progressing slowly but its better than going backwards! still have the stoke even when it can be a little frustrating! I just try to remember of all the fools watching the same show on cable while I'm floating on liquid watching the sun rise! close to sex!
What I did during the frustrating times of learning was focus on little improvements or one successful moment a session. Keep doing that and one day things just click.
Yeah, honestly it's the little things that can keep you motivated while learning. Even now, sometimes when I feel like I'm just flailing around out there I'll set a goal for my next wave. Conditions usually dictate the goal, i.e., 2 turns on the next wave on my 5'11 or catching a bump on the longboard and milking it to the sand.
I think there is a weird little period in a surfer's progression, when regression is a mind fu(k. You start trying to get everything exactly right; you start comparing yourself to other surfers who are better than you. Rides and waves you would have claimed earlier are disappointing. At least that happened with me. A really good surfer got me out of that funk by making me think about surfers I was comparing myself to. I'll never be on the tour. I'll never be sponsored. I'll probably never even enter a local contest. But I am that old guy who paddles out a lot, catches some waves and sometimes takes a beat down, and paddles back for more. I've come to be happy with that.
Indo boarding is a great way to improve your style, or stay tuned up when you are landlocked. Lately I have been progressing in finding the speedy sweet spots in the wave face, and having more patience on the wave, letting it and the board do their thing while I do mine. Growing up on a twin fin, if you weren't turning or sliding or doing some rad slash, you were just milking it. Power turns and linking maneuvers with style becomes more natural the older you get. I may look like a spaz, but I am a spaz with style.
Age means progression though, at least in numbers! Okay, that was a bad joke, I know. I haven't tried one before. I'm not good with skateboards either, never was. I have been open to trying out a SUP though, whereas I laughed about them in recent years. I would only use it on the flat days though. Seems like it's a good way to stay in good conditioning though.