My back strap is located so that my foot is on top of the front strap screws when I’m in my most natural surf position. I can and do surf in the strap but it feels like my stance is slightly wide (probably 2” wider than my natural position). The bigger issue is pumping while strapped, which feels much less efficient. I move in and out of the strap often while riding, depending on conditions and what style of riding I’m doing. I tried the foot hook a couple times and it seemed pointless (can’t trust it for airs) and it was in my way more than a strap.
Straps are a slight compromise in position, but I find that I adapt pretty easily and straps open up a lot of options in riding. I wouldn’t have them if I wasn’t using them for air.
I don’t prone, but when winging with a small board I have the toes of the front foot pointing forward, and the toes of the back foot on the edge of the board. And somehow this kind of stance feels really good and balanced for pumping - no issues with the board wanting to wiggle left and right during pumping. And the front foot pointing forward makes it easy to bring more weight forward when needed, by leaning forward.
Good read and cool to hear the different opinions. I agree with Oskar and Mike, when I use a larger spanned foil I’m more offset, smaller spanned foil less offset. I never intended to be offset and started down the centre (more or less) but the extra control you get over larger spanned foils means off set stances are here to stay, to some extent anyway.
A few questions to think about; What is more efficient? Why are we offsetting? How does it change our upper body rotation? Does it make it easier or harder? Can our stance be narrower (more efficient) with more control if offset or more centred?
Hi James, this is Jonah (the windsurf guy), we met a few years back at the Sunova meeting …
I think it ties in to the discussion about yaw-flick turn initiation on the backside turn thread. In comparing turn initiation to a bike/moto a major difference is that when you roll a foil that’s moving through the water, you increase AOA on one end of the foil and decrease AOA on the other end leading to roll resistance. The wider the span and the faster you are going the more pronounced this will be.
Thinking this through a bit, if you initiate a turn by a slight yaw to the outside but the foil wants to stay upright, you need to press down on the inside rail to get the foil to roll. That’s clearly easier with an offset stance.
I would think that the downside to an offset stance is that when you pressure one rail vs the other, you also change front-back balance and will need to compensate for pitch. This might be why riders with extreme offset stances also seem to have their feet almost parallel to the centerline. It would allow you to put pressure more on the toes of the front foot to compensate for inside rail pressure on the back foot.
I wonder if those who are offset tend to have a narrower stand and mitigate that front-back balance. They probably prefer no straps…or at least have the backfoot off the straps most of the time.
I don’t know if you have ever seen a video of Peyo Lizarazu, he is pretty offset and he also surfed foil Belharra, Giant Waves off the coast of France…with that offset stand.
Here a video that shows his stance.
