No leash, with only my arms up to the elbows in the water, floating high and gliding across the chop, the occasional spray coming off the wide nose as it dips and splashes.
It took a while to get the feel of where to sit on the board, where to sit in the lineup, where to be when paddling... watched a few waves go by and paddled unsuccessfully for a few before finally connecting. Concentrated hard and foremost on avoiding the pearl-dive (no leash), and then bogged the turn, tipping straight over. So much for added stability.
Eventually grew to like it... small waves are now fun again, there's a new (old) learning curve to tackle and it's a hell of a lot better than doing laps in a pool! Never quite made it to the nose but did manage to step up and back quite a bit. No cross steps, just shuffling.
I'll get better.