I'm looking for a shortboard that can handle small mushy florida conditions but can also take 4-6ft waves since I travel pretty often. Is a board that versatile possible, or ridiculous?

I'd say yes...especially if you are under a buck 80.

I'm over that weight and I've ridden my 5'8" CI Biscuit in those conditions. Also high volume fish.

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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

Yes, it's possible. 

Dude, this is the real deal holyfield...go talk to one of those shapers you're considering in that other thread.  (If you asked me, I'd say go Mayo or Mike Daniel at Coil, but any of those guys are very good at what they do).

Seriously...tell them what you're looking for the board to do and in what conditions; tell them what you ride now and what you do or don't like about it.  Listen to their suggestions.  Get a killer board. 

It's that simple.  Would you rather get input from the guys on this site or a professional shaper?  Have you spent much time reading responses on this site?

As Karma said, the lighter you are the easier it is to grovel on a shortboard. (by shortboard I mean a traditional performance oriented squash tail...you may just mean shorter than a fun board)  Most local shapers have a model shortboard that is a little shorter, wider and flatter to handle gutless waves.  You can also always ride a hybrid/fish board in bigger waves as well.

One of my shapes from Geiselman (WC for Who Cares) is a shortboard made for the average to below average days at home.  I don't ride it below waist-chest becuase I'm a fairly big guy (195 lbs) but it goes in pretty crappy stuff.  I also just took it on my Nica trip and it handled overhead freight train barrels just as well.  Super fun and versatile board.

Put even better!!  Pick one, or a couple, and get them on the phone.  They'll get you dialed.

Haha I wanted to make sure I wasn't making a laughable request. After all, a range that expansive from a single board seemed idealistic given some people have quivers of multiple surfboards solely to combat florida swell

Yeah, boards with more float are key, but duck diving gets harder when you get that sucker beefed up... a pointier nose helps, but then reverses the goal... it usually takes me a lot of pondering to come up with dimensions for a board. I have an excel spreadsheet that I keep the dimensions and volume (or at least estimates of it) to help me out in the process... I got a really good FL board now, designed to get me off the longboard on the thigh plus days, but I find that it's not worth it here unless it's waist+. W/O clearly thinking about it, I paddled it out on my first day in Nica when it was 6-9 foot, when I should have paddled my gun (although not ideal for 6 footers here, with the faster waves, it would have probably been OK, and I'd likely be in the 8-9' wave range anyhow - it would have been 25 min roundtrip on foot to swap it out, so I really didn't even think about it). As such, I didn't wind up getting all the way outside and going for the bigger ones as much as I should have, and wound up with more fatigue on my first day out (after a long period of barely surfing, I was outta shape), when the rest of the trip was perfect for it 6 foot w/ occ. 7' sets the 2nd day and fading through the week. Now, I need to get my noggin in the game and get a mid-sized wave board, for punchier stuff where it's not quite gun ready. A lot of shapers have demo boards for you to try, as well... It couldn't hurt to go out and have a surf with them to. Depending on the rapport, you may be able to arrange that. However, you'll likely have to find them and do it on the down low. Let's see, Ricky Carroll is a regular at (not so) Secret Spot #293864X, Tom Neilson is a regular at (not so) secret spot #342678G, and on down the list... I'm 225#, so mine is really beefy. Albeit, the shaper didn't put the dimensions on the board before it was glassed (I couldn't stay for the final touches)...

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There's no surf on Wall Street!
One man's loss is another man's gold...Operating principal behind Wall Street, and sadly, to a large extent, America

Edited: 07/24/2014 at 10:15 AM by Kinwesurfnow

Again, Mayo Farrah tweaked like mine... talk to Larry.

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"Don't count the days, make the days count." -Ali
#rydyrstrong

Again, all the shapers in the area are super cool and very talented at what they do. You might get some decent info here but your best bet is to call a shaper and speak to them directly. That being said, my vote for a "one board quiver" for Florida is a flashback round tail shaped by Mike Daniel at coil 

If you're a bigger guy, you might go with a bigger shaper. I had the problem of light shapers not being able to" imagine sinking the rail" and talking me in to less foam than I ultimately wanted... I've been able to sink every rail I've come across fine, even a 12'1" Laird in walled up hurricane swell...

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There's no surf on Wall Street!
One man's loss is another man's gold...Operating principal behind Wall Street, and sadly, to a large extent, America

Go with a coil. I have an m80 shaped by mike Daniels and it is pretty versatile. Plus those boards last forever. Just email mike and tell him what you want.