It feels awkward

[Rowlly21]

My turns feel slow and difficult so I am hoping you guys can help me out from these 2 pictures

[Rowlly21]

[oldmansurfer]

Alright! you are at the wave pool in Wales. From the looks of it you are too far forward on the board for turning. Good position for riding that wave but you need to move forward for riding and back for turning.

[Rowlly21]

Yeah man, I hit up the wavepool within the first week of it opening, this is only the intermediate wave but it was perfect for a beginner like me, I caught every wave so it was all worth the money.

Regarding board position are you saying that I should walk up and down the board depending on my position on the wave or just generally set myself abit further back overall ?

[waikikikichan]

Photo 1: Your front arm is locked to your body, restricting your shoulder from "opening" to the wave. Which in turn, limits the chest, waist from twisting. Notice your back arm is reactively rising, to make up for you leaning not turning.

Photo 2: You're leaning on your front leg. The "triangle" ( between your two feet and crotch ) is forward. Drive and control comes from the fins. Where are the fins located on the board ? They're at the back. You're also so far up on the board, that the whole rail line is engaged. The tail is sliding butt ( water coming off the front/middle of the board instead of the tail ). So the board is not going forward but falling down the waves face.

Part of the problem is your board. Sponge boards rails don't bite hard into the face of the wave anyways. Plus the fins flex soo much. But with the right technique you can make them perform.

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah I guess you need to be a bit back but if it were me I would be moving forward to go fast and back to turn the board.

[yumyumyellow]

As others have said, you are trying to turn from the middle of the board. That just won't work. You will bog every time. You need to get WAY back on that tail, and weight your back foot to turn. On anything over 6'6" or so, that means you will need to get comfortable moving around on the board.

Aside from that, you also need to have some speed in order to turn in the first place.

[Rowlly21]

Thanks guys really helpful, so position myself further back and open out my arms to allow my upper body to rotate more. The wave seemed pretty slow so hopefully I can get some better waved at the beach soon !

Ps I can turn a lot nicer when not going backside it's just backside feels odd ! But seriously enjoy surfing and hoping to get out a lot more !