Hi, Guys I am absolutely new here with OMBE, been surfing for a while but it's getting ridiculous. So I thought it's time to step up and make some improvements. 

Had a few pool sessions recently  and it was painful.

What do you guys think about pool vs ocean? If you would have a choice which would you take? 

New to OMBE.  Anybody here in the US (specifically East Coast)? 

I know they've built a wave pool in Virginia Beach that is going to open up in the near future.  Are there ever any OMBE Meet-Ups in the US?

Getting way more consistent on my pop-up thanks to OMBE series.

The look down the line as I "Oreo biscuit" is a game changer. Yew! 

I just saw the youtube video about Amy on the Mentawais trip and it seemed to me that, to a certain extent, the video was suggesting that for Amy as an intermediate surfer, she was improving from changing into a smaller volume board. Not sure if that was the case, mainly because of the steeper waves of Mentawais or more in general, but it led me to think if maybe I am holding back myself from progressing faster by riding a much bigger board (in both volume and dimensions).

I am a woman (54 kg) riding for the past year (I do not live in the coast but get to surf maybe 90 days per year) a 7'4 packed with volume (22 1/2", 2 7/8", and 53.89L). I consider myself a beginner-intermediate, surfing along the face of the wave and recently trying to cut back to the power source, but struggling to make bottom and top turns. I am getting more confident in the water surfing for the most part in France and Sri Lanka (0.8 - 1.4 meter waves), but I still struggle to catch waves some days and positioning myself at the peak. My question is: should I be moving into a smaller and less volume board to "feel" the wave more and in doing so improve faster, or try to get better at turning with my current board before sizing down? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!