what did I do right? or wrong?

[RinkyDink]

OK that's good but is advanced basics, bottom turn to top turn ( Mick Fanning level).

Every advanced move in which I fail has a start in an inadequate preceding basic skill, that is multiplied in the next or a subsequent move.
A full set of basic skills in not painting by numbers , but the very basis of all that you want to do in surfing.
Experimentation in pushing your skills is important and so is sometimes just relating to the wave and having a joyous ride with it.

The best surfers on any equipment I see are those that generate speed form move to move.
Observe the good guys at your beach see if what I suggest is true!

I agree. I think I just miscommunicated what the 360 trick was intended to do. It's just hard to explain that shifting your board in whitewater flats applies to shifting your board along the wall of a wave. Maybe I should call it the arc trick and suggest that beginners try to make as wide of an arc with their surfboard when they end up at the end of a whitewater push.

[dtc]

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25810&start=20#p187802

Not really suggesting a 360 although it is, I guess, an extension of the concept. Personally IF there isn't anyone at all around then I don't see the harm in trying; but probably it's more effective anyway to try 90-180 degree turns one after another because that is more like what you will be doing on a wave and won't throw your back out...ticky tacking into the beach for a bit then a controlled dismount

[Big H]

How about just a kick out, laying down and paddling back out? In that other thread the suggestion was to get learners to move their foot back far enough to do a faster turn, practicing on the end if the wave. Same idea, 180 ish kick out with board control.

[oldmansurfer]

On that wave perhaps a foam climb after a bottom turn would get you closer to the unbroken wave and maybe 2 foam climbs would get you to the front of the wave if they were quick and associated with a forward hop or unweighting but I think that's a bit above this surfers level. So lining up further out and paddling before the wave gets to you might have resulted in a little better results.

[RinkyDink]

https://surfing-waves.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25810&start=20#p187802

Not really suggesting a 360 although it is, I guess, an extension of the concept. Personally IF there isn't anyone at all around then I don't see the harm in trying; but probably it's more effective anyway to try 90-180 degree turns one after another because that is more like what you will be doing on a wave and won't throw your back out...ticky tacking into the beach for a bit then a controlled dismount

I was wrong, dtc. You had good recommendations too, but I got the 360 idea from drowningbitbybit in the following link.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=25955&hilit=360+trick&start=20#p189087

[pmcaero]

In the whitewater my board did like a 25 degree shift to the side (if that), but I was thinking about the 360s

Yeah that angle sounds about right. I don't think it's any more dangerous to you or anyone than the inevitable fall off the board, in fact I think it's safer cause I ended up behind the board.
But I only managed it once so who knows. It was fun to try it.

[waikikikichan]

in fact I think it's safer cause I ended up behind the board:

And on a windy On-Shore day that board you jumped off of will catch air, hover a bit, and come right back down just as your head surfaces. Safest thing is to kick out and grab your board. Try to surf as if you weren't connected by a leash.

[pmcaero]

you mean off-shore, right? unless I spin the board so well it throws me off shoreward, which probably won't happen for a while

[jaffa1949]

So I am trying to catch some small unbroken wave with my 9 footer. But I always have problems reading the waves, I am either in the wrong position or going to the wrong direction after pop up. My paddling is probably not up to scratch too. But this one, I think I somehow "catch" the wave but it only lasts a few seconds. it is because this wave is a closeout? or I am just not paddling quick enough?

I always have waves passing me over no matter how hard I think I am paddling, even with this longboard I am using now. (supposed more volume and easier)

Let's bring this back to Frostless's questions. He doesn't need a session on the semantics of what name somebody thought was a move!
The wave was a closeout it had very little face to take off on and was crumbly to weak water straight away, so reading the waves and surf positioning to a spot where the waves give a wall to ride would be my first tip.
You rode what little power there was down to the bottom. It was the end of the ride. ( would be so for anyone).
1.So wave choice
2. A little more paddling down the face would ensure you caught the wave if you look you see more that the wave caught you by breaking above you, basically a white water push.
In better waves you would miss by having the wave pass under you as you haven't matched its speed or exceeded the speed. feel the wave pick you and then tae another stroke or two down the face and push your board downwards as part of your pop up! ( important for quicker and bigger surf).
3.Get out more often, you are at a typical stage, what I can see of your stance looks like it will be functional.
4 You are doing OK, enjoy

[oldmansurfer]

The terminology was just to explain why it didn't feel like he was riding whitewater.

[oldmansurfer]

Actually perhaps I should explain that a bit more. Sometimes when a wave breaks it crumbles at the top so there is a face of whitewater. Underneath that whitewater is still a wave. In those instances it is very similar in feeling to riding an unbroken wave when you are clearly riding whitewater although it may be a little bit bumpier ride. Sometimes whitewater is the result of the wave pitching over and smacking the bottom then coming back up. In those cases trying to use the whitewater will be extremely difficult. As you get better at turning you will be able to ride up whitewater and back down just like you were turning on the unbroken face of a wave and sometimes make it through sections where the wave closes out on you. This maneuver is called a foam climb. What you did I call a foam climb on takeoff but it isn't really something I try to do but happens when I catch a wave and I am out of position for it and the wave breaks under me but I can still feel that feeling that I caught the wave so I stand and ride the whitewater down. I really enjoy that because long ago when I used to surf I never did that and it is so easy to do. So I may call it a foam climb on takeoff but really it only happens because I screwed up lining up for the wave. So implied there is you also screwed up lining up the wave.