It also meant that there were loose boards flying all over the place at some breaks. For good or ill, those days are gone. Do not rely on it to always bring your board back to you. If the section you're riding starts getting gnarly, pretend you're going to have to swim to shore if you bail. You can usually wheedle wax out of a surfshop owner if you buy anything there.
Some surfers pride themselves on never having bought a bar of wax.
If the deck of your board has some form of traction pad, you might not need the wax. With the hole in the Ozone layer, sunblock is often necessary - the net.wisdom on this is Bullfrog, with Aloe Gator also getting favorable reviews. Most of these can be found at your friendly neighborhood surfshop. In addition, surfers in Seattle and Brittain may also wish to invest in some form of mold retardant.