Winter surfboard recommendations?

I would go smaller unless you are charging >DOH waves. I am 6-1 and 215. My shorty is 6-11 and it's plenty big for me. Given your weight you shouldn't need anything over 6-10. Actually 6-8 sounds better. Anything over 6-10 is purely going to be for paddling. Unless of course you are into triple overhead. Then my commentary is of no use.

I am 5'7", 160 lbs, surfing for approx 10 years. I surf about 7-9 months out of the year. A good week for me is 2-3x / week.I can surf OB comfortably but am not an expert surfer.

I spent many years working my way down from an 8' board. I went to a 6'8", then a 6'4". Now I mostly surf a 6'0" and a 5'11", though I go to bigger boards as the waves go to OH++. My personal experience is that it's not really the length of the board that's the biggest deal but the shape, especially thickness (and not just max thickness in center, but how far out to the edges / front / tail the thickness is carried), rocker (flatter seems to be better for our mushier waves), and board outline (more volume in nose = easier to get into smaller waves).

My strong recommendation would be to go to a shaper (there are many in SC, my latest came from Vernor), and talk to them. The first board that REALLY worked for me was my 6'0" shaped by Proctor in Ventura. I liked my 6'4" Firewire Quadraflex, but felt I wasn't getting into as many of the smaller shittier waves as I would have liked. Todd Proctor recommended that I go SMALLER, but with a shape / rocker that would make it easier on me. I was super dubious but he was 100% right - that 6'0" totally took my surfing to a new level.

Anyway, my gut feeling is that at 180 you could go as short at 6'2"-6'4" no problem (except for DOH+ waves, then you want a bigger board / gun), but that only using board length as the yardstick is too simplified a way to ask the question...

And lastly, I guess there is always the question of - what are you trying to do? If you just want max wave count, maybe don't go shorter at all (or go to a longboard). However, if you're thinking of going shorter it's probably because you want to start making better turns, in which case you want a maneuverable board that you can paddle well enough, duck dive, and also get into a bunch of waves, say from waist - head high.

Good luck, have fun, don't be scared of going shorter (with the right shaper).

yep, go to a shaper

even if you don't get a board from him/her.

talk to them about their shapes and what they're designed for, they're a wealth of info.

make sure you do this in person --

(the shaper needs to be able to assess your fitness level to give you accurate feedback).