Goanna, might be going too far out on the flats. Try doing it in the middle of the wall (yeah closer to the pocket) at least you know there should be some power there and see what happens. If it works there it is just a matter of perhaps doing them a little sooner rather than later and working out the cut off point. I found a similar thing with the JK, it likes to stay closer to the pocket, on the wall and away from the flatter parts of a wave.

Thanks Slowman

I definitely have no tips! I haven't ever noticed a difference but that's not to say there isn't one - pilot deficiency in my case. A big roundhouse that goes right into the flatter shoulder of the wave almost always requires a two stage turn for me; one from the shoulder to the base, and another secondary push to hit the foam/lip depending on how much I bring it around/the wave. The only time I can pull off a seamless one effort cutty is when I have a nice steep section to bank off initially. The extra steepness enables me to drive the turn the whole way through. I can't do a cutty in the pocket and I'm not 100% sure it it is one if it is. I'd just think of it more as a carving forehand turn a la Parko or TK. I don't think I've ever brought one of those back around to hit the foam at 2 or 3 O'Clock. Maybe past 6 - maybe to 5 or 4 o'Clock. As I say though these are the ramblings of a person with average ability sadly.

Thanks for your input guys, I had a hunch it was 95% driver error but was still interested in any differences - hopefully the great Nev will chime in and give an explanation as well.

I look at it like this...with rounded pin tails the tail has less planning area and hence less chance to spin out in bigger surf but....less resistance to push agains when carving back to the white water...there is a point however say with a wide round tail that the surface area is too big and overpowers the surfer and wants to track in the direction of momentum...i.e straight. The swallow reduces that surface area somewhat and with the points of the swallow also provides some bite or control...swallow tails tend to have a wider pod..but not always. If you look at pure barrel boards like say the Rusty Slayer it has a narrow rounded pin which is great in the barrel but not AS good for turning hence its reputation as a pretty specialised board..I dont view the MD quite in the same realm but you can see the genes in there somewhere.

Thanks Fan - that makes a lot of sense to me. It makes me think back to yesterday when I was able to jam a turn real hard in a pretty powerful part of the wave and never felt like it was going to lose control.
I know that I would have gone past that section on the Futura to do a turn.

yeah good stuff FW fan.