What are people's thoughts on going strapless when starting out ? I'm gonna be on a Fanatic 95L Sky Wing. Also why are there two rows of back foot strap inserts that are just of centre ( slightly outboard from centre line of board ?) Also my thought on going strapless when starting out was that firstly i wont be getting strait up and slipping my front foot strait into the strap strait away. I figure starting out with front straps on , they will just be something to stumble over and make things difficult. And I figure that being able to jostle my feet around a bit until I feel balanced / comfortable on foil, will decide for me where my straps will go ?
This is just a thought though. It's all well and good in theory / my mind.

Your comments are valid.
Start off with no straps, practice skills for getting away from shallows then standing up and pumping up onto the foil.
At this point for many having a front foot strap helps getting the front foot in the correct position. Front foot position is critical for progression. Once adjusted then the front strap can be removed however, if you are into jumping later you will want both front and back foot straps.
Good luck with your progression.

Select to expand quote

warwickl said..
Your comments are valid.
Start off with no straps, practice skills for getting away from shallows then standing up and pumping up onto the foil.
At this point for many having a front foot strap helps getting the front foot in the correct position. Front foot position is critical for progression. Once adjusted then the front strap can be removed however, if you are into jumping later you will want both front and back foot straps.
Good luck with your progression.

Thx

Front foot position is critical, and that's where straps can help. Pretty much every time when I think I should be able to foil but cannot get up, I see that my front foot is a bit too far forward. Even just a few cm can make a huge difference.

That said, putting straps on for a newbie is still a bad idea. When crashing with just the front foot in the strap, there is a very good chance you'll tweak and possibly injure your knee or ankle. Newbies fall a lot, and often in an uncontrolled manner. I know people who had serious knee injuries from being in the front strap when learning to foil, and I have had a knee injury myself in a windsurfing crash when the back foot got out. We just foiled with a guy who had a particular bad "front strap injury" when he fell onto his foil and punctured his lung, leading to an 18-day stay in the hospital. He was working on jumping tricks (Flakas) when his back foot came out and the front foot stayed in the strap. Obviously, newbies won't try Flakas, but similar falls when overfoiling could happen. Without straps, it's easier to get away from the board and foil.

Select to expand quote

Sambo # said..
What are people's thoughts on going strapless when starting out ? I'm gonna be on a Fanatic 95L Sky Wing. Also why are there two rows of back foot strap inserts that are just of centre ( slightly outboard from centre line of board ?) Also my thought on going strapless when starting out was that firstly i wont be getting strait up and slipping my front foot strait into the strap strait away. I figure starting out with front straps on , they will just be something to stumble over and make things difficult. And I figure that being able to jostle my feet around a bit until I feel balanced / comfortable on foil, will decide for me where my straps will go ?
This is just a thought though. It's all well and good in theory / my mind.

In response to the back strap insert configuration question, the back fanatic strap is fixed with 2 screws on each end, not like just the one on each end for the front straps. It then won't twist at all

Honestly you only really need footstraps for jumping. If you don't do that (yet) there is absolutely no need for them. The cons outweigh the pros by a mile in my opinion, especially the danger for injuries when crashing (which you will do a lot in the beginning)

I know its not the typical progression, but I put front straps on my board early in my learning curve and I don't regret it. I did it because I was used to straps from kite foiling and I felt like I had more control of the board. I agree with the previous posters who mentioned how they make it easier to find your front foot placement, which is very important for a novice in figuring out mast placement and takeoff. Yes, straps can be more dangerous, but I feel like the dangers of straps are overstated. After you have an understanding of falling away from the board (which you learn as a reflex very early) you will find you fall out of your straps - assuming they are not too tight. Not for everyone, but it worked fine for me.

I would not recommend using a back foot strap until you are much further along in your progression and specifically looking to jump. Being able to move your back foot around is very helpful and getting in and out of a back strap is slightly more challenging than the front straps.

Select to expand quote

Sambo # ha detto..
Quali sono i pensieri delle persone sull'andare senza spalline quando si inizia? Sar? su un Fanatic 95L Sky Wing. Inoltre, perch? ci sono due file di inserti per cinturini per il piede posteriore che sono solo al centro (leggermente fuori bordo dalla linea centrale della tavola?) Anche il mio pensiero di andare senza spalline all'inizio era che in primo luogo non sar? stretto e scivolare il mio piede anteriore stretto nello stretto cinghia via. Immagino che iniziare con le cinghie anteriori, saranno solo qualcosa su cui inciampare e rendere le cose difficili. E immagino che essere in grado di spingere un po' i piedi fino a quando non mi sento in equilibrio / a mio agio sul foil, decider? per me dove andranno le mie cinghie?
Questo per? ? solo un pensiero. Va tutto bene in teoria / nella mia mente.

OK

Select to expand quote

Sambo # ha detto..
Quali sono i pensieri delle persone sull'andare senza spalline quando si inizia? Sar? su un Fanatic 95L Sky Wing. Inoltre, perch? ci sono due file di inserti per cinturini per il piede posteriore che sono solo al centro (leggermente fuori bordo dalla linea centrale della tavola?) Anche il mio pensiero di andare senza spalline all'inizio era che in primo luogo non sar? stretto e scivolare il mio piede anteriore stretto nello stretto cinghia via. Immagino che iniziare con le cinghie anteriori, saranno solo qualcosa su cui inciampare e rendere le cose difficili. E immagino che essere in grado di spingere un po' i piedi fino a quando non mi sento in equilibrio / a mio agio sul foil, decider? per me dove andranno le mie cinghie?
Questo per? ? solo un pensiero. Va tutto bene in teoria / nella mia mente.

OK

Select to expand quote

Sambo # ha detto..
Quali sono i pensieri delle persone sull'andare senza spalline quando si inizia? Sar? su un Fanatic 95L Sky Wing. Inoltre, perch? ci sono due file di inserti per cinturini per il piede posteriore che sono solo al centro (leggermente fuori bordo dalla linea centrale della tavola?) Anche il mio pensiero di andare senza spalline all'inizio era che in primo luogo non sar? stretto e scivolare il mio piede anteriore stretto nello stretto cinghia via. Immagino che iniziare con le cinghie anteriori, saranno solo qualcosa su cui inciampare e rendere le cose difficili. E immagino che essere in grado di spingere un po' i piedi fino a quando non mi sento in equilibrio / a mio agio sul foil, decider? per me dove andranno le mie cinghie?
Questo per? ? solo un pensiero. Va tutto bene in teoria / nella mia mente.
OK

You'll be a better winger and learn good skills throughout the process if you go strapless. Just look down at the insert holes and take notice of where your foot is. Simple.

I struggled with my front foot placement when learning to ride switch. Coming from a long time surf/snowboard background I had never had a requirement to ride switch and found it completely awkward.
I put a strap on the front specifically for my switch stance to try and get my "new" front foot in the correct position.
I had it quite loose as I was struggling to twist myself around enough into a comfortable switch stance. That front strap did help somewhat but I found practicing paddling my SUP (nonfoil) in dead flat, smooth water in switch stance for a couple of sessions got me to the point where I forgot which was my normal stance. Next time on my foilboard winging I found riding switch was a heap easier and I think I removed the front strap after one or two sessions.
At the beginning I thought that there's no way you I could move my foot positions on the board once foiling, but I'm now "dancing" all over the board adjusting to the conditions, turns, wind strength etc
Just need to practice my foot swaps coming in or out of gybes...

Select to expand quote

pacoz said..
Honestly you only really need footstraps for jumping. If you don't do that (yet) there is absolutely no need for them. The cons outweigh the pros by a mile in my opinion, especially the danger for injuries when crashing (which you will do a lot in the beginning)

100% true.

Im about 1yr in and tried straps a few times, but kept taking them off because they'd get in the way. Now using 1 x front strap down the centreline. Its set very loose, its purpose is only to allow me to find my correct front foot position by feel rather than having to look down. Sticking with this for now.

Thanks everyone. Good info. Some things to try there.

Select to expand quote

Nikita said..

pacoz said..
Honestly you only really need footstraps for jumping. If you don't do that (yet) there is absolutely no need for them. The cons outweigh the pros by a mile in my opinion, especially the danger for injuries when crashing (which you will do a lot in the beginning)

100% true.

They help to pump (especially the front one).

Select to expand quote

DWF said..
You'll be a better winger and learn good skills throughout the process if you go strapless. Just look down at the insert holes and take notice of where your foot is. Simple.

That fanatic box placement doesn't work with all foil. Your front foot may be in front of the strap line and that is fine also. That will resolve your straps issue in a sens. :) I'm writing this down, now to bash the board, it's for if you are wondering what you are doing wrong and it's not the case.

Select to expand quote

NordRoi said..

DWF said..
You'll be a better winger and learn good skills throughout the process if you go strapless. Just look down at the insert holes and take notice of where your foot is. Simple.

That fanatic box placement doesn't work with all foil. Your front foot may be in front of the strap line and that is fine also. That will resolve your straps issue in a sens. :) I'm writing this down, now to bash the board, it's for if you are wondering what you are doing wrong and it's not the case.

I'm using a fanatic foil so all good

I have the same 95 liter Fanatic 5.4 with Fanatic Foils in various sizes from 1000 to 1305 @ 80kg.
Have been using frontstraps only from day one on that board, after a week of learning on a bigger 120 liter strapless, which helped initially.

My straps are set up in the widest possible position, i.e. first hole and last hole.
The strap is set fairly low, so that only my toes show on the other side.

There is no chance whatsoever of getting stuck, even if you jackknive backwards. The sideways room lets the foot twist sideways and out in all directions.
It lets me find my perfect foot placement including a couple of fore-aft cm of foot adjustments without looking down, after switching feet, when starting, slogging etc.

This setup is not for jumping, of course and I would never do this for windsurfing, but winging never requires pulling hard on the straps, even for pumping.
Look at early Alan Cadiz videos, he has/had the same long frontstrap setup.
Cheers

Select to expand quote

lairdkilgour said..
I have the same 95 liter Fanatic 5.4 with Fanatic Foils in various sizes from 1000 to 1305 @ 80kg.
Have been using frontstraps only from day one on that board, after a week of learning on a bigger 120 liter strapless, which helped initially.

My straps are set up in the widest possible position, i.e. first hole and last hole.
The strap is set fairly low, so that only my toes show on the other side.

There is no chance whatsoever of getting stuck, even if you jackknive backwards. The sideways room lets the foot twist sideways and out in all directions.
It lets me find my perfect foot placement including a couple of fore-aft cm of foot adjustments without looking down, after switching feet, when starting, slogging etc.

This setup is not for jumping, of course and I would never do this for windsurfing, but winging never requires pulling hard on the straps, even for pumping.
Look at early Alan Cadiz videos, he has/had the same long frontstrap setup.
Cheers

Will do, thanks.

Definitely strapless, I know a few people that learned strapped and its a huge crutch now. However, you can still use those inserts to your advantage. You can get some small, thin pieces of foam and screw them into the deck as reference points for your feet. When you get up on foil and feel like your balanced you will make note that you are standing on the foam, behind it, or in front of it. Then you can move the foam next session to where you'd like it to be (typically just behind your back foot). This allows you to feel the board and move your feet to the correct spot quickly after a foot switch.

You might break both ankles in a single crash if you get stuck in straps especially if using booties. I rode strapped for a couple years after I knew what I was doing and it is fun for jumping but I since have stopped using them and have become a way better foiler. Tried them on the other day and hated them. I can live a happy and safer foiling life without jumping. If you're gonna do it, get good straps and get them tightened properly where you can eject safely.