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I would definitely go longer, before I go shorter, on the wheelbase, but I am also taller with longer legs.
Skated the black eagle 8.125 x 32 with 14.25 wb for a long time, but also used to skate the 8.18 x 31.8 with 14.38 wb and the only thing I found different was the shorter tail on the 8.18, more so than the wheelbase change.
Since giving up on smaller boards and going more for the green eagle 8.38 x 32.2 with 14.5 wb or other BBS 8.5 x 32.3 with 14.5 shapes, I find it is just more comfortable on that slightly longer wb.
I also have a number of other boards with 14.6 through 14.75 and even a few 15 wb like the orange eagle, which although is big and a bit slow on the turns, I can still get on with it quite well but I don't skate them any more than a short while otherwise my usual 8.38 and 8.5 boards start to feel too small, in the same way the black eagle with the 14.25 wb now feels too small for me.
Sure you are going to have a fair skate with boards that work better for your height, leg length, but it is also down to adapting to whatever boards, as I know some really small guys who skate some of the biggest boards around and still have more flips, better board control and everything just works for them on those bigger boards than what might be considered more normal for them. Then on the other hand, some people really excel when they have a more proportionate board for their size, like the tru fit boards are way too small for me, but they work great for a couple of the other smaller people I know too.
I guess the only thing is, some people don't want to or just flat out can't afford to get all manner of different size setups to work out which one is best, or then it can be a bad thing because they might get used to any or all of them given time, so it is just down to what works the best for them in the long run.
If a board size or shape is not working for you, stop skating it and try something else, but board hopping all over the place might not help a whole lot either, like Ben DeGros trying something, loving it (or hating it) and then trying something else slightly different, or changing it up completely with everything, which might change too much.
Trying to change one thing at a time always works best for me, but then I would also not ride trucks that were too narrow or too wide on a completely different setup, so sometimes changing board size drastically also means you have to change other things too.
The madness and the joy of skateboarding...