Other than the last couple of weeks when I haven't been able to do anything for some reason how come I can't bottom turn with my back foot in the strap ?

If I try to turn with my back foot in, then I spin out and slide sideways horribly and crash

If I take my back foot out and move it forward and over the leeward rail I can crank quite nicely and what I reckon is quite tightly and it is all OK.

Problem is though if I try to pop air off the lip, or even get a bit light in the top turn often I end up with no pressure (or even contact) on my back foot and then it gets annoying (painful) when I land and crash.

I recall many years ago I had a board that had a footstrap in this forward leeward position. It was good for one tack sailing only - but the strap was useful for cranking upwind on the way back out.

Is the answer more mast foot pressure and more rail committment ? - but when it is barely planning conditions with little pull from the sail I can't do this as I just seem to stall and drop off the wave.

Would gybing with my back foot still in the strap help practice or would this just make my gybes worse than they already are ?

Or should I just put another couple of strap positions on my board and be happy ?

I too have had this problem here's a theory, not sure how valid.

If your back foot is too far away from the rail, you lean the board over by pulling up on the front foot, this engages a lot of the rail, but doesn't sink the tail, allowing the fin to aerate, when you start pulling Gs.
I loosened my back strap as far as I could without my foot being able to slip all the way thru. Then jam my foot in as far as it will go before the bottom turn.
This allows me to get more weight on the inside rail with the back foot, and not have to pull up with the front. It's fixed my spin outs, and the board feels looser.
Back strap feels loose at first especially on your first jump, you just have to get used to arching your foot against the strap to get a good grip.

Last century I also had a wave riding strap in front of the back strap and close to the rail, that worked fine for bottom turns but not so good off the lip. A loose back strap is much better.

Gybing with back foot in the strap isn't quite the same, you're in flat water, and the fin isn't going to aerate as readily.

Carantoc many many years ago I had a similar issue on bottom turns with a wider tailed board and what fixed it was getting a longer fin that had a better foil shape that didn't let go from memory it was a 23cm "Select" the original fin on the board was cr4p.

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decrepit said...

I too have had this problem here's a theory, not sure how valid.

If your back foot is too far away from the rail, you lean the board over by pulling up on the front foot, this engages a lot of the rail, but doesn't sink the tail, allowing the fin to aerate, when you start pulling Gs.
I loosened my back strap as far as I could without my foot being able to slip all the way thru. Then jam my foot in as far as it will go before the bottom turn.
This allows me to get more weight on the inside rail with the back foot, and not have to pull up with the front. It's fixed my spin outs, and the board feels looser.
Back strap feels loose at first especially on your first jump, you just have to get used to arching your foot against the strap to get a good grip.

Ha I was writing my reply while you posted yours yes I also agree with the bigger strap.

I used to have this problem, and solved it by moving my back hand further back on the boom when doing the bottom turn.

It's a similar problem to having your harness lines too far forward -- the pull from the sail transfers via your back hand to your back foot and you spin out.

Moving your back foot forward means less torque on the board so it's less likely to spin out. But a better way is to keep your back foot in the strap and move your back hand back. At least it was like this for me anyway.

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Maybe time to finally admit you are gay and buy a kite like all the other dancers around here have done..LOL

So it's confirmed - you have to be gay to kite...

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nebbian said...

I used to have this problem, and solved it by moving my back hand further back on the boom when doing the bottom turn.

It's a similar problem to having your harness lines too far forward -- the pull from the sail transfers via your back hand to your back foot and you spin out.

Moving your back foot forward means less torque on the board so it's less likely to spin out. But a better way is to keep your back foot in the strap and move your back hand back. At least it was like this for me anyway.

I agree. Moving the back hand back a little will provide more leverage to keep the sail sheeted in. the load on the back hand converts to load on the back foot where for me, all the drive and control comes from.

I've had this issue a bit over the years and its depended a lot on what board I'm on. smaller boards with lots of rocker line dont seem wallow in bottom turns as much. Im told the new model waveboards with twin or quad fins are much better. The old 79L JP I got now is a little bit stiff but heaps of back foot presure and its fine

Open the back strap so that your foot goes in as far as possible and your toes are sufficiently past the centre line of the board so as to engage the leeward rail when you carve, which you must do aggressively.

Cheers

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peto said...

Maybe time to finally admit you are gay and buy a kite like all the other dancers around here have done..LOL

Thats not a very nice way to treat your fellow sailor, bagging him out like that.LOL

Not very nice at all peto

Peto we were all ignoring him

And when you move your hand back down the boom you've gotta move the rig forward presumably ?

I assume there is no point in having the rig in the same place relative to your body just with your hands further back.

I assume you have your hands the same relative to your body and move the rig forward, as opposed to having the rig the same and moving your hands backwards.

Back hand back...

Unhook...

Bottom turn. Don't think, just do

It will throw the rig a bit further forward, but don't worry about that. Just try to get a nice smooth turn going and watch where you're aiming to go.

But don't forget to slide it forward again before you hit the lip, especially if you're well powered and it's direct side or side/off.

slightly bigger and better fin helped me through and leaning into your bottom turn engaging most of the rail will help