I sail a Alien 125 with Flow 1000 foil. I'm 90kg and have my front and rear footstraps equidistant from the front wing. My mast base is all the way to the back of the mast track, about 96cm to the centre of the foil mast. I can't seem to find a rear footstrap position that allows me to foil both upwind and down wind.

Using either the outer or inner rear footstrap position, I'm balanced upwind but I have to remove my foot when foiling downwind and place just in front of the strap. I'm wondering if this is other foilers usual practice or is it peculiar to my setup and or technique.

Yea most of the time for me back foot in front of rear strap for downwind.

Typically, downwind strapless, unless the celestials align. Broad reaching can be strapped, but deep downwind requires pressure changes.

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LeeD said..
Typically, downwind strapless, unless the celestials align. Broad reaching can be strapped, but deep downwind requires pressure changes.

it's not always necessary to move your rear foot if you shift your body weight - I've uploaded a video to try and demonstrate it.

Hi Azymuth
Please try pasting your link in "Plain Text Editor" mode

I've set my rear footstrap as follows

Each end of my strap has 3 holes. Typically you would use the centre hole for single screw attachment and the outer two for a twin screw setup (front straps have these holes available).

Instead what I do is use the single screw on the end hole so I can mount the footstrap a little further inboard.

Then I mount the footstrap as wide as possible, using the very front and very rear holes. By doing this I can twist my rear foot and shuffle it forward or back to get quite a lot of movement in foot placement while still having the security of a footstrap above my foot.

I'm TRYING to stay in the straps downwind but it is best done in consistent winds. Too gusty or choppy and I get scared. Then I try to wedge my heel into the back of the strap and gain some stability that way. It is then much easier to reposition the back foot as needed.

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azymuth said..

LeeD said..
Typically, downwind strapless, unless the celestials align. Broad reaching can be strapped, but deep downwind requires pressure changes.

it's not always necessary to move your rear foot if you shift your body weight - I've uploaded a video to try and demonstrate it.

I can see the advantage in keeping the rear foot in the strap for all wind angles. I've tried to shift my body weight, using the forward hip swing. I was not consistently successful. Maybe I just need to persevere. I'd like to see your video JJ, but it didn't load in your post.

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John340 said..I can see the advantage in keeping the rear foot in the strap for all wind angles. I've tried to shift my body weight, using the forward hip swing. I was not consistently successful. Maybe I just need to persevere. I'd like to see your video JJ, but it didn't load in your post.

Here you go

Going deeper downwind bleeds off speed making the foil more backfoot balanced. If you aim too high your speed becomes higher making it harder to stay in the backstrap. Its still very much possible though, slalom sailors stay in the backstrap all the time at insane speeds. When I was racing I would often stay in the straps downwind as long as the wind allowed, although in a lot of training / comparing we never found if it really was actually faster than having the back foot out.

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azymuth said..

John340 said..I can see the advantage in keeping the rear foot in the strap for all wind angles. I've tried to shift my body weight, using the forward hip swing. I was not consistently successful. Maybe I just need to persevere. I'd like to see your video JJ, but it didn't load in your post.

Here you go

So I gather it's the lunge forward with your knees as you bank downwind off the wave. I'll give it a go.

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WhiteofHeart said..
Going deeper downwind bleeds off speed making the foil more backfoot balanced. If you aim too high your speed becomes higher making it harder to stay in the backstrap. Its still very much possible though, slalom sailors stay in the backstrap all the time at insane speeds. When I was racing I would often stay in the straps downwind as long as the wind allowed, although in a lot of training / comparing we never found if it really was actually faster than having the back foot out.

It's not speed I'm after, it's the speed of transition. If you don't have to move your feet you can go quickly from upwind to downwind and visa versa. I suspect this will help wind swell riding

Footstraps location will alway be a compromise.

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John340 said..So I gather it's the lunge forward with your knees as you bank downwind off the wave. I'll give it a go.

Yep - lunging forward transfers weight to your front foot.
Also try weighting the boom/mast-base, a fine-control stabilizing mechanism - an advantage we have over wingers.

Both become subconscious with practice.

Certainly no expert here, but I planned to at some point to install rear straps, but just haven't had a need yet. I don't jump and no huge swells where I ride. I like to carve hard up wind and need my rear foot on the rail. Turning off the wind, back foot in the middle, I can carve around etc. And never feel like my back foot is trying to lift like a fin board, where you'll get launched if your not in the strap. Lean forward turning hard down wind, transitioning to rear foot pressure carving back upwind. Maybe it's just my set up, IDK.

Just a beginner foiler. At a certain degree off the wind I cannot foil in comfort without moving my rear foot in front and more centered. Swell, gust, overpowered all create issues. Foil board is not the contemporary wide tail design. Horue Tiny. Have the rear straps mounted outward vs. center. No centered inserts.

Just "mowing the lawn". I need consistent wind and flat water to even hope for a foiling jibe. But cranking hard upwind and riding, foil surfing the swells downwind is a real kick. 3-4 nm upwind as high as I can point. 3-4nm swell riding. Repeat. Maybe why my foil jibing sucks.

I have a center rear that I use just for jumping, it's too far back for good carve control. I have lots of inserts though (Hypernut) so I could try it forward at some point.