One rider per wave. If someone is already up and riding toward you, that wave is theirs - do not drop in, even if you got the earlier takeoff.
The point break out front rewards experience more than patience. If you are still finding your feet, paddle down to the sandbar at the south end instead - gentler, sandier bottom, and far fewer people who will mind you falling.
None of this is about keeping anyone out. Learn the order, and the lineup makes room for you the same way it made room for everyone standing in it now.
Rip currents, plainly
A rip current is a narrow river of water pulling straight out past the break. You will know it by a calmer, sandier-looking channel between the whitewater on either side - it looks like the easy way out, and that is exactly the trap.
If it catches you, do not swim against it. Swim parallel to the beach until you feel the pull let go, then angle back in. Fighting it straight on is how a strong swimmer gets tired in open water.
If you see someone else caught in one, do not swim out after them without something that floats. Yell, point, and get help - a second swimmer in trouble does not rescue the first.
On a big day
When it is big, we will tell a beginner not to go out - not as a suggestion, as the actual advice. Watch from the sand, come back when it drops, and we will be honest with you both times.
