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!

I haven't been surfing for a few months now... Last surf was in April - I know... Sacrilege! Most of the weekends that I went to Jbay the waves just weren't there, or the wind was blowing them flat, or there was a competition on... It has been as if the universe has been against me... I even went to Victoria Bay thinking I would at least get a surf in only to find out there was a friggen competition on... TWICE!! I couldn't believe it... I went to seal point in Cape St Francis and guess what... There were no waves at Seals Point and a competition at the beach break... My surf stoke has been dwindling big time!

Last week was the Corona Open in JBay... Unfortunately due to family commitments we were away the first weekend and the waves were so good we missed the opening rounds, the elimination rounds and the round of 16 as well... And of course Jordy didn't make the finals so we didn't even get to see him surf live either... Fortunately we were there for the finals and man!! What a day.... Waves were epic, surfing was epic, and I have never seen so many people on the beach in front of Super Tubes as we did that day... Was EPIC and seriously one for the books. Made up for all the days we missed!

I did manage to get one surf sesh in on a not so crowded day so that was really fantastic... Not that my surfing was great... Well actually, I was surfing ok considering I haven't surfed in so long... Only issue is that I only rode one wave in 2 hours... Not because of the crowd, but because I just could not get on a wave at all... I was struggling big time... I am so unfit and just didn't have the paddle power at all and the Dalhberg requires fitness and paddle power so I struggled and my body felt it for 4 days after... lol. 

Anyways, in an attempt to revive the stoke, I am going to post a few older vids that I have not shared yet... So to start it off, this was of a wave from my last session in April. Struggling to get it loaded here so I have to link it to YouTube. 

My struggles... The top turn twist... Seems like I get to a point in the twist and then stop... As if in my mind that position is the final place. Much easier to get technique right-ish when it's calm and smooth... I was surfing Tubes this day, which is very fast and over shallow reef... I notice in high risk moments I still revert to the most engrained habits... which usually are the bad ones... Never the less... Feedback from other perspectives is always helpful and welcome! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRujfkyPJxk

And then there are days why you wonder why you bothered to get out of bed... 🙁

So the forecast for Bracklesham was 2-3 ft at 7 seconds with a reasonable amount of push. Not great, but should have been ok and about the best you can generally expect on the south coast of the UK in summer.

There was also a forecast for cross/ onshore winds, but not blowing a hooley.

I looked at the webcams when I woke up early and decided it seemed worth it and headed down there with my 6'11. 

Two mistakes 🙁

The conditions were really messy, almost no decent sets (when there was one, I got caught inside and missed it!) and the rest of the time any semi-good wave ended up with a lump in front of it, spoiling the take off. 

Also I should have gone for the 7'6 or 8'2 board. I did think of taking one of the others, but didn't bother in the end. 

All in all, a totally frustrating experience as I had wanted to practice my shortboard walk-up, but I barely caught any waves in about 90 minutes.

The ones I did went nowhere, even if I managed to get up on them which most of the time I didn't. 

Not a great day of surfing.