Having owned a 5’7 lightbender and still own a 5’8 twinsman and 5’5 with 5’4 width and thickness OG plasmic. I vote plasmic as short as you’re willing to go.
i see lightbender being least desirable of the 3 for the waves you describe.
Small florida beach break?
Plasmic. Not stretched. Regular Plasmic.
Short.
I’m 6’2 -210+ and ride a stock 5’6. Next one will be a custom 5’6 with less thickness.
Thanks duus. I actually have a stoke 5'0 plasmic. Only ridden it a handful of times, so haven't got the full experience yet, however, I feel I may have gone a bit too small on it...not volume-wise, but length-wise. The 5'0 just feels SO small.
Prior to that, the smallest boar I've owned is a 5'4 and that felt just about as small as I'd like to go, but I YOLO'd the 5'0 thinking it could work. Typically I'm riding 5'6s in the 27 L range (I'm 5'10 160lbs).
I haven't given up on the Plasmic. I feel it could be a great boar in different waves than what I’ve ridden it in. I think someone on here mentioned it's really good when you have room to "move around" on a wave, and that's kind of my thinking at the moment as well. However, most of the stuff I'm riding here in FL is quick, dumpy beach break where there's not much time to "move around" and link multiple carving turns. I may just need to try different fins in it too
Like I said, I haven't given up on it yet.
For reference, past boars that have done really well for me in these conditions have been stoke 5'6 CI rocket wide, stoke 5'6 Lost swordfish, and my current stoke 5'6 HS HK twin. Also have a 5'4 FW mashup that goes well.