Is foot strap position relative to fin size?

[PeconicPuffin]

[coachg]

grantmac017,
Some of what I am going to say has already been covered.

Actually, if I understand your question correctly, it doesn't matter if the board is a small wave board or large freeride, you set your footstraps to balance yourself to your board in the conditions you are sailing.
Speed is the critical equation here that I think you are looking for. The faster you travel, the greater the fin lift. Thus, even a small fin can produce enough lift if you are going fast enough. The rider's goal is to keep the board flat, which is where footstrap position, board speed & fin size come in to play.

Using your large freeride board with the 50 cm fin with say an 8.5 sail at the lowest planing speeds you can have your footstraps inboard, say 12-13 knts. But as you take your setup into higher winds, say 14-16 knts, you will find that inboard strap positions can no longer keep the board flat so your feet will start to wander to the edge where they can balance the board. But, based on all the factors that LEED listed you will get to a point that you cannot hold down the board with the 50 cm fin because of too much lift because of the greater speed. At that point you need a smaller fin.

In addition to keeping the board flat, you also have trim front to back. Slalom boards tend to like a lower nose riding profile while wave boards tend towards a higher nose riding profile. Heavier riders need to move their straps more forward because they will sink the tail with rear strap positions. Lighter riders move the straps back to keep the nose from being too low. Once you set your straps for your local conditions you are pretty much good to go.

Coachg

[grantmac017]

I'll fill in a few blanks:
155l Fanatic Xray (2002 I believe). I'm 205 in gear at the moment. Commonly sailing 7.5-9.5m sails.
I have had sustained GPS speeds in the 20-25kt range without having the board rail up enough to need more than a bit of heel pressure with the straps inboard.

However it does currently sail with very little front foot pressure, actually I'm usually lifting slightly with the front and pushing firmly through the ball of my rear foot.

Sounds like perhaps I should be looking at shifting the mast foot position rearward.

[dllee]

What do you want to achieve?
You can lower the booms to center your weight on both straps.
You can move the straps back and out to get more top speed.
You can move the straps forward to gain low speed planing when in the straps.
You can move the track back to lighten your front foot.
You can move the track forwards to plane sooner, but you'd have to raise the boom accordingly.

[grantmac017]

Now you've posted some interesting things Zirtaeb!

Specifically the last two seem to run counter to a LOT of the tuning guides available. Generally track to the rear is indicated for underpowered days, as is a higher boom.

-Grant

[dllee]

That's where your simplistic understanding of windsurfing leaves you. Windsurfing is complicated, and all the parts are tied together.
Nobody moves the track back without lowering the boom.
Everything you change affects several OTHER, though unintended, things.

[dllee]

And of course, think about this.....
Do you plane sooner with a smaller board or a bigger board?
Of course, bigger. Track forwards allows you to stand on a bigger board, more of the board, when you're slogging. Track back forces your front foot to stand in front of the front straps, making for INefficient pumping.

[PeconicPuffin]

[isobars]

There's this one dood that bolts his mastfoot into his favorite spot in the deck box of his wave board and just leaves it there, regardless of the wind, the sail size, etc.

His name escapes me ... it's coming back ... it's coming back ... oh, yeah: it's Robby Naish. You may have heard of him.

K.I.S.S.

[dllee]

Yeah, Robbie never moved his mast track.
He had one favorite wave board. And he carried 3 other's every day along with him.