I have just been looking at the footstrap settings on my boards. Its interesting as I have arrived at these by sailing the boards, adjusting them as I need them, and then leaving them there. So obviously they work for me. They may not work for anyone else, as we are all different weights, different heights, and different abilities, not to mention sometimes preferring a different feeling from the board.

What I have ended up with is two very similar boards, with one having the straps outboard and the other with them inboard. Both are good boards for the conditions I sail them in, but one is more for blasting and the other is for lighter winds.

What it did dredge up though was that years ago I bought a Thommen board designed by Bjorn Dunkerbeck. It was a dog and never sailed very well for me. The first thing it needed was a much larger fin that you would expect, but even that didn't make it much better. After measuring things up and comparing my boards as well as others in the sailing group, I installed more footstrap inserts. Lots of inserts, just to make sure that I had a few options to try out.

So, the board was transformed. I ended up using the footstrap inserts in the same position that my favorite boards do, which makes sense as our legs are always the same length and our stance probably doesn't change much. I guess I am a midget compared to Bjorn Dunkerbeck as there seems to be a big difference between our stance widths.

Has anyone else bought a board that they hated because it didn't sail well, even though it was a top brand?

I also remembered that I modified my Formula board in the same way. It was always a huge step across to the straps until I added more inserts, at which point it became a fun board.

I guess not many people modify boards in the same way, but if I ever buy a new board it will be the top of my list to see how the footstraps are spaced.

I change straps positions on all of my boards . They are never in the right spot , not even close . because im tallish and heavy my straps need to be more inboard and wider spaced . I have a formula that works on all boards for me . 50 mm more inboard front and back . Straps 150 mm wider apart , back ones where they are , front ones forward . Works on free-ride big and small and wider slalom types .

At 100kg and 2meters tall I go for 43cm between the back of the front strap and the front of the rear and both as far outboard as possible. Normally stick the rear strap in the middle and measure forward from there which normally ends up in the front position. This way in lighter winds the rear foot can sit on the rail in front of the strap then when it's blowing I've got a nice wide stable stance.

I always measure now before I get a board, I like 40.5 for slaloms (i like a little wider if overpowered or choppy but 40.5 a good all round for me). In freewaves 43.5 & inboard, i've found particularly in freewaves they can not have enough spacing some not going wider than 41.

Measuring pretty important, even say all isonics of same year have very different widths can't just go middle & middle is right. Makes sense in that light wind or flat water to have narrower but i prefer to have consistant width.

Also being on a "longish" side... Need to keep the straps in, otherwise my heels grab water.
Also spacing longer.
Starboard carve has a great rep, and yet, I just couldn't make it work for me. Broke the board nose twice due to the straps setup.
Sold it, the new owner broke the board nose the very next day. Not just me I guess.

Cool, its good to see others have the same problem as me, albeit because they are tall instead of short and heavy

Its the same thing though, as the footstrap spread will feel wrong for you lanky guys.

Its food for thought though. A few people I know would buy a new board because of the pretty graphics, and not one of them would think to measure the footstrap positions. I know which one matters more to me!

I remember a while ago Tom Chalko, move his front straps back, I forget how far now, possibly 50mm or so, and gained 2kts at Sandy Point.

Since then I've used the 5 hole chinook plugs, so I can experiment. But each board ends up a bit different

Everyone will be different

According to that my harness lines are 20cm to far forward??
the elbow to tip of finger is spot on for foot strap width but that gives me 43cm, then says go for under 40cm so which is it?
guess I'm just to lanky for the formular

Use the arm length for good comfy footstrap setup. Measurements are general parameters. Everyone is different.

How far back do harness lines go ? Guy Cribb has his one third of the boom length principle. Jem Hall speaks about 5 or 6 hands back from the mast. I believe it was Britt Viehmann who says find the balance point while on land. They all seem to agree that once a balance point is found, then move front line forward if pulling on front and back line back if pulling on back while sailing. Once again, personal preference, experience, etc all come into play. Everything I read told me to move my lines back, but that happened all on its own over time. Went back as far as 20 cm on the 8.5 sail - boom of 234 cm. That's a move of almost 10 % of the boom length. In 2013 Bruno of 2-rad told Helmut that if you draw a straight line on a rigged sail from the top of the sail to the base, where it crosses the boom is where the front line of the lines should go - Never heard that before !!

Good topic, I've always wondered but I can't be bothered changing everything around, I just want to get out there and sail! After reading this though it's inspired me to do some experimenting.

Blasting around today I could quite happily sail around no hands on boom so I guess I'll leave them where they are. Might move the front straps back a bit as an experiment next time

Second hole from the back and right on the rail works for me ...

i'm only a free rider ..my mate ,he likes waves ,so he has his in ,so he can stay over the board ,not hanging of like
us speed demons .
I have had mine in .i felt I couldn't get enough pressure on the rail to keep it down at high speed..

once you find your happy spot ,no need to change ,best of changing boards

Im constantly moving them while sailing to get a perfect no hands balance . a little back if im overpowered .

I've got the opposite problem to most of you guys. At 5'6" 66kgs I find it hard to get the straps close enough together so I can sail without doing the squat or splits..I didn't know I was doing it till someone pointed it out and showed the strap position as the culprit.
On my speedboard I've used metal plate strap extensions so I can get them close enough ( to use the arm rule).

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Kazza said..
Good topic, I've always wondered but I can't be bothered changing everything around, I just want to get out there and sail! After reading this though it's inspired me to do some experimenting.

I moved my straps back on my big board ( 111ltre) hoping to free it up in chop.It seems a bit better but I think I need a pointer fin and higher boom setting too. It feels like a cargo carrier bearing off..

Don't like bearing off on big boards, horrible feeling

I'm usually can use the standard footstrap positions since I'm about average height and weight. But once when a friend wanted to sell a Carbon Art, I tried it and did not buy it because the foot straps were too close together. He's about 20 cm shorter than I am, and the strap positions were perfect for him.

Sail design effects foot strap position, todays sails are alot different to the ones that were designed to be used with the old thommen.about 20y ago i loved my old f2 thommen and still have it. I last tried it about 4y ago with severn and it was a complete miss match both mast track and footstraps completely out.

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Kazza said..
Don't like bearing off on big boards, horrible feeling

Yep..

Appears that the elbow to fingers thing works for me...I checked where I have been placing the straps on my designs and it worked out within 5mm of the elbow to finger measurement.

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mr love said..
Appears that the elbow to fingers thing works for me...I checked where I have been placing the straps on my designs and it worked out within 5mm of the elbow to finger measurement.

Yep me too, but for me (5'9" and 49cm arm) I still have to put the front straps right in the back holes and the back straps all the way in the front holes to achieve this.
All my boards (JP Fanatic, Exo) have a centre to centre measurement of 56 cm , those designers/testers must be big guys

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TRIMMER said..
Sail design effects foot strap position, todays sails are alot different to the ones that were designed to be used with the old thommen.about 20y ago i loved my old f2 thommen and still have it. I last tried it about 4y ago with severn and it was a complete miss match both mast track and footstraps completely out.

I don't know if you are referring to my mention of a Thommen board, but this is not an old board... well not that old. I think 2004? So, its definitely a modern shape, its just that they put the footstrap positions a long way back for me.

I have a 2016 Phantom377L it has got two sets of footstraps for the back foot, one set directly in front of other, later model Phantoms only have the one set at the back and I have noticed many guys remove the forward set on boards the same vintage as mine.

I actually use that forward set all the time, they make your feet placement very close together but that placement seems to trim the board very nice in marginal conditions and keeps you planning longer than if your feet were in the very back. In very powered conditions I use the back straps as the wider stance feels more controllable and keeping the weight back helps to keep that long nose out of the back of chop downwind.

So I agree that moving your weight around on a board has a huge affect on how it performs and different conditions and even different points of sail require different positions for optimal performance.

I have had some boards absolutely transformed by moving straps positions - often I am going forwards to get the board into the trim i want

this also means the boards stays trimmed when you step out of the back strap to gybe (or you dont have to step your back foot miles forwards - next to your front foot - to gybe with speed and non tailheavy trim.

I often wonder if board manufacturers pay enough attention to strap positions as I have had many that have been way out in the central positions - more often than not I end up with everything really far forward- and have even punt inserts in further forwards.

Same with mast track positions...

I like the back strap quite tight so my foot does not slip in too much which allows me to gain leverage with my heal.

Great for sailing upwind.

As far as big boards with a huge fin not feeling good going off the wind - correct - except in marginal conditions they are amazing off the wind.

Straps further back are faster in normal conditions as they increase the lift of the board.

In maxed out conditions - further forward has to be faster as you will reduce the board lift.