longboards, shortboards; okay that is true, but those are only two types. you have Shortboards, generally used for large waves between 4-12 ft roughly. There are guns which have a shortboard shape, very skinny but tall high 6 foot up to 10 foot these are made for surfing BIG waves, double overhead and up. You have fish, which are shorter than shortboards but a lot fatter. Funboards, which are taller than shortboards, fatter, and have a more rounded nose. Longboards, which are usually 8 to 10 feet. Noseriders, which are taller than longboards, thicker in the nose and have more rocker so you can actually "ride the nose" then on top of that you have epoxy and fiberglass, hybrids like fun-fishes. All different types, and you can customize your own. Pintail, flat-tail, swallow-tail, or bat-tail to name a few. Hope this helped, if you have a beginner get yourself a longboard with a soft top

Shortboards and the like were not invented at that point, wooden longboards were used, with lengths of up to and over 15 feet, they were also extremely heavy.

The turn radius means how quick can u turn a surfboard. Smaller shortboards will have a smaller and quicker turn radius then longboards because short boards turn easier.

i would say that i see people using shortboards more but the longboards are still used usually people who are really into surfing like me have both

== == A shortboard while more difficult to stand up on is easier to maneuver. A longboard, also known as a Malibu, is easier to stand up on, making it better for certain conditions and types of surfing, they are usually nine to ten feel long with one to three fins. Their size can make them harder to get past the breaking waves than shortboards but they are still a better alternative for beginners due to the comparative ease of use. Both shortboards and longboards come in a variety of styles but the defining difference is usually size and to a lesser extent, the number of fins, as shortboards often have two, three or even four or five fins to make it easier to do tricks and such. There is a size in between these two boards called a "Minimal", which usually is around 7 feel long and the same shape as a longboard, these are aimed at being good beginner boards and are a balance of being short enough to easily get out past the break while being long enough for inexperienced users to stand up. Longboards have also existed much longer than shortboards, and were used as long as 250 years ago and probably longer by the Polynesians.