“Duck dive” The duck dive is a technique used by many surfers on short boards to get past a wave without being pulled back too much or smashed by the masses of water coming down on them. They basically dive under the wave, by pushing the front of their board down into the water and diving under the wave to the other side of it. While they push the board down, their body will follow, but not without first sticking their bottoms out of the water and into the air in order to get more weight onto the front. Just like a duck would, when diving for a snack.