In my quest for world domination and my first forward, I thought I'd actually try to get the fin out of the water today. All the videos say to angle the board so that the wind hits the bottom of it. Or point your toes. Or tuck the board under your bum.
And you know what?
It works! 
Just that one simple movement pretty much doubled my hangtime... Admittedly it's only half a second to one second but hey it's a start 
So for anyone else who's firmly attached to mother earth, give it a go. You'll be pleasantly surprised
