I have noticed on my 96 fsw board that my front foot seems to be twisted forward a bit and not completely in line with the strap and not comfortable compared to my other boards, the setup in the pic is 27cm wave fin and 5m sail. Everything else seems balanced just that front foot is not right. Was thinking maybe its something to do with mast foot position or even boom hight? Contructive criticism wellcome.

This is very interesting to me. I'm having trouble adapting to the new boards which have the mast track much further back than I am used to. At the moment on the Quatro FSW 75 I have the mast all the way to the front but still struggle staying in the straps between gusts. When the wind drops I find myself twisting forward like you describe trying to keep the board flat and drive it forward with the mast.

I'm used to higher booms and really long harness lines that are wide apart, so now with the modern gear I seem to be endlessly adjusting stuff... and can't seem to get comfortable unless I'm hooked in and in a strong gust.

Maybe try lowering the boom a touch. I find that the higher the boom the less weight on the front foot.
Also the harness lines look to be a long way back for a 5m sail. Not sure what could be causing this, maybe try fiddling with the down-haul out-haul combination?

Hello, JMan,

What would happen if you loosened the front footstrap screw and left the front of the footstrap where it is (the one closest to the mast track), but moved the rear of the footstrap to the next lower set of holes (near the arch of your foot in the photo)? Might take a few tries to get the angles right but worth a try?

Hope this helps.

Select to expand quote

WindmanV said..
Hello, JMan,

What would happen if you loosened the front footstrap screw and left the front of the footstrap where it is (the one closest to the mast track), but moved the rear of the footstrap to the next lower set of holes (near the arch of your foot in the photo)? Might take a few tries to get the angles right but worth a try?

Hope this helps.

I do something similar my speed board... ie: sailing off the wind results in my front foot almost parallel to the rail -> so I have move the rail-side screw to the back holes... thus twisting the strap helps immensely.

So maybe the opposite is true for crosswind / upwind sailing.

Looks to me like your heal is telling you that the foot would like to be a bit more forward, try moving the foot strap up a bit, I see you have the holes for that.
I find that the shorter, more modern boards like to be ridden a bit more upright, not so laid out towards the rear.
Also I see you're using the inside holes, which I do because I'm always in and on the waves. The outside holes are more for wave-less riding, open ocean high speed cruzing, and stuff like that. The outside placement is way more comfortable for that type of sailing, as are the outside rears.

how narrow is that stance!?! How tall are you? Modern boards are pretty well set same same front back holes, unless you're a pro freestyle or wave guy, they seem to set them metres apart

Apart gives more control but I find with my front foot drivey stance I pull out of the back strap if set too wide.

oh and your foot should be a bit further in the straps, 27cm fin also a little big for 96/5.0

Select to expand quote

RumChaser said..
Maybe try lowering the boom a touch. I find that the higher the boom the less weight on the front foot.
Also the harness lines look to be a long way back for a 5m sail. Not sure what could be causing this, maybe try fiddling with the down-haul out-haul combination?

I think its a go-pro illusion that the lines seem far back in the pic. Sail is rigged fine its almost impossible to rig an Ezzy wrong with all the rigging guides on them.

Select to expand quote

Mastbender said..
Looks to me like your heal is telling you that the foot would like to be a bit more forward, try moving the foot strap up a bit, I see you have the holes for that.
I find that the shorter, more modern boards like to be ridden a bit more upright, not so laid out towards the rear.
Also I see you're using the inside holes, which I do because I'm always in and on the waves. The outside holes are more for wave-less riding, open ocean high speed cruzing, and stuff like that. The outside placement is way more comfortable for that type of sailing, as are the outside rears.

I have moved the footstrap spread wider, front strap second hole back from front of board, and rear strap second hole from the back of board.

Would like to keep the inboard setup if I can get it right as the board is used for a bit of wave riding every now and then and don't want to be changing straps from inboard to outboard.

Select to expand quote

mkseven said..
how narrow is that stance!?! How tall are you? Modern boards are pretty well set same same front back holes, unless you're a pro freestyle or wave guy, they seem to set them metres apart

Apart gives more control but I find with my front foot drivey stance I pull out of the back strap if set too wide.

oh and your foot should be a bit further in the straps, 27cm fin also a little big for 96/5.0

I'm about 5' 11 and yeah I tried to go bigger on the straps but it didn't feel right with the front foot issue so maybe with the wider stance it I may be able to go bigger.

Was doing a bit of research and came across an article that mentioned a cm here or there on the base position can make a big difference too.

Wow indeed in the photo the lines and grip look quite far back than normal.

The water looks windless comparing the the power stance in the photo...cool.

I reckon it is the harness lines.

If they are too far forward (a little bit anyway) you increase rear foot pressure to compensate, and you spin out.
Here is the opposite, they are so crazy far back - I'd say about 20-30m too far back, so to compensate they require you to pull on front hand and rotate the front foot in the straps. so it is not in line with the strap but I also see that big toe lift. It is you whole body trying to counteract the fact the harness lines are waayyy oversheeting you.

Think about the proper stance - in the pic your front foot rotates to be closer to in line with the board (clockwise) and even your rear foot a little also. This rotates your hips and torso towards the front of the board and moves all of your body a little towards the sail........ but that would increase the sheet-in angle, which is already too much.
I say harness lines forward so you can get into the correct stance

Select to expand quote

Mark _australia said..
I reckon it is the harness lines.

If they are too far forward (a little bit anyway) you increase rear foot pressure to compensate, and you spin out.
Here is the opposite, they are so crazy far back - I'd say about 20-30m too far back, so to compensate they require you to pull on front hand and rotate the front foot in the straps. so it is not in line with the strap but I also see that big toe lift. It is you whole body trying to counteract the fact the harness lines are waayyy oversheeting you.

Think about the proper stance - in the pic your front foot rotates to be closer to in line with the board (clockwise) and even your rear foot a little also. This rotates your hips and torso towards the front of the board and moves all of your body a little towards the sail........ but that would increase the sheet-in angle, which is already too much.
I say harness lines forward so you can get into the correct stance

Mark I reckon the go-pro maybe giving an optical illusion on how far back they appear. I just had a look and the rear line is about 45cm from the clamp and I can easily sail either hand off the boom. But I did just look at the Crib sheet on setting the lines and going by that 3rd rule the rear line should be a little further back than I have it. Not that I ever use that Crib guide as I just go with a balanced feel.

Select to expand quote

novetti said..
Wow indeed in the photo the lines and grip look quite far back than normal.

The water looks windless comparing the the power stance in the photo...cool.

Yep have always found with the Go-pro that the water looks windless and waves look smaller.

@Jman
When you figure it out tell us what worked :)

Yeah agreed it is the GoPro distortion, the lines are not that far back - looks the same in some of my pics

However it does look like (unless you are trying to really push hard upwind) that you are really trying so hard to get weight forward. It looks like a major trim / balance issue.

I have the same boom and I don't even have my lines that far back for my 8m race sail.

You need to lower your boom, and move your lines forward until you have created more mast foot pressure

You are to unbalanced, an oversized fin with the worlds flattest wave sail helps to create zero mast foot pressure........

Select to expand quote

hendo1 said..


You need to lower your boom, and move your lines forward until you have created more mast foot pressure

You are to unbalanced, an oversized fin with the worlds flattest wave sail helps to create zero mast foot pressure........

Hard to see in the pic I posted but the sail was just touching the boom so not a flat sail at all. But lowering the boom I will try.

Select to expand quote

N1GEL said..
I have the same boom and I don't even have my lines that far back for my 8m race sail.

As mentioned in above posts the go -pro seems to give an illusion that the lines are way back.

Select to expand quote

Jman said..

N1GEL said..
I have the same boom and I don't even have my lines that far back for my 8m race sail.

As mentioned in above posts the go -pro seems to give an illusion that the lines are way back.

I can tell by the marks, not the image. That's why I said I have the same boom. I just checked where mine are exactly and, with my lines setup for a 7.3 race sail, my front line is on the 3rd mark and the back one is on the 4th mark. This allows me to comfortably take both hands off the boom when sailing powered up. When using my 5m race/speed sail, I bring the lines forward one whole mark. Everyone's different though and you might like a lot of pull on your front hand, but I definitely couldn't sail with my lines that far back on a 5m sail regardless of whether it was wave RAF or cam. I get mad forearm pump if my lines are as far back as yours. Not saying this has anything to do with your stance, I don't really know what's going on there. But it's probably worth mentioning that with my front straps I use the outer plug further back than the back plugs. So front plugs are 4th one back and inside front plugs are 3rd back. To me this helps keep my body twisted forward and thus helps upwind and stuff.

Select to expand quote

Agrid said...
This is very interesting to me. I'm having trouble adapting to the new boards which have the mast track much further back than I am used to. At the moment on the Quatro FSW 75 I have the mast all the way to the front but still struggle staying in the straps between gusts. When the wind drops I find myself twisting forward like you describe trying to keep the board flat and drive it forward with the mast.

I'm used to higher booms and really long harness lines that are wide apart, so now with the modern gear I seem to be endlessly adjusting stuff... and can't seem to get comfortable unless I'm hooked in and in a strong gust.

Jman....this is you as well
your twitchy tiny sail only feels balanced when overpowered so your boom is too high, lines too far back making it feel like you've got no front foot pressure

plus an oversized weedy will also exasperate the problem by moving center of lift further back down the board resulting in even more front foot problems...

ha...good luck, the answers are right in front of you...

My 2 bob: It looks like your front foot wants to be further forward. That implies that your bod is too far forward, and that would be because the CL of the sail is too far forward, and that would be because the CLR of the board is too far forward.

If that's accurate then trimming to lift the nose will improve things. You can do that by lowering the booms (less mast foot pressure) or moving the mast foot back. If you do have the harness lines behind the CL and you have front arm pull, that puts more pressure through your front foot and that would exacerbate the forward trim.