OUCH!!
I would love to see some ego guy come and surf the local reef breaks where i live. Eventually no matter how good you are the board will go loose and then wack into some nice rocks or even worse on very long paddle outs i would enjoy seeing someone having to paddle missions to gt their board back

I think this calls for a little tale that was told to me a while ago.
A friend of mine was surfing sunset cliffs (san diego, any locals will know the break) its a reef break and theres a section that requires a mighty long paddle out. Anyway my friend was actually wearing a leash, the surf was monsterouse this was in december when san diego got that big swell. he said he struggled to paddle out and just befor he got to the line up the very last wave he had to duckdive his leash broke. It took him ages to paddle back and he never saw his board again it was the first time in his 20 year surfing career that he actually thought he would drown.
The moral of the story is always check your leash and equipment before surfing. And the back side of the story is imagine if that was you or some ego kid who thinks he is great and doesnt need a leash, my friend was lucky to get back alive.
My point of view is if the only time you dicth a leash is when the surf is small then its a sure sign that you are not that good otherwise you wouldnt wear a leash ever no matter how big it gets. (something to consider)