Surfing Waves

I can reliably catch unbroken waves, but I'm struggling to turn 'down the line' as it were.

If I start travelling at any sort of angle, I stall and drop off the back of the wave... ?

what board you ride?

on a shortboard it can be harder, really you should pump the board a little to stay on the open face otherwise the board slows down a lot (normally) but on minimals it's usually ok and the same with longboards. however the size of wave you are riding could be the problem

If I interpret this right you can make the turn but you can not stay in the wave once you turn. This could be due to wave placement. You may be getting out in front of the wave or in other words too far in front of the push. Try slowing the borad down or cutting back into the wave to be in the part that has push.

it could also be that you're angling the board up the wave face to much?

If I start travelling at any sort of angle, I stall and drop off the back of the wave... ?

Sounds like you are too high on the wave and havnt created enough momentum. Try dropping down further on the wave and making a more agressive bottom turn - basically just swing your head in the direction you want to go and the rest of your body will move accordingly.

Sorry if I was a little unclear, basically, I can't turn! I take off travelling forward and can't turn, even the most minor of course alteration leaves me stalling.

To get more speed / momentum / further down the wave - I adjust my weight forwards, and squat down a bit?

Btw, I ride a funboard / fat boy flier (that's what Kitey called it I belive) it's 7'4 x 21 1/4 x 2 5/8.

It looks a little something like this:

Pay attention to what isaluteyou had to say. Turn your head in the direction you want to go. This will also cause you to turn your upper torso a littel bit in the direction you desire. Give it a try and report back.

Sorry if I was a little unclear, basically, I can't turn! I take off travelling forward and can't turn, even the most minor of course alteration leaves me stalling.

i revamp what i said earlier but it could also be a simple matter of a stance correction, i.e are you putting too much weight on the back of the board that will cause a lot of stall thus losing momentum quickly and not being able to turn.

I doubt it has much to do with the board as you should beable to whip that around fairly easily.

you could possibly take off on a little bit of an angle down the face of the wave so there's less of an 'epic' turn (untill you can turn succesfully), but try out some different things

Thanks for the help guys, I'll try all the suggestions out the next time I get in the water.

I´m just a kook but here is what i do. i do take off on my feet but stays in cruch position, then i just press down on the rail with one hand to turn , and then i stand up going down the line( all this i do in a quick motion so dont get caught up in the whitewash...