet and had fun walking the plank, but after riding a minifish, with the volume of a sup, i can still glide along on knee high waves, and even do turns.
I do understand that the east coast doesnt have a lot of push, and i hate watching guys flapping along on their latest pro model board, but i still reckon most of the guys i see riding mals are just greedy kooks who show no regard for shortboarders and have no concept of sharing. I realise there are people on all craft with those traits, it is just amplified by longboards sitting further out and getting most of the waves.
Im trying to think of waves in our southwest where a longboard would be the board of choice and there are not many. Where as waves like the Pass and Crescent are probably perfect.
My minifish is 3.25 thick and although it has limitations it keeps me in the water when the waves are tiny, i have a Firewire Dominator for mid size waves, and a set of quad fins on the way. I ride the Webber as a thruster but will experiment with fins like a smaller centre fin, i was worried the big red twin fins would cut me up into pieces.
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^^^yep..the biggest grin wins every time
even at the pub, i will ride things most people laugh at
A ride almost everything from performance to longboard depending on mood and conditions. Tried a SUP once but didn't like it [}:)]
I havent done one of those shots for a long time.
Here's an old one. Murray doesnt even really shape under Pipedream anymore. The current one would be much harder to take. More boards, SUP's, Outrigger Canoes etc.
I kind of like this photo though, I pretty much loved all of these boards, a real high point in quality of quiver.
6'0, 6'2, 6'10 single, 9'4 Log, 7'0, 6'8, 6'5 channel, 6'3.
A bit of a late reply, but I recon this clip from 2:15 onwards explains the matter quite well :) :
