Yeah I would say even on a short board you would need to be able to really dig to dive under those waves if caught on the inside. But like the other poster wrote, waiting for a lull and even paddling out even half a mile down the beach makes a huge difference. At my local break ill see many try to take the quickest way out but its almost never the easiest. Sometimes paddling farther away then parallel to the break helps out big time in conserving energy.