It seems we're all in agreement about fins off until waist deep water. Rick, thanks for your post about fins on when doing deep water entries at the shore; it's how I did it in Coz, and it's basically no different than any other giant stride off a boat.
Melvin, your argument for an empty BC sure is compelling. I recently noticed that my wife does almost the same thing, only that she inflates her bc after the fins are on and when standing in water chest deep. Of course, for her that's a lot closer to the shore than for me, she's one of those little petite sweeties, and although I'm no giant, I usually can get a few feet further in than she can before I'm chest deep. Like her, I also inflate my bc after I put my jetfins on, so I can power through any remaining surf, and I usually start swimming on my back as I inflate. We both do it this way because we dive with rear inflation BCs which tend to bob you on your face if you don't lean into them, and you can't do that without fins very well.
Have not had to duck under the swell and "grab the sand" as you mention, though it's certainly a technique worth exploring at some point (to see if it works for me).