Welcome to the OMBEverse! 🤙

First thing I'd say is that the second take off is much better, there's less stress paddling and your legs stay together.

On both, however, you're rushing down the line and almost wiggling, try to slow things down and use the wave to do the work.

As for the turn, having the arms up seems to help keep your front arm out of the way so you can twist, now you just need to pass the coffee back to the foam and hold the rail longer 👍

I've had a few good sessions there recently, but an awful one yesterday.

I think I'd overdone it with swimming and gym the previous two days and was utterly exhausted and had to quit because I couldn't handle the conditions 😢

It's a shame, because this morning was also looking good, but there was no chance of me getting out ☹️

North Devon has also been very good according to a friend who lives in Bideford, hope you've been catching some waves 🏄‍♂️

Ben I wouldn't trust Chat GPT full stop 😉

Here's the OMBE guide: https://www.ombe.co/guides/what-surf-skate-do-we-recommend

Surf skating in a bowl (transitions) is closest to being on a wave, you're compressing and extending, using the "rail" and looking through the turns, all skills you'll need.

I think Clay would suggest lifting the front elbow and "putting it in your back pocket" to help you twist.

Also instead of looking down at the bottom of the ramp, try to look back at the camera.

Clay recommends the Carver CX trucks as the ones most suitable for emulating the feel of surfing.

The Carver Triton range is a good, reasonably priced option, it's what I bought after looking into getting a surf skate and it's worked well for me.

I have no idea what the problem was, but they're a law unto themselves ☹️

I'd like to tell them to stick it, but it's the only real way I have to keep in touch with friends who have moved away.

My plan is to use an old phone and a cheap Pay As You Go SIM with a different email address that should be different enough for them not to realise it's me 🤞

Try turning your back foot to 45 degrees from the nose so your back knee is pointing the way you want to go, instead of out to the side.

That should help you get the shoulders square on:

Unfortunately it's almost impossible to see anything from that ☹️

From what you describe, it's possible that you're still not getting the weight on the front foot during the bottom turn and when you extend, but that's just a guess.