It definitely takes some time and enough reps in the water for it to start clicking, and I think surfing is just humbling in general. Can go from your best ride ever on one wave to botching the take off on the next one.

From looking at the clip, only thing I would suggest is maybe try a session with a slightly bigger board to help smooth things out. That board looks a little too reactive.

Emily Brooks Thanks! Feel like I am slowly progressing one blurry clip at a time!

I've been riding a 7'0" funshape lately, including in this clip, rather than the 5'10" board that I was riding in most of my other clips. It definitely turns a bit slower, but it's a little easier to get pushed along by the white water and not lose the wave when completing the turn.

I try to open the lead shoulder on the top turn, but a lot of times it feels blocked. I think Clay may be spot on with pointing out I am standing on top of the board versus being on rail, and that is creating that sensation of being pulled out of the turn.

Thanks, that makes sense and gives me something to focus on. I think I've become overly cautious about digging the rail to the point where I am not actually trying to engage thr rail.

I think if you commited to more of a bottom turn you would have setup that first top turn in a better spot.

Nice, improvements!

I think you're bringing your back arm foward a little early when you travel up the wave going into the top turn. I do this as well, although I think your timing is better than mine. What I've noticed is that bringing the arm forward too soon can lead to a slight counter rotation at the start of the top turn (like the first turn of the second wave) which blocks the upper body from twisting back to the foam in one fluid motion.

If you look at this still from the top turn side by side video of Ant and Clay, Ant's back arm comes foward at the bottom of the wave while Clay's arm comes forward as part of his twist at the top of wave.

How are you doing with catching waves and getting to your feet on the foam board? I think that will be the main challenge in transitioning to a hard top.

I went from a 7'6" foam board to a 7'0 funshape hard top and found it still had a good amount of paddle power and glide. From there I made my way down to a shortboard, but I've recently been riding the funshape again in smaller waves and actually prefer it over the shorter boards.

I think almost any type of hard top long board or funshape will be a lot more manueverable than the foam boards. Just based on my own experience I wouldn't go any shorter than 7' or 7'6" range to start with.

If you have access to try or borrow a hard top before deciding on a board that would be even better.

Thanks, I've actually practicing my popup on land recently.

On the second clip I realized I got ahead of the wave so I just went with it and tried to setup a cutback at the end. I agree though, it did look a bit wiggly.