Trying to work out what conditions would be preferable for either of these two. Both are touted as small wave machines. Cheers for any insights!!
You have some info here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/Shroom-vs--Skate-vs--performance-longboard-for-soft-mushy-stuff
From the specs, the Shroom seems geared for weaker/slower/smaller waves, and the Skate should have more paddling speed with its more pulled in nose.
My personal preferences for each board (others use them differently)
9'2 Skate:
I use this board quite a bit, because it is so much fun in many soft conditions.
It prefers sloping wave faces.
I got a slightly bigger size because I also use it in winter, when stability in a full winter wetsuit is important.
Very stable and a good paddler
The lower rocker gets into waves early and easily.
A good mush board.
The Skate is aptly named because the way I ride it is different from any of my other boards.
The wide tail likes to be used similar to a skateboard on a flat parking lot.....
you kick turn a skateboard from side to side to build speed on flat ground.
I use the same style on the Skate by "banging back and forth" from rail to rail... like kick turning the skateboard.
The Skate will carve, but the "Skate" factor is the most fun.
Very fast board that will project a nice speed turn down the line.
There are limits to the Skate, defined by the low nose rocker and the wide tail.
The wide tail can let go in steep takeoffs and spin out..... and high speed turns can get squirrely
The low nose rocker can stick in on steep takeoffs and kick the tail out.
8'3 Shroom:
It is reasonably comfortable for me at 106 kg. (the 8'7 was WAY too big for me)
Where the Shroom excels for me, is clean juicy waves up to 3 feet.
Super snappy and great at carving short radius turns.... very good acceleration and whole bunch of fun!
It actually wears me out quickly because it will snap so many turns on a small wave.
I limit it to 3' because when I ride bigger waves on the Shroom, I find I have scrub off speed to get a good solid carve.
The wide tail has a limit to the speed it can handle in a turn.
I don't ride it in mush because I have boards I prefer in those conditions.... the Shroom is pretty small for me in junky surf.
The feeling of the concave deck, concave bottom and step rail has to be felt to be appreciated.
The way it engages the rail makes it super carvy for a short square board (see how it works in pic below)
