I (26F) need help figuring out how to handle the board
I took a few lessons inconsistently starting last august, and now I am 2 weeks into a month long stint in Portugal, 3 weeks of which I have scheduled surf lessons every weekday morning. I've learned a lot in the past 2 weeks, started to catch my own waves in the white water and even a couple of green waves if the conditions are *just right*.
But that's the thing, even after doing my research to find a town with waves that are supposed to be mellow and appropriate for beginners (Baleal) many a morning I've gone out for class and it's so windy the board keeps flying away from me even on land and the waves are slam dunking me back to the shore.
I am 4'10" currently using an 8'0" foamie and I am still struggling to hold the board. It's easiest when there's no wind so I can hold it "upside down" with the handle closest to me, since my arms are too short to reach it the "right" way where I would ideally tuck it into my armpit and have more space between me and the handle. But if it's super windy, I don't carry the board, the board carries me.
Once in the water I feel like I spend more time wrestling the waves than catching them. I've gotten much better at paddling out and going over the waves the last couple of weeks but I feel like every time I start to reach about where the instructor wants us to paddle out to where the instructor wants us, a wave that is simply too big for me to go over blows me back to where I started. I've spoken to one of the instructors about if maybe there's a way I can try going under the wave and pushing the board down with me but he told me "you weigh maybe 20 kilos, you won't be able to push it down". And honestly given my experiences so far he's most likely right but I feel at a loss and frustrated with my inability to hold down my own weight, especially as I'm going into my my last week of guaranteed consistent surf time for the near future. I want to stay safe and I want to make progress by I feel like I'm failing at both.
Does anyone have any advice to help me make the most of this last week? Or even for the long haul? Anything would be greatly appreciated.