shortboard trouble

[G&SSurfer]

k people... I just got my 2nd short board this christmas and i was so stoked to get it. Its 6'2 MAD. My other board i used was a 6'8 G&S. So lately ive been going to my local beech brake(la jolla shores...u might know it) and had some ok rides. SO i got used to the board and stuff and once i felt pretty comfortable to ride the waves and get up and turn and stuff, i asked my dad to take me to a reef break. So i go there once when the waves were HUGE!!(like 7 to 9 foot...) so i stayed for like 2 minutes and then left. but then last saturday, we went up there again when the waves were smaller. bout 2-3 foot with 5 max. So after a while of paddeling and duckdiving and struggling, i get to the outside. So im out there and i see a wave. I try paddling for it but i miss it. And i do this for evey wave i see and i still miss it. Now, I was talking to my dad and he said that for reef breaks, the waves hold up more so u have to wave till they're about to break. Im not sure if this is right, but i can definitely tell that there is a difference in the waves. SO if anyone could tell me the best way to ride reef breaks and the difference of beach breaks and beech breaks that would be very nice...O ya and srry for all of the L O N G stuff i write. I just am a person that likes to explain it all and hear it all and expierience all....lol

[pretzel]

you're dad is right in a way. i've never surfed a reef break, but it seems like you just have a problem being too far outside. get inside a little more, but not too much to where you'll get caught by set waves. with a shorter board like that you're paddling is going to suck that much more.

basically, all you need to do is get inside a little more.