That was a very informative post, thanks. Yes, you're right in that I've been up several times and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I see your point about it being a tough time to choose a board.

Right now, my skill level is: I can turn on both my heel and toe sides and maintain my balance in those situations quite well. I can do the "falling leaf" thing in either direction pretty well. I think I've finally settled on a preferred direction (I believe I'm a goofy-foot). My current trouble is transitioning my turns from heel side to toe side and vice-versa, I fall too often in those situations. I'm putting my weight on my back foot too much and I'm having trouble getting used to having my weight fully forward. The last instructor I had tried to explain something about a "triangle" concept for executing turns, something about having to be in a certain triangle-shaped envelope before trying to make a turn, but I didn't understand what he was saying. My friend Tod says I'm just not committing to my turns confidently enough and that's really my only problem.

Based on what you said, I weigh 180 pounds and I have very large feet (size 11), so what width and length of board would you recommend for those specs?