There is no other feeling like standing up on a surfboard and guiding it in a jumping, sliding rush across glassy water : speed, thrills, and fun. Joy exist. You'll know, you'll feel it. Surfers have an apt term for it : it's called stoke.
There'll be a moment when you get out of your car, see a beautiful sunlit ocean, easy rolling waves, other surfers, and your chest will pound with an undeniable urge to get out there, to surf. Now you're stoked. Stoked and ready to burn.
What's the worst I can expect?
It's not sharks, those are rare rare events. Surfers don't worry about sharks, anymore than worry about lightening blasting their skulls. It happens rarely.
So what is the worst you can expect. For a beginner, learning to surf in small waves, you may fall and your surfboard hit you. Your surfboard is the hardest thing in the water, and it can hurt. Always fall off your board, never fall onto it.
War Story #1 : I was surfing a chest high wave, when I messed up the take off, the board flipped over oddly and came up like a baseball bat between my legs. This was a surprise. Let me tell you.
War Story #2 : I was surfing a chest high wave, when I messed up the take off, on the same board, and it flipped over and hit my leg with the fin. In surfer parlance, it "skegged" me. That cost me four stitches.
Yeah, that's the worst. Two events like that out of ten years. But hey, man, you got scars to show for it!
Safety
Know the beach where you surf, know where the rocks are, if any. Know how the currents work. Never paddle out further than you can swim back in without your board. Never go out in wave conditions you aren't prepared for. Don't surf alone. Have good equipment, including a leash that keep your flotation device close. Know your limit. Fear means something. If you're tired, go in. Don't turn your back on the ocean, cus sure enough there's a great big wave waiting to sneak up and lion-pounce on you. Don't fall off your board and shoot it at innocent bystanders. Don't hang around inside in other surfers's way so they shoot their boards at you. Don't hold your board or let it float between you and the next oncoming wave - it can turn into a big bulldozer blade and you're the dozee.
You can probably break any one to three of the rules above. If you break four or more, you may pay for it dearly.
Rule #2 : Respect Mother Ocean (Tick her off, she'll kill you)
The Thing About Waves
A wave is a pulse of potensial energy travelling vast distances across water. The water doesn't move, just the energy through it. It's created by meteorogical stuff. Stuff like wind and fetch.
You can only catch a wave as it ends its long journey, coming up on shore. As the wave hits the sandy bottom, or reef, whatever's under the water, it begins to well up. It'll begin to get steeper, stand up in a C, then fall over in a white wash. During the time it begins to get steeper until the time it falls over, that potential energy converts to kinetic energy, and the water actually starts moving. It's in that small range of this energy conversion that surfers catch a bit of force, get up, and surf. They catch some energy to get started, then they sled along on it.