The other day I was having a conversation with a surf instructor, I asked him whether, for someone like me that is just starting out in surfing should be looking to move to surfing on shortboards or to keep surfing longboards as I have been.

His answer was simple, but I found it surprisingly meaningful. He equated surfing on a longerboard with riding a bicycle with training wheels down a hill*. If you are comfortable and ready to take the wheels off to ride down the hill, then by all means, go for it. But there is nothing wrong with keeping the training wheels on until you can ride down the hill confidently.

In any event, the conversation lead me to what I was already feeling - I think it will be better for me to stick with the longer boards for now so that I can catch more and more waves, more confidently. Considering today's conditions, which were swampy and mushy at best, I took a 9ft out and despite the challenging conditions, I felt somehow, that the waves I caught showed some improvement in speed and movement along the wave. I also tried to be a little more expansive with my movements which, very subtly felt like they went quicker and smoother than before.

Now I just need to get my lazy, sort-of-drop-knee, pop-up fixed...

• No disrepect meant to longboard riding - longboarding is as much a skill and art itself. To that effect, it may even be harder to make longboarding look good! It just fits with the analogy in the sense that a longboard is easier for a beginner to stand up on, easier to catch more waves and in the right conditions, easier to paddle too. For beginners, smaller boards are akin to riding a bicycle on with the training wheels off: harder to balance, harder to paddle, hard to stand-up on and stay on.