washingtonsurfer; I would suggest contacting supnsurf and asking if you can paddle his Sunova Creek. If so, that would be a golden opportunity to check out what length, width, and volume you are comfortable with stepping down to. Also, it is a first class board with great construction, so it might be a perfect answer for you. For what its worth, I have surfed a number of Starboards in their light construction. Yes, they are very light, but the durability was so-so, and the performance of all those that I tried ranged from just okay, to poor. I have also owned a couple of Fanatic Allwaves. The standard construction was bullet-proof but not real light, and the lightest construction is very light, but it experienced some damage. The new thinner rails on the AllWaves are definitely an improvement, but IMHO not close to the Sunova Creek in performance. At 180 lbs, that 9'4" should be a nice compromise between higher performance in the surf, and the flat water paddling that it sounds like you also want to keep.
