Has anyone foiled with these half hooks? Looking to progress to strapless but at this stage I still like the strap for water starts and over powered days.

I use the ones that are like the dakine hooks.

They are a reasonable half way house between straps and strapless. They bend enough that when you crash your feet do twist out free so remove the chance of injury from that circumstance. They are (initially anyway) good enough to boost with though I have heard reports that over time they can break. Had mine 2 years now so may just have been lucky.
Much easier to strap to strap gybe as you can micro move your feet into position if you miss and you don't seem to step on them as much as I do with a full strap.
Gives you a consistent balance point to learn the muscle memory for.

Cons:
Its a bigger hook to wrap lines around when relaunching. Sit on the board rodeo style to keep them out the way when you crash the kite
Snug for big feet (or even normal sized feet). Ideally I'd get one of the slingshot ones that is a little higher for my back foot as I'd like to get more central on the board. I'm an 8.5 and I know my size 10+ friends complain more about this than I do.
They don't always stay put and can twist a little if using 2 at the front.

Overall I'm happy with them but if I was starting again I'd probably make some.

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Duff15 said..
Has anyone foiled with these half hooks? Looking to progress to strapless but at this stage I still like the strap for water starts and over powered days.

Hey Duff & Breezy
Used the Slingshot foot hooks front and rear on an SSAlien Air .Ended up removing the rear and used only the front.
Found my lines getting tangled with the rear on water starts or mishaps.Front was good for water starts or directing board into position.Probably safer when falling.Found my front foot being hard up against it sometimes until up and riding then you can readjust foot position.Lately just using a front foot strap loosened as much as possible to mainly position board to waterstart.Hope that helps.

Thanks for the replies. Didn't think of the lines getting tangled up. Might keep looking for other options.

The plastic around the screw on the Slingshot foot-hooks break really quickly, like after only a couple of sessions. I ended up drilling new screw holes and adding some big washers to spread the load which kind of works.
I've only ever caught kite lines under the strap a couple of times and is easily rectified once the kite hits the water.

I have the Dakine for kite foiling for front only.
For me it's the best of both worlds as I position it well forward so it's there if needed but mostly riding with foot in strapless position
Also helps find my low volume board when a bit away from me.
Lines catching has not been an issue for me.

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warwickl said..
I have the Dakine for kite foiling for front only.
For me it's the best of both worlds as I position it well forward so it's there if needed but mostly riding with foot in strapless position
Also helps find my low volume board when a bit away from me.
Lines catching has not been an issue for me.

Thanks mate. No issues with quality?

Hi Duff,

We sell them and they work OK, but have known of many of them breaking. I think if you use them as intended ie, a basic position indicator for your foot and a way to keep your foot attached to the board in controlled starts, more so than as a strap to connect your board solidly, then you should be OK. If you are using them with your foot to force turns and crank the board, or to compensate for poor technique water starting, they will break.

I'm honestly not really sure of their purpose because as a beginner you really need a strap for a better connection to the board. As an experienced rider, you don't need straps. I guess if you are careful with them it may help through the early intermediate stage.

DM

There's a YouTube but some SUP foil guys who made "hooks" out of blocks of ... something. Enough indentation to hold your feet but no actual hook...

Oh that was easier to find than I thought it would be

OP - want to progress to strapless? Just do it. Many people, myself included, were strapless (and on low volume boards) from the first session. And even as a beginner I found strapless no problem in stronger winds - progressing pretty quickly to riding a 3.5m in anything from 20-35knots. If you're relying on a hook or strap to try to wrangle the board back under you then you'll never develop the subtler skills that make strapless (narrow-stance) riding both stylish and fun. My 2c

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djdojo said..
OP - want to progress to strapless? Just do it. Many people, myself included, were strapless (and on low volume boards) from the first session. And even as a beginner I found strapless no problem in stronger winds - progressing pretty quickly to riding a 3.5m in anything from 20-35knots. If you're relying on a hook or strap to try to wrangle the board back under you then you'll never develop the subtler skills that make strapless (narrow-stance) riding both stylish and fun. My 2c

You know what I should. It's about time on the water for me. Kids slowing down my progress if you know what i mean. But yea I agree suck it up and just bite the bullet.

That's the spirit, and if you're still riding a 683 you'll have plenty of lift even if you want to slow things down a bit. One thing I noticed with a guy who was trying strapless after initially learning strapped - he tended to use much bigger kites than me and it looked like he was used to the straps keeping the kite from lifting him off his board when the kite was more overhead, and without them was getting yanked off more often. As soon as he got a smaller kite for the windier days the problem disappeared and he could maintain good contact with and control of the board. So if you're one of those guys who rides powered up like a racer, you may have to think a size or two down than you're used to for strapless. Again, the 683 is big enough that it will be fine with a littler kite.

I agree that learning to ride strapless is a matter of just doing it; however, I like having a single hook in the front for water starts only. I find it saves me a lot of time and energy vs. no hook, especially on big wave days.

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emmafoils said..
I agree that learning to ride strapless is a matter of just doing it; however, I like having a single hook in the front for water starts only. I find it saves me a lot of time and energy vs. no hook, especially on big wave days.

Yes also works for me.
I kite strapless on surfboards however for some reason a simple foot hook suits me for kite foiling but strapless for SUP foiling.
So different things work for different people for different fun.
Just give all a go and see what works.

I found the SS foothooks useful for learning and tried various combinations. Yeh theyre not strong and i broke one in a crash.

The best combo for me in the end was a single front hook with the pointy bit facing forward. Helped locate front foot during water starts, which is the important part. The hook was then out of the picture. I hated touching the hook with my toes with it the other way round. Ditched the hook fairly soon after that and actually wasn't hard at all without the hook.