J.Troy,
Your are right we did get boards that were manuverable and fit into the wave pocket differently and we definitly learned alot about rocker, but it also created a style of surfing that fewer surfers can enjoy and is not nearly as pretty to watch. I was watching a video of Colin Mcphilips and Joel tudor surfing against each other. Colin Rips on his rockered out performance longboard, but Joel was covering much more wave and looked much better. It was a point break and you could see Colin struggling to keep up with the flatter heavier longboards Joel was riding.
To be honest that all over the wave, on top of it, and pocket surfing was first mastered on the world tour by Cheyne Horan on those twenty in tail models someone mentioned. His boards were not think nor rockered out like the ones in the early 90’s. I guess it’s all a matter of taste, but I think more surfers have fun on boards that float them properly on top of the water instead of in it. There is just so much talent on the tour and so much pressure to fit in to the status quo those guys make the thin little boards look good. The guys I see in the lineup with the biggest smiles sure are not the pros or the sponsored surfers.