Just wondering if anyone has experimented with foot pressure during speed runs.
Also, is the best way to tune this pressure with foot strap placement, mast foot placement or sail tuning?

I feel like I have too much pressure on my back foot, and I can't seem to trim this out. I've tried a few combo's of footstrap placement and mast foot position. My heavy back foot results in earlier than normal spin-out; hard to work up-wind; board rearing up in a lull during a speed run; and front foot wanting to pop out of the strap (I think due to too little pressure).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Interesting question, still trying to work it out myself. When I sailed at sandy point and I was using borrowed gear, it was set up so diifferently, everything seemed extreme, with everything as far back as possible (with new inserts to have a more radical footstrap placement), and different on both sides of the board, one set up for down-wind and one set-up for up wind.

What I'm finding is, that I have placed my footstraps a little more inboard, because what you want to present is a flat surface, and outward placement tends to rail to windward a bit. The other thing I try and do is when a strong gust hits I try and trim the board so it is as flat as possible and aim in further down wind which sort of feels like I'm lifting the board with my front foot and forcing it downwind. (I know this works because all my fastest peaks are recorded by gps on this part of the runs) Hope this helps, and I'd be interested to hear from others.

What type of gear do you use?
A few things you could try: move your harness lines forward;start with your mast track as far forward as it can go then slowly move it back from there until you feel balanced and the pressure is distributed evenly on both feet.
I run my mast track at around 130cm and straps all the way back on my Falcon91/80 regardless of sail size the setup feels great but i did start with the track forward 135-140 and after a few sessions gradually moved it back.

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choco said...

What type of gear do you use?

The gear I have had the most trouble with is as follows:

Naish Slalom Pro 91
KA Koncept 5.8
Flying Objects Weed 260

I weigh 70 kg.

Back footstrap is as far forward as possible. Fwd footstrap is in the middle. I've been playing with the mast foot at close to extreme forward back to half way.

I'll try to move my harness lines. This makes sence since until now I've been riding freeride sails and the COE would have moved forward on the Koncept. I remember it feeling a bit front arm heavy...

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hardie said...


What I'm finding is, that I have placed my footstraps a little more inboard, because what you want to present is a flat surface, and outward placement tends to rail to windward a bit.

I wish I had a choice, but this board only has adjustment fore/aft. I also would really miss the leverage on up-wind runs when your heel is hanging on the rail.

I did notice that my board was sitting on the windward rail on my runs at Hardies this weekend. Although it would flatten off on a downwind run.

There's a market out there for a comprehensive sail/board/fin tuning guide. Windsurfing for Dummies??

"I did notice that my board was sitting on the windward rail on my runs at Hardies this weekend. Although it would flatten off on a downwind run"

That's due to fin length. You could make your upwind straps a bit looser so your feet are not so close to the rail if it bothers you that it digs in.

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The gear I have had the most trouble with is as follows:

Naish Slalom Pro 91
KA Koncept 5.8
Flying Objects Weed 260

I weigh 70 kg.

Back footstrap is as far forward as possible. Fwd footstrap is in the middle. I've been playing with the mast foot at close to extreme forward back to half way.

I'll try to move my harness lines. This makes sence since until now I've been riding freeride sails and the COE would have moved forward on the Koncept. I remember it feeling a bit front arm heavy...

A raked back weed fin will put the C of R further back. Running the back footstraps fully forward would probably make it feel pretty unbalanced and put more pressure on the back foot. I suggest moving your back strap fully back as the first thing to see if this helps. I would be surprised if it didn't feel a lot better like that.

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hardie said...

Interesting question, still trying to work it out myself. When I sailed at sandy point and I was using borrowed gear, it was set up so diifferently, everything seemed extreme, with everything as far back as possible (with new inserts to have a more radical footstrap placement), and different on both sides of the board, one set up for down-wind and one set-up for up wind.

What I'm finding is, that I have placed my footstraps a little more inboard, because what you want to present is a flat surface, and outward placement tends to rail to windward a bit. The other thing I try and do is when a strong gust hits I try and trim the board so it is as flat as possible and aim in further down wind which sort of feels like I'm lifting the board with my front foot and forcing it downwind. (I know this works because all my fastest peaks are recorded by gps on this part of the runs) Hope this helps, and I'd be interested to hear from others.

Hi Hardie.

I rode the yellow board again the other day and I actually moved the rear strap back another inch and it felt a lot better. Much the same as my IS 50 with the assy footstrap positioning on the downwind side.

I often feel like I am slightly tilting the board to windward in the run in-but once fully up to speed, broad and powered the weight distribution changes more to my toes and the fin lift rolls the board flat at top speed.

hardie and choco, i've been trying to do this all afternoon sailing alone in gusty conditions and relatively flat at times. i tried moving the mast forward and sure enough the board seems stable and goes upwind but is a bit slow and then i try moving it backwards and it becomes agile and fast however very trying just to go back upwind. the front straps have been moved inward on 2nd row to compensate for the chop and is a bit awkward to push and bear downwind on a flat padded deck with flat out flat feet and my backfoot seems to bend rather than straigthen out just to straighten out my front foot. sail seems to be over-sheeted tooi was looking at the board and i thought i might try moving it outwards again but am sure will suffer when it's windy and choppydo you flatten your front foot if inwards on a tight footstrap and so too with the backfoot and what's the perfect stance for broad reaching and would a higher boom height make a differencesigh...

Porka,

Definitely try moving the straps back as far as possible. I sail all my boards - as far back and as far out as possible.

With regard to the spin out etc... Hardie's comments on keeping the board trim flat are good.

Just the other day I tried putting weight on my toes (on the back foot) while working upwind - this is a little counter-intuitive as you will use the rail less to help point upwind. To my surprise it worked really well. Especially with a wider board (~ 60 cm). I was riding a F2 SX S ~90 litres) Using the fin more and the edge of the rail less certainly seemed to help with board trim and also in reducing spin-out/stall as you have described.


- J

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jp747 said...

hardie and choco, i've been trying to do this all afternoon sailing alone in gusty conditions and relatively flat at times. i tried moving the mast forward and sure enough the board seems stable and goes upwind but is a bit slow and then i try moving it backwards and it becomes agile and fast however very trying just to go back upwind. the front straps have been moved inward on 2nd row to compensate for the chop and is a bit awkward to push and bear downwind on a flat padded deck with flat out flat feet and my backfoot seems to bend rather than straigthen out just to straighten out my front foot. sail seems to be over-sheeted tooi was looking at the board and i thought i might try moving it outwards again but am sure will suffer when it's windy and choppydo you flatten your front foot if inwards on a tight footstrap and so too with the backfoot and what's the perfect stance for broad reaching and would a higher boom height make a differencesigh...

It's all about balance and leverage, and the type of sailing you want to do. If you want to be balanced and correctly leveraged for downwind sailing, that will be different to being balanced and leveraged for upwind sailing. So what is it you want to do? If you want to do it all, then it is about compromise, and finding the middleground.

Speedsailors, often have a speed course, they always go downwind on the same tack and upwind on the opposite tack.

The sandy point guys have a different set-up for each different tack, footstrap set up, harness line set-up is different. The only 2 things that remain the same because they have to stay constant unless you want to get off your board, is mastfoot position and boom height, which are optimised for downwind speed runs bec that is the main goal, going fast.

If you have a wide tailed board, then putting the footsraps too inboard will mean you get little or no leverage with your feet, which is no good either. My footstrap positioning has only minor adjustments because it's a narrow slalom board, a little more in-board helped me.

Getting back upwind, this works for me
Lean shoulder forward, back leg straight and pushing a little (toes), front leg bent and pulling a little, this will increase the water line with the opp rail, sharper rails on slalom boards will help heaps. Increasing the water line will help the fin going upwind, and help prevent spinout.

Cheers,
Bob

hiya it's a relatively wide board(s) not so wide past 65cm though i guess it was the gusty shifting wind conditions that made me go up and downwind with ease and at times hard to do both..yeah i do lean forward but i guess on this day as soon as the wind shifts you lose power and have to trim sail, board and body posistion and find the sweet spot or where exactly the wind was coming from..but for you speed sailors at a broad reach stance what do you most prefer in a bit flat water say max. 15cm. chop..would you straighten your backfoot leg or more at a bent angle whilst the front is straight pushing on the rails and mast foot position a buddy of mine who sails with me a lot has discovered that if he puts the mast all the way forward his speeds are a lot faster than ever before...

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jp747 said...

>>>>>>>
] a buddy of mine who sails with me a lot has discovered that if he puts the mast all the way forward his speeds are a lot faster than ever before...

The theory is in chop to move mast foot forward to level the board out, this helps it go over the chop instead of slamming into it.
But on flat water, moving the mast foot back will decrease wetted area. But if you go too far and tail sinks too much that will cause increased drag.
Optimum position is going to be different for different weight sailors.

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decrepit said...

jp747 said...

>>>>>>>
] a buddy of mine who sails with me a lot has discovered that if he puts the mast all the way forward his speeds are a lot faster than ever before...

The theory is in chop to move mast foot forward to level the board out, this helps it go over the chop instead of slamming into it.
But on flat water, moving the mast foot back will decrease wetted area. But if you go too far and tail sinks too much that will cause increased drag.
Optimum position is going to be different for different weight sailors.

well i guess your right on the last sentence decrep he weighs about 20kls. less than i and we sometimes use same board volume..but he discovered it during the speed runs last year when one guy he asked on the beach told him the front nose of the board was way too high in hi winds so i guess he has got it trimmed to lower and distribute load..as for me i just have to find the best settingsi tried following suit but as you said i have a different weight and different boom height i think..am so used to chest high boom height with long lines ever since is started as an intermediate..