Yea hawaii is the shit to learn how to surf. Nice slow breaking waves that are about waist high make it simple on a long board.

I highly suggest not learning on 6-8 foot waves because it will be an impossible situation as I am sure you know. With the perfect wave surfing is not that hard at all.

I would not really compare it to skateboarding, a lot of things are different. I have never snowboarded before either so I'm not sure if they are similar.

What I do know is surfing is a hell of a lot of fun and I highly suggest you try it again...just in the right conditions.