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Getting into the Footstraps
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windward1



Joined: 18 Jun 2000
Posts: 1400

PostPosted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 11:09 pm    Post subject: Getting into the Footstraps Reply with quote

Which way is best for getting into the Foot-straps? Should I go back foot first or should I put the front foot in first?
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kmf



Joined: 02 Apr 2001
Posts: 503

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No...No...not again Shocked

KMF
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techno900



Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Check the thread "tips on transitioning to planning and control".

However, it's likely this new thread is just winward1 having fun, so any advice on strap use will be a waste of time if posted here.
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gvogelsang



Joined: 09 Nov 1988
Posts: 435

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I read all 12 pages of the other thread, and I still don't know the answer.

But, for what it is worth, I have been windsurfing for 40 years. The first 4 or 5 years was on the original windsurfer, which had no foot straps.

My first board with straps was a Mistral Maui, if I remember correctly. When I got going fast enough, I was able to get my front foot in, and that felt more secure.

Getting catapulted? Never happened - remember I sailed the old baggy original windsurf sail for 4 years. I guess I also had a "high wind" sail, and a "high wind" dagger board as well. Learning on that stuff fully prepared me for the Mistral.

Both feet in? Yes, on a beam reach or broad reach, coming back into shore. Very nice feeling. Equipment has surely changed a bit since then.
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manuel



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are powered enough to put back foot first, do it, it's safer.
When underpowered to powered, we don't have much choice but to do front foot first and sometimes even leave the back foot out until more wind fills the sail and we have more board speed to avoid sinking the tail and stalling.

Where I sail (mostly underpowered to powered) I used the back foot first maybe 5 times out of thousands of times getting in the straps. I do it when I'm overpowered borderline waterstarting in the straps and this happens only a few times a year during a storm.

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PeconicPuffin



Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1830

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Getting into the Footstraps Reply with quote

windward1 wrote:
Which way is best for getting into the Foot-straps? Should I go back foot first or should I put the front foot in first?


Smile

The general consensus is to go front foot first, unless you are in crazy overpowered conditions, or on a sinking small board in extremely gusty conditions. For the vast majority of sailing conditions, getting into the foot straps front foot first helps you with early planing, helps develop the skills needed to maintain speed through jibes, and planing upwind underpowered. Back foot first has none of those benefits. Its main virtue is as a defense mechanism against getting catapulted by a massive gust.

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nw30



Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

windward1, joined this site in 2000, I'm sure he knows the answer.
I joined in 2008, so I'm relatively new here.
Which do I put on first, my wetsuit or my harness?
This is on a need to know basis, seriously.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

manuel wrote:
If you are powered enough to put back foot first, do it, it's safer.

When underpowered to powered, we don't have much choice but to do front foot first and sometimes even leave the back foot out until more wind fills the sail and we have more board speed to avoid sinking the tail and stalling.


Windward was being funny, but as long as we're here, your comments -- particularly "we don't have much choice but to do front foot first" -- still raises these questions:
1. Why do we have no other choice, especially putting that foot on the centerline where it's 100% asset rather than adding the whole new problem of weighting the windward rail?
2. What's the point of putting that front foot in its strap before planing?
3. What do you do with it when not yet planing?

If the front strap helps someone drive the board forward, his deck is too slippery. THAT'S a bigger and more dangerous problem.

Keep the nose down? The strap has nothing to do with that. Front foot weighting and placement (plus, of course, MFP) are the keys to that.

Steer the board upwind (i.e., round up)? Well, YES .... but that's a problem, not a solution. It's why many novices have trouble planing and getting into the straps. That problem goes away if the FF is on the centerline at this phase.

You've presented a common false dilemma: "leave the back foot out until more wind fills the sail and we have more board speed to avoid sinking the tail and stalling." It ignores a key element of most WSing and a vital part of the BFF technique: finesse. In this case that means that just because that back foot is in its strap doesn't mean it must be weighted (brain engagement and kinetic awareness, even if subconscious, help). As you said, it's safer, so since that foot is not doing much else (as Ramps recognized), why not be safe and put it in its strap? In >35 years of this on boards from 240 to 55 liters and winds from 1 to 65 mph, I have yet to discover even ONE disadvantage of that. And even if weighted almost imperceptibly, a BF in its single or closely spaced rear straps aids footsteering. Then there's being Reddy To Rip when a gust hits and all one has to do to accelerate like one o' them well-known bats is to smoothly transfer his weight, cg, and rig aft; the strapped-in back foot is ready and waiting. Catapult protection is its fourth advantage, but a big one under certain circumstances (e.g., early learning curve, aggressive sailing, gusty winds, smaller boards.)

I gotta wonder how many of these people who can't understand the concepts of finesse, weighting, or subtlety and just spew "That don't work" sail in combat boots. Guys, this is NOT what we mean when we discuss booties:


I have, OTOH, found and posted multiple disadvantages of FFF when slogging (i.e., not planing). IMO, that's win/win/win/win/win for BFF in a broad range of circumstances.

In al these decades, I have never heard a valid counterargument against those facts or logic. (Tip: Bucky's "You're an idiot and you're just ... just ... just WRONG" doesn't cut it in the adult world.)

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dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually....
Windward 1 is a wave sailor, and also windsurfs to the various sites with different bigger than normal boards.
Jibing onto a wave face, or a step wave, better to get the back foot in FIRST. You don't want to be dropping in on a steep wave with your feet close together.'
The inside jibe usually doesn't matter, but if you're about to drive over a row of whitewater right after the jibe, get the back foot into the strap first, to have a really wide stance for stability. You don't really want to climb a face of whitewater out of the straps and feet together, and possibly clew first.
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cgoudie1



Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2597
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove

PostPosted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 5:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I like Mushrooms!

-Craig
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