Why am I losing speed going down the line?!

[waikikikichan]

I think I'm not turning quickly enough, I take off at an angle and turn but I think either not fast enough or not sharply enough to get where I need to be on a wave.

I'm not very good at bottom turning, I try to angle my take off and turn straight away, but it is a small turn as apposed to catching the wave towards the beach and taking a sharp turn; I find when I do this I'm not able to get in front of the white wash which is exactly like you said. Perhaps I should practise a sharper turn when I pop up, but like I said this often results in coming off the wave.

Ahhhh.... No. Your just chopping your momentum right when you need it the most. Yes, there are waves that are "down the line" waves where some surfers can use that quick mid face turn and set their line immediately, but not in your case or level. You need to learn to BOTTOM TURN. Everything happens after the bottom turn. Cutbacks, Airs, Barrel / Tube rides, and even Nose riding all DEPEND on a well executed bottom turn.

Remember riding down a hill on a skateboard, traversing from curb to curb ? Too tight a "cut", you lose momentum and traction. You need to flow, not make quick herky jerky abrupt movements. ( that's what you learn on a bigger board, that latter transfer to short(er) boards )

[waikikikichan]

I am using a thruster set up so will have to give a quad set up a go. It sounds like I might be not turning correctly and am not as high on the wave as I think, but anything to help with speed would be great.

You're just changing the Arrow, not the Indian. If you don't have speed on a Thruster ( and can't bottom turn ), getting a Quad set up will not help, just make things worse. Putting a Turbo on your car to "go faster", won't matter if you don't know how to properly shift first.

[waikikikichan]

Too much weight on my back foot: Maybe, I know putting weight on the back is like using the breaks

????? You need to seriously work on this mindset. Your bottom turn, your riding on the upper 2/3 wave's face , any turns, your whole riding a surfboard depends on you correcting this.

lots of experience pumping around a bowl on a skateboard, snowboarding and practice with a CARVER surfskate so feel very comfortable with the sensation of turning rail to rail and pumping.

So then why do you have a problem pumping for speed on a wave ? Because a wave is at an angle, flowing up and over. So you need to learn to resist and relax in rhythm. Out of rhythm, turning too early or too late up or down just kills speed. You're on a 5'9". You need to pump to create speed. If you want to just glide and trim down the line, then get a bigger board.

In Japan we have a lot of river banks with these curved banked flood walls. Try find one of these to practice your pumping.

fast forward to 1:17

[pmcaero]

I think I'm not turning quickly enough, I take off at an angle and turn but I think either not fast enough or not sharply enough to get where I need to be on a wave.

what helped me was when I stopped thinking about the first turn as a bottom turn, rather, I starting weight shifting for turning as I pop up, all in a single motion.

[steveylang]

As others have said, it could be many things and posting video will help a lot. You're able to catch waves easily on your puddle jumper and point it down the line, but not getting good rides out of that or even the fun board, something doesn't seem to line up. One thing seems like for sure- if you weren't getting good down the line rides on your fun board, then you switched to a shorter board too early.

Which beach breaks specifically do you surf? You might want to take your fun board to Topanga, Surfrider, or Sunset sometime, those are nice rolling breaks and might be helpful to experience that.

[steveylang]

I think I'm not turning quickly enough, I take off at an angle and turn but I think either not fast enough or not sharply enough to get where I need to be on a wave.

what helped me was when I stopped thinking about the first turn as a bottom turn, rather, I starting weight shifting for turning as I pop up, all in a single motion.

Ditto for me. I mean you have to start a bottom turn before you actually reach the bottom, so for me thinking of it literally as a 'bottom turn' hurt my timing.

[pmcaero]

In Japan we have a lot of river banks with these curved banked flood walls. Try find one of these to practice your pumping.

please don't go on narrow strips like in this video this unless you are already an accomplished skateboarder...

[ConcreteVitamin]

Another cool video of someone pumping up and down the face to gain speed.

[Oggy]

Bigger board would help. I’m on a 9’2 and I love the thing! Just love getting in trim and going down the line. Good luck trying to get me onto a smaller board and trying to get the smile off my face!

[surferbee]

How to generate speed in one simple step:
1) Surf like Mick Fanning