Found this new product on the APS site:
Looks like it could be a great improvement to the Dakine-type foot straps most people use on the transoms for spinny work.
This looks brilliant! Has anyone here tried them? Is there a maximum weight rating for these?
I used to have Dakine straps on my 1983 H16 and loved them, especially since most of my sailing was in the ocean off of Newport. I've never put them on any of my new boats (since 1997), mainly because lots of people with more racing experience were calling them
ankle-breakers.
I'd really like to try these, I know that I could have saved myself from countless pitchpoles / capsizes / swims through the years if I had foot straps.
Mike
Isn't the problem with straps that people use them as footstraps and not toestraps? When buying my first windsurfing kit I remember being instructed to install the straps in such a way as to not have room for more than my toes under them.
I used to have Dakine straps on my 1983 H16 and loved them, especially since most of my sailing was in the ocean off of Newport. I've never put them on any of my new boats (since 1997), mainly because lots of people with more racing experience were calling them
ankle-breakers.
I'd really like to try these, I know that I could have saved myself from countless pitchpoles / capsizes / swims through the years if I had foot straps.
Mike
Got a pair on order...
The APS description states they are adjustable in length and in the force needed to trip them open.
Didn't Glenn Ashby have a foot injury shortly after he stated crew with Bundock on the T? Wonder if it was from a foot strap?
Glenn was injured by a footstrap. He was trapeezing with kite up and twisted his body to follow a passing motorboat. Lost his balance and.. ouch..
I have had no trouble with toestraps as long as I have kept them over my toes only. Footstraps is an accident waiting to happen in my opinion.
On my Dart there are lots of foot straps, but actually I never use it. What would happen, if I stuff the bow? The boat will be stopped, I will loose balance. Even if my foot gets free, my body will be turned head to the bow, foots to the stern. In the best case I will be thrown head ahead into the water. Or I will fall with my head against the hull, sidestays or whatever. Without foot strap, I could
run
towards the bow, sort of a pitchpole
under control
.
Sounds like theory, but I have seen my crew doing both cases. Without foot strap usage we could even prevent the pitchpole (the crew run all the way to the front beam, but didn`t struggle), while I could turn and recover the boat. The other case ended with a black eye and I considered this as a happy end.
So, I think it is dangerous, but what is the experience of these guys who use it? Is a retension line a good alternatice?
Cheers,
Klaus
The strap finds most of its utility for just keeping your foot on the hull during ha\eavy wave slap. Also, rapid heading changes can happen under spinny...a sudden turn to leeward can leave the crew
flapping in the breeze
<img src=
alt=
/>
During mild bow stuffs, the strap can prevent skittering forward...but a chicken line off the transom if much better to have for more forceful stuff events. Ideally, having both in use is the best insurance.
run
towards the bow, sort of a pitchpole
under control
.
Sounds like theory, but I have seen my crew doing both cases. Without foot strap usage we could even prevent the pitchpole (the crew run all the way to the front beam, but didn`t struggle), while I could turn and recover the boat. The other case ended with a black eye and I considered this as a happy end.
So, I think it is dangerous, but what is the experience of these guys who use it? Is a retension line a good alternatice?
Cheers,
Klaus
I have them very loose with the idea of hooking my foot under them. if I relax my foot it comes out very easily. I think this is the best way to use them. If you really snug your foot in there then you might be asking for trouble.
I've used the Dakine foot straps in all sorts of conditions and I haven't had a problem getting my feet out during a pitchpole. I like the simple, low profile, look of that new one, but would be concerned that the complication of all the adjustment could lend it unreliable...not something I would want to fuss with while racing a distance race (where we use the foot straps a lot).