Posting a clip from last April and one from today. Same spot, same board, and very similar rides. Not my best turn today, but was curious to compare it to the one from April because the lines and turn were so similar.

I feel like I at least got slightly more on rail on the turn from today versus last April. Still tend to trim along the bottom of the wave rather than pumping top to bottom, but honestly still feels fun.

One thing that happens a lot is my hands tend to go over my head as I am dropping back down the wave. Not sure what is causing that.

Last one from the wave pool.

Had a lot of fun there. Would definitely recommend for anyone thinking of going.

I did mostly intermediate sessions to work on a carving top turn/cutback, but I'll probably give some other settings a try whenever I get back there.

Going to shift my focus from the top turn to the bottom turn. I think I end up extending at the bottom of the wave and then suck my knees up rather than staying compressed and on rail through the bottom turn. I think this throws off my timing at the top of the wave.

Second session at Atlantic Park. Working on holding the bottom turn longer. Made some improvement from the first day and got my head around better on the top turns. I found if I tried to bank off the foam on the cutback I usually lost the section.

Made it to the Atlantic Park Surf Lagoon today. Have a couple more sessions this weekend.

Working on that first turn. I can see I need to get my front arm out of the way and follow thru with my back arm.

This was the intermediate wave, which I thought was a lot of fun.

Has anyone been to the Atlantic Park Surf Lagoon in Virginia Beach?

I am heading there in a couple weeks. Planning to do some intermediate sessions and focus on forehand carving turns/cutbacks.

Would be curious to hear about anyone else's experience beforehand.

These clips are several months apart and I probably averaged one or two sessions a week over that time frame.  Usually end up getting a couple turns/attempt per session, so maybe the equivilant of three or four wave pool sessions.  Hoping to get to one in the fall and speed up the learning curve.

Still looks like I am folding forward too much going into the turn, but I've been working on actively moving my right arm out of the way rather than letting it hang in place.  This has allowed me to look back at the wave more freely, and I think the board really follows where you look. Practicing on the surfskate has helped.

Pre-OMBE I would have bolted down the line on both of these waves. Changing my line has helped get the turn count up in these short beach break waves.

Chipping away at it. 

Graham Marsden Been focusing on getting my front arm out of the way on frontside top turns. I've read your "put your elbow in your back pocket" comment enough times that it's finally starting to carry over into the water.

I think I still need to open that shoulder sooner, but at least my arms were both pointing in the direction I wanted them to go.

Well as usual it felt better than it looked, but I'm happy anytime I don't dig the rail on the top turn.  I can see I am still releasing out of the bottom turn too early and I didn't follow through with my back arm on the top turn, but glad the board got directed back to the foam anyway.

My main take away from this footage is my positioning at the take off.  I should have been closer to the peak right? There's a jetty offscreen that I was anxious about getting too close to, but it looks like I should have been further to the left of the screen at take off.

Anybody have any good tips for assisting a brand new surfer catch whitewater waves and attempt to stand for the first time?

I'll be helping my niece in a week or so.  I have a 7'6" soft tech foam board which has plenty of volume but hoping it won't be too short.

Should I try to push her into the white water waves or just help keep her in position and have her paddle into it on her own or have her paddle and give a little push if needed?