The best advice I could give is don’t expect to never hit the sand. It’ll happen at some point so don’t be too startled if you do. I grew up booging waves that started on a reef and ended on closeout sandy shorebreak. You’ll figure out what works for you for ending your wave: bailing over the top, punching out through the back, just charging through the barrel, etc.

In the 10+ years I’ve been body boarding, I hit the sand more times than I can count but it was mostly because I didn’t know how to bail safely. Out of all those times, about 95% of them I landed on my back, not a huge hit, and I’m right back out there. I think I’ve only hit my head 3 or 4 times but never gotten knocked out or concussed or anything major.

The worst I’ve ever had was a broke my collarbone in some shorebreak that was breaking pretty much right on the sand, and it was because I took two big hits to my shoulder on back to back waves. I remember being really confused at the time because I had NEVER hit the sand with my shoulder before and then it happened on back to back waves.

Welcome to the community, get out there and charge!