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.
"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.
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.
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
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...