Being that you're from Jersey, you'll first need to get yourself a wetsuit. Then, you need to watch Point Break a few times and Keanu Reeves will teach you how to surf.
Joking aside, it depends on how confident you are at your swimming ability that will get you to surf faster. The size of the board once it passes your flotation support is just your riding style, short for shredding and long for hanging ten.
I would suggest you take your new surf board and get yourself wet right away on a small breaking day, get used to the motion, the wetness, the ocean. Then once you're comfortable being tossed around (if you've never been before, being washed out could be quite a sensation for some people), start swimming on top of your board with the waves. At this point, you'll want to find where on your board that you can lie and still control the pitch of the nose by shifting slightly forward or backward. Once you find that, it's time to learn how to spot the lines, sets and where they most likely will break. This will save you a lot of energy and prevent you from taking the wrong wave.
After you have identify the breaks, try to catch the wave by paddling at the right moment (this may seems harder than it sounds), if you paddle too late, you'll miss it and if you're too early, you'll get washed out. When you have timed the breaks right, it's still not time to stand up yet. You will want to use your board as a boogie board for a bit, and learn the proper balance of your body mass on the board, how you want to turn the board going down the line and just generally getting used to the motion of catching a wave. When you are comfortable with that, then you can start trying to stand up. Yes, you may look silly for a while, but who didn't? Now, don't try to pop on your board right away and stand up because most likely you will lose your balance, you will want to maintain balance as you slowly kneel, then stand. With practice your motions will be more efficient and you will be able to start surfing in a few months, and you'll look less silly.
The time line is relative on how strong of a swimmer you are, and how good your natural balance is already, and if you have any prior sporting experience such as snowboarding, skateboarding, etc... Good luck!
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