Foot straps vs foot holds

wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
next time im going to move my front strap up an inch and a half..i have short legs so i cant have it all the way to the front..also its nice to not be hitting your leg on the pole.. gives you a little more room to move around..yea Chris id say yours is a little too far to the side

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stanton

stanton

High on jetskis.
Location
atascadero,ca
love my strap position. if i was to do it again i would make the front strap run more bow to stern, i like standing sideways like on a skateboard.
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wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
five0addict said:
love my strap position. if i was to do it again i would make the front strap run more bow to stern, i like standing sideways like on a skateboard.
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i had mine like that on that grey ski i have..the problem with that was that my heel would catch on the side of the tray and i wouldnt be able to get my foot out..thats why i have mine fairly strait in the front but i just put my foot in it sideways..i guess if you put it more in the middle it would solve that like on joe's skis but i like being able to brace myself against the side of the ski
 
wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
Big Kahuna said:
my 2 cents. Straps are good for surf, but not for flat water.
2 different riding styles.
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well not everyone wants to do flatwater freestyle...for just rec riding and ripping up the lake straps are what you want..for flatwater freestyle yea u need footwells...you cant ride fast (or turn) properly in footwells no matter what anyone says..plus it just looks silly
 
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Big Kahuna

Big Kahuna

Administrator
Location
Tuscaloosa, AL
Shadow7874 said:
but what about a flat water rider who feels 20x more comfortable in a surf-like stance?
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wydopen said:
well not everyone wants to do flatwater freestyle...for just rec riding and ripping up the lake straps are what you want..for flatwater freestyle yea u need footwells...you cant ride fast (or turn) properly in footwells no matter what anyone says..plus it just looks silly
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Shadow, when you are ripping it up on the lake, your not gonna have yoru feet in the footholds, you ride in a "Normal" stance, or Race Stance or Surf Stance. They are all the same position. You go to the footholds when you are trying to do rolls, stabs, subs, sometimes even jumping.

Andrew, I agree. See above. I am all over the tray on the lake, I sometimes ride surf stance with my back toes in the hold and front foot all the way up front. There is a position for any kind of riding. Unless your doing some serious jumping (Boat wakes) you really do not need straps if you only ride flat. I ride Flat, Jump wakes and ride Surf. I have yet to find a time when I felt that regular stance (surf or race) or with both feet in the holds felt like it was holding me back. I have been riding since 1990. If I rode in the surf like you do most of the time, then hell yes.
 
wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
Big Kahuna said:
Shadow, when you are ripping it up on the lake, your not gonna have yoru feet in the footholds, you ride in a "Normal" stance, or Race Stance or Surf Stance. They are all the same position. You go to the footholds when you are trying to do rolls, stabs, subs, sometimes even jumping.

Andrew, I agree. See above. I am all over the tray on the lake, I sometimes ride surf stance with my back toes in the hold and front foot all the way up front. There is a position for any kind of riding. Unless your doing some serious jumping (Boat wakes) you really do not need straps if you only ride flat. I ride Flat, Jump wakes and ride Surf. I have yet to find a time when I felt that regular stance (surf or race) or with both feet in the holds felt like it was holding me back. I have been riding since 1990. If I rode in the surf like you do most of the time, then hell yes.
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i agree..before i had straps i still rode surfstance and i did move my feet all around..i actually used to switch my stance depending on which way i was going on the wave (always frontside) once i put the straps in i always have my feet in them when beginning any move (sometimes i pull one out or both to recover or regain balance) but now i know exactally how my ski will handle because my feet are always in one place..that takes away one variable and i think it allows you to focus on other handling aspects...

and i do think they help allot for turning even on flatwater..you can hang way off the ski and drag a shoulder and bring it up easier than if your struggling to keep your feet planted..i just know how much they helped my riding (even just basic handling not to mention wave riding) that i want other people to benefit from that as well... its also really fun to be able to match the angle of bumps in the water for smooth landings, kinda like doing a double on a moto..you can really control the angle of the ski in the air with straps as apossed to having the nose over your head and landing on the tail like i see so many people doing with footwells (jetskiing is the only sport where people do that, on a moto its called looping out haha and if u tried to land like that on a mtb you would be on your ass everytime) ..

.and i can do nosestabs and subs and stuff in surfstance on flatwater (not that i do very often) and now that Taylor has the 1000 in his rickter he is going to have to try a flatwater trimless backflip in surfstance.. ;-)

haha here are some old pics of me when i first started riding standing in the footwells so you guys can call me a hypocrite: haha im even coming in tail first :shhh:

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wydopen

wydopen

onthepipe
Location
Goleta the Goodland
five0addict said:
kinda the reason i want it more sideways so i can lock in with my heel against the gunwhale like i do with my back foot.
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dude how big are your feet??..your heel touches the gunwhale when your foot is in the strap??..mines not even close..i just use my ankle to brace against the side with my front foot..
 
joe b

joe b

depth tester
Location
northfield, nj
wydopen said:
here are some old pics of me when i first started riding standing in the footwells : haha im even coming in tail first :shhh:

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Haha....Look at the dumper jumper in fruit boots.

I think it's more preference... If your coming from surfing,skate,snowboard you'll more naturally like straps. Coming from bikes,skis,skates you'd probally like holds in the back. I think you have a more precise overall control of your boat in straps. I think holds give you that max huckability at a sacrifice in control. I don't see many who come out of tricks holding a rythm in holds.
 
stanton

stanton

High on jetskis.
Location
atascadero,ca
wydopen said:
dude how big are your feet??..your heel touches the gunwhale when your foot is in the strap??..mines not even close..i just use my ankle to brace against the side with my front foot..
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i got 10s, but i ride with shoes. no shoes and i got some room to spare and i hate it for arials. every time i try to roll my feet come flying out.
speaking of rolls, bust out some in surf stance wyd!
 
dave787

dave787

Couches are boring
Location
Atlanta, Ga
i like my rickter footholds a lot.. good and snug enough for bare feet since i used some padding under the turf. bought some straps too, but ended up selling them because they aren't really needed for flat water. Putting a SN extinguisher holder in the tray soon which might work as a front hold too. I turfed it up so it'll work better
 
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