Here’s a super quick and simple list of the tips and tricks I wish I knew when I first started surfing as a grommet: 

(PS a grommet is a young person, usually under the age of 16, that participates in extreme sports, usually surfing). 

Hope this helps: 

1. Don’t wrap your leg rope around your fins – this creates kinks in the leg rope and over time depending how tight you were wrapping it, degrades that spot and creates a weak spot by softening the polyethylene 
2. Always use a board bag no matter what (especially during any transportation) – this ensures that your board is always protected by even the slights bumps, which overtime soften the glassing quicker than if it were protected 
3. Keep your wax cool – make sure to never leave wax in a hot car or in direct sunlight (freezer is a great place)  
4. Double knot your leg rope rope (yes it is intentional that the word rope is used twice)  
5. Always rinse your wetsuit out with freshwater and never let it dry out whilst it’s covered in salt water – as the salt water dries, the salt amplifies the drying out process and any kinks soften the material enormously. This significantly reduces the life span of a wetsuit and prevents any premature tears and rips. This simple step alone can add seasons onto the life of a steamer 
6. Zinc for your lips – after seeing my parents have multiple skin cancers cut out of their lips, it has become an absolute integral habit to always were zinc on my lips and also to always wear sunscreen, period. Just don’t risk it. Slip slop slap, simple. That of couse includes sunscreen on the rest of your body.  
7. Always put your board back in its case the same way. There’s nothing worse than pulling a board out of bag and some of the wax that’s stuck on one side has also stuck on the bottom of your board. Don’t want anything slowing down that speed  
8. This is not an endorsement but after years of using different surf wax, I’ll never use anything else but sex wax. When applied properly using light corner to corner strokes, sex wax beads perfectly every time and provides the best “sticky” grip and longest lasting grip than any others. Always ensure to check the temperature rating before you go. Majority of the year on the Gold Coast particularly, mid cools (21 degrees to 27 degrees) is optimum  
9. A sneaky habit of mine has always been to tuck my leg rope in under my wetsuit. This ensure that if I was to get pumped on a set waves there’s absolutely no chance my leg rope is coming off. (When warming myself up with a quick wee, I don’t want to trap too much of it inside)  
10. Check your local board stores and second hand dealers for bargains and awesome cheap boards. There’s nothing that’ll improve your surfing more (and save you on your wallet) than going and investigating some different boards to use other than your expensive high performance boards. Changing it up could be the opportunity to take your style and flow to a different level. Better yet, borrow friends boards.  
11. Surf around people who are much better than you – you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Being the worst surfer in a group may seem not seem too appealing but there’s only one way to go when surrounded by such skilled individuals, and that’s definitely up.  
12. Fix your cracks and glassing damage yourself using a simple DIY resin set which you can easily and readily get from any local hardware store. Plus you learn a new skill.  
13. When on the beach, before or after, never leave your surfboard lying wax up to the sun. This melts the wax and it will go all charred and lose it’s “stick”  
14. Always dry your wetsuit inside out and flip it back over when you’re about to surf to prevent the likelihood of putting on with insects or spiders trapped on the inside, and never leave it out in the sun to dry always let it dry in the shade to prevent the material from cracking and ripping 
15. Regardless of whether your wetsuit is wet or dry, use a plastic bag over your foot to make its significantly easier to slide your feet into the steamer. The plastic bag removes almost all friction especially if it’s wet  
16. Carry your leg rope with your hand whilst it’s around your ankle to prevent it getting caught up around your legs while you run or walk into the water – I didn’t do this one morning and it got tangled around my ankle and I face planted when I about 15 years old and embarrassed myself in front of a lot of people  
17. When waxing your board never push down hard but lightly go from edge to edge using the corner of the block to allow it to lightly brush itself onto the board  

I’ll leave it there for now, additional items may present themselves as I get to them.