Over the last 15 years the only trouble I’ve had with a boar is a hpsb that Wade made me that had a lot of nose rocker. 5+. It was hard paddling into waves. But once I was able to stand up it was a good boar. The steeper more cupped out wave the better. I talked to Wade about it and he lowered the nose rocker and put a little more foam under my chest. It was still an effort to paddle into waves but much easier with the changes.
Support your local shapers, build a relationship with them. Give honest feedback about your ability and the waves you surf and the dud rate goes way down.
This.
For most guys I think it's style of rocker or type of wave or a combo of both that makes or breaks a board.
Once your shaper knows what rocker layout you like it removes a huge variable and really opens up the possibilities for doing what you want to do - get better boards that fit your surfing.
When the rocker variable is lifted there's a lot more certainty. Then you just order a board for a certain type of wave, the shaper takes care of all the nuances.
And your surfing will probably improve because you're consistently on the style of design characteristics that work for you.
Alternatively you can blow a bunch of money on boards that end up not working, likely even making the same mistake multiple times because a certain style of rocker probably doesn't work for you.
I don't have the time left in my surfing years, or money, or the waves (even with 4 days a week open to surf), or the talented freeflowing muscle memory for fooling around with a bunch of different boards with a bunch of random characteristics.