Re: Is strapless overrated?
Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2019 4:20 am
Yes, and you break fewer boards strapless vs strapped, though all of us that have tried to anything from a pop-out to custom board made for prone riding know that strapped will definitely reduce the lifespan of any board, and strapless will increase it. Most strapless boards, unless reinforced, are still pretty much disposable. So with that, as you said, you get to try lots of boards at a low cost. Just make sure you take measurements off the board before it snaps in half.longwhitecloud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:20 amOne amazing thing about strapless is the cost of the boards, you can pick up older cheap surfboards so easily. So plentiful. You can learn about all different shaped boards without breaking the bank........
....Strapless is clearly financially advantaged....
But as I have stated before, 'glue some inserts into a prone surfboard, put the straps on, and that board would be lucky to last a few weeks if you ride it to its shape's full potential'.
Actually, the boards/shapes that kitesurfing companies produce are always on the edge of performance given that they desperately try to cater to being strapped or strapless. Some companies do offer strapless only models, but most tout the majority of their offerings as being good for strapless or strapped. This forces these shapes to find a middle ground between being good for the lower forces applied at multiple points when dancing around a board in strapless, and being good for higher speeds and faster turning when prying and pressuring in the straps. Construction is also a very tight balance where being too heavy and stiff for strapless does not yield a good feeling ride if you are trying to simulate prone surfing. When trying to keep a strapped board light for the option of strapless, durability suffers immensely under the greater pressures and impacts of strapped.longwhitecloud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:20 amWhen I see kite companies asking $1200 for a surfboard manufactured in Thailand China or Vietnam to clueless riders in often crap wave destination and people buying them for kite surfing, without the first clue about surfboards, it clearly shows how clever these companies are at marketing........
So it is not necessarily that companies are "marketing with hype" to the customers. They just have a near impossible task of keeping both extremes happy. Yes, selling to both types of user helps sales, but many riders in this thread have even admitted that they sometimes use the straps, and sometimes do not.
As far as the user being clueless about surf shapes.....well, you do realize that most of the shape (volume, length, rocker) is there for getting up on the wave, not riding it when actually up on a plane. And that is where kitesurfing departs from prone surfing completely. You can simulate prone surfing with a kite, but you never really have all the peices there as there is no hand paddling to get up on a wave. And for even your best/cleanest waves in kitesurfing, you can use a board shape that is flat out too small (and too low in volume) to ever have a chance of catching a wave while prone surfing. So while you can use the same board as you would prone surf (shortboard up to a longboard or even SUP board), more performance is had in tighter turns and maneuvers with the shortest board possible in both sports. Thus if you can use a board too small to ever prone surf while kiting, and that "too small for prone surfing" size yields higher performance, why not use it. The only reason to use the same board size for prone surfing as kitesurfing is to simulate prone surfing while kitesurfing. As others have stated, if that is what you are going for, kitesurfing a prone surfing board is great practice for prone surfing - so go for it!
Really read that above quote hard and think about this - Since you can ride a near infinite variety of board types and shapes with a kite, and the selection of different ridable shapes is not nearly as varied in size/volume/rocker in prone surfboards, why not move outside the box of "only using what you would prone surf with". I am not saying you have to try a wakeboard or skimboard on waves, but look at shapes/sizes outside of your normal selection prone surfing selection process. Given that you no longer have to hand paddle up onto a wave, you can loose lots of volume and get your foot placement closer to the planing surface of the board. Then, if you are ok with having more performance via less swing weight, go with more rocker. Hard or soft rails, to me, are a completely different thing in prone surfing vs kitesurfing - even back from when I was a dedicated strapless rider.longwhitecloud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:20 am....problem is when you have spent so much on a board the brain is reluctant to swap it out purely for financial reasons. Also you get used to what you have and opening your mind to change is not easy for some... your board is best.. of course.
It is cool to pretend that you are prone surfing when you are actually kitesurfing, but for most, it will get boring after a while. Board selection within the confines of prone surfing has done one thing for the kite industry - it has pushed many strapless riders to hydrofoils for something different.
The IOC has a track record of trying to make an Olympic event out of some dumbed down popular interpretation of just about every sailing sport. Then they put it in a box and certify only one manufacture to provide equipment. This equipment is typically stuff that no one would sail on a regular basis, outside of sailing in the Olympics. On top of that, when a sailing sport get's into the Olympics it's popularity seems to decrease after only a short run. So if you really wanted to kill the popular strapless mentality - put strapless in the Olympics, make it a flatwater racecourse on surfboard.longwhitecloud wrote: ↑Sun Mar 10, 2019 2:20 ammaybe surfboards with a straps and a handle will make in into the olympics? Sounds about right with sailing trying to run their kiting clown shows.
