Which longboard is best? Four types compared from my own rack
Updated 2026-09-19
Longboards are not interchangeable. A performance noserider wants two to four foot points. A 12 foot glider wants small, fat waves and a car park close to the water. A traditional log wants ankle high mush. One shape, a speed-shaped single fin, covers all of that and still handles six to seven foot days. Here is how each one actually rides.
The performance noserider: light, capable, a little fragile
This is a Witbier by Warhurst Surfboards, 9'1 and noticeably light for its length. It has fine, well-defined rails and a wide nose pulled into a narrower tail, which lets you walk the nose or drop back to the tail and hold in decent-sized waves. A single fin, an 8 1/2 inch G10 Ola fin from NVS, is enough given the narrow tail and the board's fairly low volume. The bottom scoops into a large concave from the nose, flattens with rolled edges through the middle, then runs into vee with plenty of tail rocker. It suits two to four foot point surf, is easy to carry, and paddles well, but it will not take the punishment a heavier glassed board can. I have already picked up small imperfections in the cloth after normal use.
The 12 foot glider: paddles like nothing else, but hard to live with
A 12'0 by 23 1/4 by 3 3/8 Thomas Surfboards Postie, built with a triple stringer and a glassed-in fin, is roughly the length of two shortboards laid end to end. Paddling it out is close to effortless, even at nearly 100 kilograms I can kneel-paddle it, and it will take a dog, a second person, or a child along for a family session. It is not a noseriding board; go too far up the front and it will pearl. It only wants fat or small hollow waves, never very hollow ones. The real limitation is everything before you paddle out: it is genuinely heavy, does not fit on an e-bike, has to go on the car roof, and needs a car park close to the point. It has picked up a fine layer of dust from sitting more than it should.
The traditional log: cheap, heavy, and limited to the smallest days
A four-stringer Bronze Whaler, designed by two-time world longboard champion Beau Young, is 9'4 by 23 by 3, bought secondhand overseas at roughly half the price of an equivalent American-made log, with minor shop damage repaired at home. It has pinched rails for edge control and a nearly flat rocker with a mild single concave into vee. A screw-in wax head fin from Matt Chojnacki, made for FCS, suits a big chunky board like this well. It paddles and glides fine, but the weight makes it hard work to carry and to turn once you are on a wave. It is fine from ankle high to about one foot; past that, I reach for something else.
The speed-shaped single fin: the one I would keep if I could only have one
A Keyo Cheetah, a brand with a multi-generational history going back to the McTavish plastic vee-bottom era, looks similar up front to the noserider, with a wide-ish nose and pulled-in tail, but the similarities stop there. It is a speed shape with no nose concave, so while you still can walk it, that is not its purpose. The nose has a rolled entry, flattening through the middle into a double concave where the stringer sits lower than the rail, a vee double concave, then moving into vee and out through a pin tail with real tail rocker. I have tried fins from 8 1/2 to 10 1/2 inches on it, and the shaper's own recommendation, an FCS Connect 9'0, has been the one I return to; it pops in and out easily for travel, and the fin position can be adjusted in the water, forward for smaller days, back toward the box for bigger, more stable conditions.
This board has produced my longest wave on record at 430 metres, cracking close to 30 km/h (18.6 mph), and I have ridden it everywhere from small, sloppy days on a travel trip to six and seven foot plus at bigger local points. It handles both ends of that range without changing character, which is why it is the one longboard I would not sell.
Choosing between the four
A performance noserider makes sense if you mainly surf clean, two to four foot points and want to walk the board. A glider only earns its keep if you live close to small, fat waves and do not mind the carry. A traditional log is a genuinely cheap way into longboarding but will not grow with your surfing. A speed-shaped single fin, like the Keyo Cheetah, is the one that will still be in the rack years later because it does not ask you to choose your conditions around it.
Questions people ask
What is the most versatile longboard shape?
A speed shape with a rolled nose entry and a rounded pin tail, like the Keyo Cheetah, handles the widest range, from small mush to six or seven foot points, without needing a fin change.
Is a 12 foot glider worth buying?
Only if you live within walking distance of small, fat waves. The paddle power is remarkable, but the weight makes transport to anywhere else a genuine chore.
What fin size suits a longboard?
It depends on the tail and rocker. A narrow-tailed noserider suits a smaller single fin around 8 1/2 inches; a wider, flatter-rockered board can take a larger fin like a 9 inch and still turn cleanly on the tail.
Do traditional logs still make sense to buy new?
As a first, low-cost longboard for the smallest days, yes. For anything beyond ankle to knee high surf, the weight becomes a genuine limitation compared to a modern speed shape.
How much rocker should a beginner longboard have?
Less nose rocker paddles easier into small waves, but too little tail rocker limits how well the board turns once the waves have any size. The noserider and the speed shape in this piece show both ends of that trade-off.
For the wider decision between formats, see mid-length or longboard, and for the volume side of the equation, surfboard volume explained or the volume tool. The full current lineup, including the Keyo Cheetah, sits on my current quiver. For twin fin mid-lengths as a different route to the same versatility, see which type of twin fin suits you.