The Ten Surfer Commandments:

Surf as Much as You Possibly Can. Surfing can have a really steep learning curve. The best thing you can do to transcend kookiness is get as comfortable in the water as you can, as quickly as you can. Forget trying to talk a big game, and just get out there. Josh Rosen, co-founder of the SoHo surf shop Saturdays Surf NYC, says, "A kook thing that always makes me laugh is these guys who have brand-new boards and brand-new wetsuits—and we appreciate that, because those are potential customers—but they’re sitting in the parking lot talking when you go out to surf, and you’re out in the water for a couple hours, and you come back out and they’re still in their wetsuits, with their boards sitting next to them, talking." 1.

Don’t Ditch Your Board. This is the cardinal sin of kookdom. On the first few paddle-outs, it can be hard to wrangle a piece of fiberglass bigger than your body. But it’s important to keep a handle on your board at all times, lest it get away from you in the surf and whack someone behind you. 1.

Don’t Drop In on Someone. The surfer already surfing a wave—or the one paddling in closest to the peak of the wave—gets priority. If someone in a better position is going for a wave, then sit this one out. Don’t paddle in front of someone. Cutting someone off is offensive and inconvenient at best, and dangerous at worst. 1.

Honor the Lineup. The lineup is the hierarchy governing the group of surfers at a break. If you’re new to a location or the sport in general, you’ll probably be at the bottom. Don’t try to catch every single wave, especially if you see the best (or scariest-looking) surfers going for the same ones. "When you look at a lineup," explains legendary big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton, "in general, there’s a mandatory pecking order that’s established. Without that organization, there’s a tendency for chaos and recklessness . . . just like you have highway patrols on freeways, you’ve got to have some organization in the lineup." 1.

Dress the Part. The brightness of your plumage should be directly proportional to your prowess: If you show up in a colorful wetsuit, you need to have the skills to back it up. Laird Hamilton says, "If you’re going to wear neon pink, you’d better be a hell of a surfer. At the end of the day, if you’re going to draw attention to yourself in the lineup, then you better make sure you know what you’re doing." Some other common faux pas include wearing booties in warm weather, wearing a floppy hat, and forgetting to wax your board (or worse, carrying it so that all the wax ends up on your wetsuit).

And be sure to use a leash! If you’re a beginner, you need to use a leash to keep you from losing your board and keep it from hitting others. And don’t put the leash on until you’re right at the water—nothing’s kookier than tripping over your leash on your way out to the surf. 1.

Know Your Limits and Own Your Mistakes. "If the waves are big and you’re not ready for it," says Saturdays co-founder Morgan Collett, "you’ll put yourself and other people in danger by going out there, so understand what you can and can’t handle . . . If you make a mistake, know you made one, admit it, and just carry on." Laird Hamilton agrees: "When I was beginning, the adults were all telling me to shut up, because I was yelling and screaming. As a younger guy trying to make his way through the lineup, I made plenty of mistakes. Dropping in on the wrong guy, or banging into somebody—that’s how you learn about how the system works; you have to make those mistakes. So if there’s been a mistake made in surfing, I’ve probably made it at least more than once. I can tell you that." 1.