Long time lurker here - this post has really f'ed with my mind and has given me some severe madness.
42 years old, 5'8, size 10. I'm a shorter dude, with most of my height in my upper body (29/30" inseam)
Started back skating a couple months ago after last time seriously skating in 2003 or so. (last board was a 7.75")
After checking out several boards i figured a 8.25 would be a good spot for me, didn't want to try hucking around a big board right off the start.
I acquired an 8 inch Deathwish board, had great pop and overall felt a little comfortable, but didn't really care for the concave and wanted to go a tad wider. Enter in a 8.38 Foundation, a 8.25 Krooked, 8.06 Krooked, and an 8.25 Real. None of them could replicate the same feeling of the Deathwish. I literally tried everything, Indy Hollows, Indy Titaniums to lower it, risers, no risers, and wheel size.
After reading this tread i looked a closer look at the dimensions, sure enough all had longer tails and wheelbases ranging from 14.3ish to almost 14.5. Went to my local shop and the only thing they had was a Welcome Nora Mid size. 8.128 x 31.4, 14.1 wheelbase, 6.3" tail. Built it up with the 144 Indy Titaniums, and OJ 92's 54mm. This board feels pretty much perfect. Pop is back and easy to toss around. It's interesting that the nose area of this deck is narrows down to about 8 inches over front truck and concave flattens, all the concave and width are towards the back - which makes flip tricks easier for me but also get a little more real estate in the back end. Next will be a FA/Hockey board since their dimensions seem to be in my ballpark as well.
I made a little wheel "jig" where i could put all my boards side by side to get a comparison of angle in the ollie position, pretty interesting stuff. Seems like I like a board with a little more incline in the pop position, 14ish WB and shorter tail.
I guess size does matter.