Do straps help for pumping in lightwinds? For example to „pull“ the board and get easier on the foil?
Good question Harri. I'm excited to hear what people have to say about this. I just started flat water pumping a couple of weeks before the lockdown but only dock starts with a modified wakesurf board (fairly similar dimensions to a kitefoil board) and that was strapless, so no experience while riding with a wing yet. Will be the first thing I try when we're allowed back on the water.
My option on the matter is that it is easier with straps, BUT you pick up pretty bad pumping technique.
Most guys I know that learned to pump with straps and still go strapped, have big problems pumping strapless , whereas guys who perfected their pumping without straps can really pump long distances with straps.
I personally hate straps when pumping as they limit you my trapping your front foot in one position. I move trim the board quite a bit with my front foot position when pumping, especially in light wind take offs with the wing and I can get a lot more out of the foil doing that.
I tell people to learn to pump without the straps first, and then use them later if they want to. That way they will have good technique.
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Gunnar
Hey Gunnar. I'm glad to hear you say you move your feet to trim the board while winging. I do this when I'm downwinding (mainly to apply more front foot pressure when flying down the face of a bump) but thought it was bad technique. Thanks for clearing that up
Thanx for your replies!
I tried it yesterday with straps and it was not good for me as i kitefoil strapless since 5 years. "Pulling" the board didn't bring me earlier on the foil, maybe my fault. And i didn't like the feeling of "locked" feet!
Back to the beach i dismounted the straps and tried not only to stomp while pumping, also to push it a bit forward with the backfoot. That worked good for me. I stay strapless;)
Been doing a lot of flat water pumping during the lockdown and I can now say without any doubt that for flat water pumping I definitely prefer no straps. Like Gunnar said, straps lead to poor technique, and weirdly, using straps seems to reduce my stability when flat water pumping rather than increase it
HOWEVER, for SUP foiling and wing foiling I still like to use a front foot strap for the following reasons:
- Extra traction when taking off (especially necessary for me when downwinding or trying to catch super small waves).
- When losing power from a wave or swell - just to help lift the nose before it touches the water.
- When cranking turns on a wave!!!!!!!!!!
I'm sure as I get better I'll need them less and less, but I don't think there's anything wrong with using them to learn - as long as you don't get reliant on them.
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