What is the correct technique for riding swell?

I have a SB 122 foil board and the SuperCruiser foil. I just started to ride small swell, 0.5 - 1m. The way I do it is I point the board down to the direction where the swell is going and open the sail, usually around perpendicular to the wind. The problem is that I'm faster then the waves so I keep passing them. Every time I pass a wave I get a small boost and if it works well this can keep me up for a while, but if it doesn't I will catch up with the wind speed, loose power and touchdown. I tried to depower the sail to go slower, but then I just touchdown faster. What am I missing?