Ditching your board is sometimes a necessity, but it all depends on how big it is. There shouldn't be a pride thing about ditching your board because it's only necessary to ditch when you are surfing huge waves and if you're surfing huge waves then you've got cojones anyways.

The thing that's lame about ditching your board is when people ditch their board in waves that are totally duckdiveable and when they don't look behind them to make sure they are not going to nail someone with there board when they ditch it!

The only times I've ditched my board is when I'm surfing a big wave like sunset in Hawaii and I'm on a bigger board that is hard to duckdive and if I'm in the impact zone and I know that I would just get flogged if I even tried to hang on. But even then you have to be aware of your surroundings and make sure that you don't kill someone with your board.

As for ditching your board in six-foot beachbreak -- you just have to make a judgment call. If there's no one behind you and you feel like you're going to get hurt or your going to break your board if you duckdive (which I have done) then go for the ditch.

But by all means, if you must ditch, here's a couple pointers: leave your board parallel to the incoming wave. This prevents it from getting exploded end-over-end, and could prevent it from snapping. Also, take a little beating -- don't swim down so far that your leash is totally tight, or it could easily snap, leaving you without your board.

Good Luck! --Jodie

Here are a few duckdiving pointers:

Darrick Doerner explains the secrets of big-wave duck-diving
What's the proper technique for duckdiving?
Can one duckdive a longboard?