after lurking for a couple of years and building two efoils its finally time for me to post something
As i want to get into jumping this summer i am thinking about adding foot straps to my efoil. I’ve commited to a jump a couple of times now and it feels sketch af having little to no control about the foil in the air. It just feels like it could turn sidewards with a bad takeoff and make me fall straight into the foil without the ability to do anything about it. Thats where i hope foot straps might help keeping the board beneath my feet.
On the other hand im a bit sceptical about strapping my feet to all that mass and inertia, which im afraid could break my ancles.
So there are two things i’d like to discuss:
Does anyone have experience with foot straps on efoils?
Technical solutions. Im considering using an insert that disengages at a specified (optimally changable) force, but i havent found a suitable part or thought of a good design that isnt affected by temperature, fatigue and surrounding fluid (air/grease/water). Another idea is using velcro which may not be well defined but at least has a chance of opening before my ancles break
Footstraps on surfboards are nothing special. There is is only 1 thing you need to take care off ! Dont make it too wide. The strap is correct, when your toes are visible on the other side. Not more! Only the toes. Then your foot will always get out of the strap easily
Thanks for the input. Ive also read lots of people making the straps rather high, so the foot can alwas twist. But that would definitely mean they are further in than what you described. Any thoughts on that?
I would suggest getting on a small wingboard with straps, and doing a tow-boogie setup. Some drawbacks, but there is a lot to be said for not having the power train weight attached to you or the board
Thanks for all the input guys. @SoEFoil Ive seen those too. I think i need to try them out to really see how they feel. Both in terms of good connection to the board and safety. The only problem i see with these is the mounting as they will result in really high forces being applied to the inserts. I dont think a insert only attaching to the laminate will suffice here. At least not with my super thin (2x160g/m2 gfk) laminate. So im considering using one for the back foot where i can attatch it to my electronics department lid. Have you ever tried them? @Foilguy Thats pretty much exactly what i was looking for. But after doing more research ive concluded that i could only set them up to open in one specific fall scenario. Also a strap opening in a situation where you expect it to hold seems to be just as dangerous and sadly the pricetag is a bit too high for me at the moment to just give them a casual try. If im ever bored and think of a nice mechanism i might create my own version though
Overall ive concluded to try normal footstraps and set them up in a very high arc so my ancles can always turn inside them and i have to push with my toes in order to get a good connection to the board. This should let me slip out easily. I also might try out one of thefoothooks for my back foot.
Once ive gathered some experience jumping with these i’ll share it here.
Bad idea imo. @Toto44 advised against this already.
If the foot strap is too “open” sometimes what can happen is your foot will actually jamb during a forcefull awkward landing and cause serious injury
Hmm, i have considered @Toto44 's advice and i agree that a tighter setup only allowing toes to pass through will let me get out more easily in most cases, especially a toeside or heelside fall.
But i also found some contradictary info of people preferring to set up the foot straps rather high so your foot can always turn (knee going towards the front or the back of the board).
As I am not that afraid of toeside/heelside falls, but much more of one strap coming loose and being thrown to the front of the board, which with a tight setup i can see twisting my ancles, I reasoned a high setup is more for me
But when i get them ill definitely try both setups and force some “controlled” falls to try to get a feel for the different setups
