So, as the heading states, how good were you at winging before you went winging from a surf beach?

I'm a flat water low-intermediate winger. Get up on the foils easy enough but not gybing yet. I drive past half a dozen nice open water beaches to get to my crowded flat water spot.

Some have suggested I just HTFU and take it on, however I'm still a little apprehensive about the shore break. I reckon I'll be fine once out there. None of the videos I've seen show someone actually getting out through the shorebreak. Most show someone getting ready to launch and then sailing nicely out the back.

Anyway, yeah I'd be interested to know what level you were at before you took on the ocean...

I agree. Existing wave knowledge is very important. Plus what the conditions are like. I've only gone into surf 3 times, but have spent lots of time scoping it out to see how to get out and if it was within my capacity to do so. Have chickened out a few times and am happy with that decision. Biggest surf had 1.5m faces. When riding waves, I didn't go the whole way in but gybed before it broke. Some would say it's a waste not to have used more of the wave (and it probably is ), but I didn't get smashed up in the whitewater if I muffed a gybe. Riding unbroken waves I found to be a real hoot.
I'm an intermediate who can gybe really reliably. I've windsurfed over 3 decades and supped for 2+.
What is the break like and what do you want to do with it?
Hollow breaks where the break is over your head when standing in water, I would completely avoid. It's gotten "smashed up gear" written all over it before you even get going.
I'd walk out into a break first with no gear to see how deep it is for getting out and whether the breakers will smother you or not. If you can get yourself out easily enough, then consider what you think it'd be like with limited ability to use your hands to swim out because theyre controlling a board and wing.
I know this isn't what surf-lifesaving would say, but the rips often tend to be a bit deeper with smaller or more rounded waves, and I've tried to get out the back through them. Again I wouldn't advocate getting into rips if you don't know what youre doing. Using rips can be more reassuring when you have a board with you as you have something to float you if you get dragged way out the back.
When going out, as soon as you can submerge your foil, flip it and get it underwater (to protect the wing from an unintended flip of board and foil onto a wing. Try and keep it out in front and swim/push the board through the waves while trailing the wing high to avoid it being caught in the whitewater. As soon as you're past the break, try and get up and going.
If you're unsure about any of the steps, break it down. Try getting yourself out there first. Next, go out with board only and see if you can manage with some redundancy. The try the wing on it's own. If it all seems too easy, try them together.
But time the sets I think is a big one for ease and minimising risk.

I vote to go as soon as possible or you'll keep putting it off. I went out as soon as i could reliably stand up. It isn't really a skill that is tied to your winging ability, and you can just stay further offshore and ride the swell while you get comfortable. My only bad experience to date has been attempting to get out in dead onshore with heavy swell, but it gave me a lot of confidence about getting hammered in the wave zone. I am in same situation of short drive to wave beaches and long drive to flat water- i started with some more sheltered wave beaches and have progressed to sketchier launches as time goes by. My general rule of thumb is if i reckon i could get out on my surf sup then it is doable on a wing.

I'll add - For the novice oceanfront winger, be aware that the shore pound can get drastically worse during your 30 minute to 2 hour session at/past the breakwater. This will typically happen on a new frontal wind, where the first hour or two are pretty mellow, but by hour 3-6, the swells will start filling in and it can make for some hairy exits if you do not have any nooks and crannies to hide behind (jetty etc).

I've warned some wingers of this in our local group text thread. Winds been blowing for two hours at 20 knts and looks doable, but I quickly will recommend launching behind something so you have that to return to later, even it it looks doable at the standard oceanfront launch.

CH3MTR4IL5 said..

Dspace said..
I wouldn't be so quick to trash flat water winging as totally boring and dull. There are a ton of challenging moves to learn

i don't think we were trashing flat water, i think the OP's point was convenience of location- i have a ball doing flatwater, a basic tack is one of the funnest moves you can pull and for my money flatwater foiling is the most fun you can have in light wind.

But i can save 20 mins each side by going out at a wave beach closer to home, and have the place to myself. For me that extra 40 mins is the difference between an after-work session being worthwhile or not (or more water time!)

As per post above conditions can increase, but once you're reasonably competent (and preferably sandy bottom) you can ride in to inside the surf zone so i find getting in a lot easier than getting out.

Yeah, I was a bit harsh for a choice of words. And your right that for a lot of locations dealing with shore break is the only option to ride at all. Guess I always tend to see a general bias in this sport for wave/swell riding versus flat water (other than very basic learning topics) but that's probably best left for another discussion thread

One nice thing about delaying having to deal with shore break and all the messiness of surf/swell conditions until I had decent skills is that it made being out there way less intimidating and much more fun for this old bloke with no wave riding background!