Good enough to have fun... pull some moves... and enjoy it. I was in a land locked city for awhile while growing up so I depended on my older brothers to take me to the beach. I got in as much as I could growing up. Once the car came into the picture it got better.
Actually, now that I think about it, I got my first bodyboard way before 1985... it was more like 1980. Shit, its been that long?