so i surf in texas and ive never had a longboard so ive just been surfing shortboards and i was decent at it but cause of the summer i havent even been bothering getting out and surfing but even when i was i was just going straight toward the beach following the white water. well today at a local spot i went out and by the time i got out to the line up i was exhausted from paddling out so i guess i need to do some more homework(go out even on not so good quality days just so i dont get outta shape)haha. well yesterday the waves i did manage to catch i would try to turn to go along the face and the board would just turn over sideways. then i started to lean back and try to pivot but with as slow as i was going i couldnt get the wave to pick me back up... soooo thennnn i started to put pressure on my front foot to get some speed and then i would try to lean back and pivot on on my back foot or lean on the rails which would again cause the board to turn over or the wave passed me up so that wasnt working either. and sometimes when i would put weight on my front foot id speed but then id keep adding more pressure because id want more speed but then the front would go just go under.
im about 5'7.5'' tall and the board is a 6'3'' biscuit so any advice in general?