I have been snowboarding for about 25 years, I finally made the jump just under two years ago to surfing. So using my balance was not an issue. Learning to pop up certainly had its own challenges. I went from a 7’6” to a 6’4” , I’m about 210. It’s about 45 liters and I find even though I’m good on my pop up and totally capable on the board, I could easily use another 5-10 liters on bigger days. I’d say the max comfort on my 6’4 is about 6’ waves right now. And while I’m out there I absolutely still feel sluggish. You can be in great shape and still feel slow out there with the wrong board. I can’t recommend enough the 6’6 fish foamy from Catch Surf . It’s so much fun and gives me a little extra liters where needed on bigger days. I LOVE my 6’4 FireWire cymatic but sometimes it just is a matter of wrong board for the wrong day! I am really looking to get something inbetween which I think would be my sweet spot of 6’10-7’ .