Hi,

I want to have the option of riding the firewire vanguard board 5' 2" I have ordered both strapped and strapless. Is there anyone who has put footstrap inserts into it and ridden it strapped, who can advise me on where to have inserts put in.

I am wondering about the foot placement on this style of board compared to my 5' 6" Firewire Hellfire.

Cheers

Wavechaser

I have the 5'2 VG & think if you want to ride this style of board strapped, you'd be better off just getting a Naish skater or North whip than having inserts installed in a Vangard.
But if your already committed, I guess you could measure the insert placement on the fore-mentioned strapped boards.

Hi Toppleover,

Committed to Firewire Vanguard. It may be delivered today to local surf shop. Your suggestion was helpful and I have looked at the footstrap settings of the boards you suggested on the internet. There is none locally to look at or measure - no local retail shop for miles. From what I can make out from the information I have read - foot needs to be far back on tail to pivot turn and ride the board with a wide stance. Felix Pivec has posted a photo of how far back he places his foot on the board on the Kiteforum.

Cheers

. I would firstly suggest not to use straps, but if you must don't cut into your deck. Try something like the NSI deck traction pads that allow you to use foot straps. I had a set years ago. They were ok, but obviously restrict your foot placement to centre. There is a kick pad arch under your front foot, which makes paddling uncomfortable on the old model. Also the screws are very short, so be careful about cross threading them. The new ones are improved without the arch and multi hole config
www.northshoreinc.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=229&idcategory=64

That's great advise above from pearl, if you must strap your VG - you could wax it, take it for a ride & mark/take a mental note of where your feet are - then put the straps on.

Your right on the stance being with your back foot as far back as possible if you want to really crank it on a pivot turn.

Good of luck with it.

Thanks Pearl and Toppleover,

Sounds like good advice to ride it strapless initially and dial into the board.

I have heard about the NSI deck traction pads. I haven't seen any so I will research that option.

Have the Vanguard now and thinking about fins and foot pad for the moment.

Any recommendations or thoughts on fins? Been researching those recommended by the website - future John John, F4 and EA.

If it was me I would ride it with out straps find out where your feet are best placed then set up straps.

What's this board like for small waves ? It looks lots of fun to ride strap-less

Is 5"2 not too small for a 80kgs guy ?
Appreciate your feedback

Not on that style of board

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harry potter said...
Not on that style of board

Care to develop your argument a bit more?

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Alysum said..

harry potter said...
Not on that style of board

Care to develop your argument a bit more?

Harry means that 5'2 is not too small for 80kg, on that style of board.

Obviously the smaller you go, the more wind your gonna need.

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Alysum said...

harry potter said...
Not on that style of board

Care to develop your argument a bit more?

Ok ... The vanguard is a totally different shape to a traditional surfboard, both in outline and bottom contour

Wider through to the nose
And wider through to the tail
Quite parallel rails in fact

The "chopped off nose " look works well as it reduces swing weight. And with the more traditional shape the last few inches of nose are most of the time not effectual. ( exceptions being heaving vertical take offs etc.... Hence the vanguard is suited to smaller to medium waves )
The extra width through the tail of the board also helps as this is where a lot of weight gets transferred. Again great in small to medium waves but in larger waves where big railed bottom turns at speed are required you would want a thinner (pin ) type tail. The tail width of the vanguard at speed can cause it to slide out.

In a nutshell the planning surface area of a 5"2. Vanguard is considerably more than a 5'2 in the traditional shape. Even though the width is comparable the width carries further to the nose and tail.

That how I understand it anyway

This is a surfboard right? As in, not strengthened for kiting? If so I would not be putting straps on.

You can get a FireWire vanguard in kite construction.

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toppleover said..

Alysum said..

harry potter said...
Not on that style of board

Care to develop your argument a bit more?

Harry means that 5'2 is not too small for 80kg, on that style of board.

Obviously the smaller you go, the more wind your gonna need.

I have a 5'4" standard Vanguard, can go upwind on it as low as 15 knots/12m (I'm 6' 85kg) and have used in waves up to chest high. They are a rocket. Only tricky bit is jumping over whitewater because if you want to go upwind you need to stand more forward on the board. Also have a 6' but that feels way too big for kiting. If you get a kiteboard version be aware it will be much heavier and require more wind.