i think its more about technique than anything else…
how big are you?
I’m 5’8", around 200lbs and almost 60 and my 6’4" Firewire Potatonator(Mix of a Dominator and Sweet Potato) has way more floatation and paddles better than anything I’ve ridden in that small including my new 6’4"x 23"x3" HP big boy shortboard
I’ve seen guys ride 5’6" Dominators at Hanalei and just rip the snot out of that wave while I’ve ridden mine in 1’ White Plains wind slop and was able to skip the board along fast enough to get air if I wanted or knew how to.
I think these boards are wide stance backfooters especially as quads so if you are a heavy front footer it could lead to the bogging and performance issues. I had the same problem on my first couple of rides on the Potatonator where I kept catching my outside rail trying to cut back because of the width of that beast. But once I adjusted my stance way back on my stomp pad and widened my stance the board really flew and sliced and diced. I grew up in the 70’s surfing beak nose narrow tailed single fins like Terry Fitzgerald so all this quad/thruster shake and bake is foreign to me.
Over time though I’ve become less and less a fan of funsized or boards with too much length and an advocate of trying to get as small as possible without losing my ability to paddle into a wave.Maybe I’m channeling Cheyne, but I believe to truly “mind surf” you should never have to worry or move your feet once you get going. You body and board should just follow what ever you mind what to do with the wave. It’s a rare occasion but once it happens to you you won’t forget that wave or that session.
I’ve had a 7’2" Patagonia Mako (high performance Rocket Sled), a 7’ and 7’6" Parmenter Stubb Vector and 6’8" Malolo fish, a 6’8" Keone Downing Slippah fish, a Randy French Surftech 8’ hybrid, and a 7’11" Surftech McCoy Nugget and a the same time have a 6’4" Mandala quad, a Greg Griffin 6’2" 5-Fin Fish and 6’4" Modfish. All these boards do something well but none of them do everything well.
The problem with slop is in catching the waves and then maintaining forward momentum when’s there’s no “push” behind them. The problem with juicy waves is first of all getting out without getting destroyed, paddling in early into thick walls and then controlling all the speed, severe curves and turbulence from the foam ball. Hard to find a single shape that does all that well.
Your Dominator should work in all the conditions you’ve described if not maybe going to an “Advance” model for similar FW feeling and a more front foot attack. Try changing your fin setups as well depending on conditions. In junky waves I’d probably ride it as a quad with 4 smaller flat sided or inside foiled fins while on bigger waves I’ve beef up the fins, switch to double sided rears and maybe even switch to a thruster setup with bigger side fins.
If had to live with only a single board for the rest of my life it probably would be a fairly thin pulled in nose high performance 9’2" longboard with a bonzer or simple vee bottom and a 2+1 fin setup (kind of like the ones from the early 90’s). Decent nose and tail rocker to handle the drops and faces but not so much so you could still run the flats. Get one of these made strong but not too heavy and you’ll be set for a long time no matter the conditions.
These are just all observations, you’ll have to find out what works best for your style and kind of waves you prefer. No one here surfs like you and no one here knows exactly what you are trying to get out of it all only you do. Sometimes if you pretend that your current board is the last board on the planet you’d be surprised what you’ll find your self capable of doing with it in any conditions
Best of luck with your pursuit
