Although you'll be going straight down, you shouldn't be looking straight ahead, but at the "strike zone" at the bottom of the wave where you're going to do you the bottom turn. 

Maria Molè  I was very lucky to win the Clayton board!

As for which one to use, mostly I just look at the webcams and surf forecasts and decide based on experience of the conditions.

I video my surfing and surf skating, so I can look back and compare what I was doing to what I am doing and I know there is an improvement, but it's frustrating because I don't get as much chance to practice as I'd like 🙁

Currently I have an 8'2 Torq V+ which is good for UK South Coast beach breaks when they're tiny.

A 7'6 Torq Mod Fun which is a nice mid-range board for slightly bigger conditions.

And the 6'11 "Ambassador" shaped by Clayton himself which I won from the OMBE Prize Draw in the early days 🤙

I'm hoping to get good enough for a shorter and more high performance board at some time, but I won't be holding my breath...

Maria Molè That worked ok.

(Nice claim 👍 )

Maria Molè  I tried to look at that, but it says "Sorry, this page isn't available. The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed."