The stubby-style boards will not be a fad. Every one who has progressed beyond beginner will be riding them in a couple of years.
I have a board similar to the stubby pictures and description in the naish marketing brochure linked in the announcements on the forum index.
My board is 120x39, light concave, flattish rocker and flexible wood core.
I weigh 185 pounds and have fun riding my board in 13 knots to 30 knots using a 16.5 and 15.5 warrior and psycho and a B5 two line foil. It goes through steep lake michigan chop (1-2m) with no problems at all. With the concave and fast rocker it takes very little power to get going and having the planing surface right under your feet gives ultimate control to prevent getting overpowered.
My board is similar but not identical to these earlier versions pictured below. I will get some pics. of the new shape when I can borrow a camera. If you want to try one out and see for yourself without blowing all your money I can build you a complete board with a durable fiberglass skin including fins, straps, grab handle for $275 USD.
Old stubby, this one is too wide for moderate-strong winds and the outline is too curved
Rail and bottom concave, I have improved the rail shape from what is shown. You can see a bit of reflection from the glass skin on the tip of the board
If you are intrested e-mail me at hink_trent@yahoo.com