Surfing Waves

I've been surfing for a little over a year. I would say I am somewhere between a beginner and an intermediate...I can catch a wave, make a few turns, walk up and down the board a little...but I still have a lot to learn. I ride a 9' Pearson Arrow performance longboard (LOVE IT) and typically surf my home wave here in FL where the shore breaks are small and shallow. My question is around what is the proper way to end a ride when you are in a foot of water? I made the mistake of hopping off the side of my board (ok, so maybe I was going a little faster than I thought) and SNAP...there goes both bones in my leg. Now that I have had surgery and a lot of downtime to do a little self study, I'm wondering if I did something completely wrong or if it was just a freak accident. Seems like I've done the same thing a 100 times before with no flippin' fractures...but hey, i thought I would check to see what other think or recommend. Once I get back in the water, I def. don't want a repeat performance.

youll only make that mistake once ay? jumping off feet first is the last thing you want to do in shallow water. you really need to figure out a way of kicking out properly. either turn over the top of the wave when you're done with it or try and sink the tail a bit so you stall off the back. not sure if the second one works on a longboard or not but it should slow you down enough to safely step off.

always try to kick out the back of the wave when done - this is even more critical when you are surfing ultra shallow reef / hideous shore breaks. Trust me riding a 6ft wave with nothing beneath you but dry rocks or dry sand is bad enough. So just aim yourself for the top of the wave and kick out. If you cant cover your face and expect a bumpy ride

Kicking out the back of the wave (with my moderate skill level) will be something I will need to work on...especially with a 9' board on a 2' wave (and that's only when it's decent). But I sincerely want to improve my surfing, so I will plan to practice it. In the past, I have sunk the tail. It slowed me down well, but usually always resulted in my center fin dragging across the ocean floor. I thought about how much I paid for that fin and moved on to other options. Maybe if I weren't so cheap, I'd be out in the water right now instead of typing this in a leg cast.

If you jump off the back of the board towards the wave it should have enough water in the wave to clear the ground. Just lie down as you hit the water.

Sorry about the break unlucky there , jumping from board to sand MMMM.
You need to be able to kick out.
Here are some techniques from old times well before leashes, these are the island and standing island pullout for when the lip will stop you kicking out.
Pick your finish spot in the wave face as you surf across the wave.When you are about to reach it run to the nose of your board drive the nose into, through and out the back of the wave. if you are not confident of punching through the wave crouch and grab the outside rail as you push through. (Island pullout)
If you are confident stand tall and punch through (standing island pullout). good for longboards in particular. They are great fun to try in the size of surf you are talking about.
Unsuccessful variants. are smacked by the lip, lip launched but done successfully a great escape tool
But kick out is the most useful by far as it puts distance between you and board.
Practice get out of easy waves and develop your skill in it. It is a type of turn and as you take on more challenging wave a vital skill for safety.

Heal well and get back in the water sensibly ASAP

Kicking out is easy enough unless the lip is in the way, just continue your bottom turn off the back of the wave. I could do nothing else between learning to bottom turn and learning to top turn for a while. Was pretty frustrating.

If you're worried about your fin, I wouldn't be jumping over the back of the wave without your board unless it's a "me or the board" situation as it will be more than your fin that gets demolished. Alternatively you could just get yourself a BIC (at the risk of being shot down by everyone on here) and only use it when it's shore dumping or small and shallow. Then you can just escape yourself and not worry about the board.

Hope you heal fast.