These boards are built like a Formula 1 race car for the waves, and it's here where most surfboard evolution happens.
Typically the shape of a high performance surfboard will be pulled in at the nose and tail to allow for sharper, tighter turns in the pocket.
You'll also find harder, sharper, less forgiving rails at the tail of the surfboard to allow the surfer to really put the board on edge as well.
And, just like a Formula 1 car needs to be driven at maximum speed for the downforce to take effect, tyres to heat up, etc. to fully perform at its best, the same goes for high performance shortboards too.
If you're not quite here though with your surfing they can do more damage than good, so don't be in a rush to hop on one of these boards until you're ready.
Hybrid surfboard are that middle ground surfboard shape that sits in between a new school Fish, and a high performance shortboard.
They're for the above average everyday surfer that wants to be able to lay their board on rail, yet still be able to paddle into waves easily, plus have that little bit of forgiveness too for when you're not surfing every single day.
The shape is a balance of slightly wider nose and tail shapes, oftentimes (but not always) a swallow tail, with a bit of added volume to get the board going too.
If you're into high performance surfing and you surf only a handful of times per week and you surf a lot of small waves at your local, it's likely the Hybrid is the shape for you.
As the name suggests the 'Step Up' surfboard is a shape that's built for when the waves step up a notch, and get bigger.
This extra length adds extra volume into the surfboard making it easier to paddle and catch waves which is especially important when surfing bigger waves as they move that much faster.
Furthermore, the outline shape of a step up surfboard is slightly extended too, this helps for longer, more drawn-out carving manoeuvres on bigger waves, plus helps the surfer handle all the extra speed too.
A typical Gun will be anywhere from 8ft all the way up to 10ft plus for the psycho's that surf Jaws, Nazarre etc.
The idea is to give the surfer huge amounts of paddle power to help them catch the massive waves early, provide heaps of grip and down the line speed to outrun the wave and not slide out, and be able to handle metre+ sized chop that's typical on a wave of that size.
All in all there's a lot going on with big wave gun surfboard shapes, with a lot of innovation happening in recent years as surfers push the boundaries on a daily basis.
The Retro Fish is inspired by the surfers in the 70's that used these boards for the most technical surfing of the time.
They're designed to go like a 'bat out of hell' in small waves, but they're not much good for anything else.
But if you want to go in a straight line and wiggle around like a cockroach real fast, this is the board for you.
Sure, you can do turns and carves on them too, but they're purposely built to help you get those 'toes to the nose'.
Spyder Surfboard reviewsThe shape of a nose rider longboard will be wide at the nose and tail for stability, alongside soft rounded rails to enhance the coanda downforce effect at the tail.
You'll oftentimes find a big single concave running through the nose of the board to add that extra little bit of lift too.
Oh, and one last thing, these boards are almost always ridden as a single fin, so you can ditch the thruster set up here.
These surfers will shred the hell out of waves on these boards doing big roundhouse cutbacks, snaps, laybacks and carves, heck they even do airs on these nowadays.
They'll have a more pulled in nose, oftentimes coming to a rounded point, and a much more pulled in tail - with thinner, sharper, more refined rails too.
And, these boards are almost always ridden with three fins - as speed and drive are the object with these boards.
Whereas in the past this size surfboard was reserved for the mini-mal shape, nowadays they're shaped much more for high performance surfing.
Whereas in the past this size surfboard was reserved for the mini-mal shape, nowadays they're shaped much more for high performance surfing.
A good mid-length will still allow a surfer to put the board on rail, and do some nice carving manoeuvres, with the added benefit of being able to surf in gutless, small waves.