Surfing Waves

So I'm finally getting proficient enough to catch waves consistently at my local beach break. But more often than not, once I've made the drop I have no idea what to do next. When I ride my longboard at the point break I just cruise and trim. I did an alright bottom turn this morning because I think for once I was actually planning on it. Is that the secret? Plan the bottom turn? I can't wait to start hitting the lip and doing blow tails! And tips are welcome! Oh and I'm riding a 5'11" foamie.

Interesting question: what should I do on the wave? Basically everything that makes it fun, I would say. For more challenging waves just making the drop gets me stoked, but on a more easy ride I can get the same stoke from doing hard carving turns.

Planning a maneuver can help cos u can think about how to do it, and then match that with ur experiences on the wave to piece it together, until it gets ingrained in muscle memory and u can do it without thinking.

But, it's the wave that gives the clues for what can be done. For me often I think afterwards, hey that was thé opportunity to do this or that. And then maybe next time a wave offers that, I try executing the maneuver or if I'm just not yet ready for it, I think afterwards: hey!

Once you've mastered a maneuver you can keep working on it to make it more radikal, the learning never stops

Bottom turn is THE single most important maneuver to learn. It sets up everything else. I always plan on doing a bottom turn but sometimes have to do something else because the wave doesn’t allow it. So bottom turn is the default maneuver. However I don’t ever think about doing one. It’s just default mode. So yeah you should plan on it with every wave until it becomes default

Wait I'm confused, you're catching waves and you're bored while on them?