Surfing Waves

Hi,
I'm a beginner.
I've done some practice few times on a longboard and didn't have any problems standing up and turning (thx to my snowboarding skills).
I decided to buy my stuff for carry on.
I got a 7' board (I'm about 1.78 tall) and around 60kg of weight.
I have some troubles when I lay on the board, before catching the waves.
Often the top of my board goes underwater when the waves comes, and if I carry on trying to catch it, the board just keep going down with the top part and I fall in the water.
I tried to move my center body position a bit back (so my feet are out the board now), but if I do that I can't catch the wave energy (or rarely tho).

When I used the longboard during a lesson, the instructor told me to keep the feet at the end of the board.

When I try on this shorter board I have this problem and I can't find any answers about how the body must be on a shorter board.


All suggestions are welcome

Thx!

In general your nose should be out of the water about an inch. It's also just time. You learn to adjust according to different boards but if your nose is digging in, you definitely need to be further back.

you need to find the pivot point between you and the board, then when the wave approaches, arch your back, legs up, chest up then paddle. when you are paddling for the wave,the only thing that should be on your board is your six pack (or what ever you have in that area) .

^ Yup, captainmainwaring is bang on here though I'd like to add : while you arch your back (as in reeeely arch it ) tilt your head back too to make sure you keep your weight back to stop the 'board nose-diving.

:: Hwyl i'chi ::

And you feet will get further of the back of the board the shorter you go in board length. you just need to play around on it too find the sweet spot.

Thx a lot!
I'll give it a try next time I'm in the waves.
So, the feet is not really the big deal here, it depends on the board size, right?
Cheers guys!

clod81 yeah, but remember - its feels reeeeealy odd and straining - takes a while to build to the arch.

yeah, not easy.
just need to try and try

thanks for the tip guys!
worked well and I had good fun!