taking good surf pics

How hard is it to take good pictures of surfers in the water? I want cool pictures from inside the wave like in Surfer magazine. I grew up on Maui and am going there to visit. I will be taking pictures of friends surfing so I don't have to worry about random people getting angry at me.

Also, how do you not get killed while doing this?

I found the best technique for not getting killed is not constantly previewing your photos while in the surf

You should check out the surf photography forum here:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showforum=66

Loads of info there