Anyone using these? What do they bring? Thinking it might be easier to exit back foot w/o upsetting boards before the gybe when used as back strap.
I'm using them for my back feet - have been for a couple of years. Much easier in and out of straps, much more stability and power than without straps but less than proper full straps of course. The. main drawback is in tacking (and watertstarts) where the very rigid (Metal) strap innards can easily catch the sail and keep you from sliding it smoothly across.
Probably just me, but i found them harder to get out of in a hurry than normal straps when i tried a mates board. Probably a mix of them being solid and my brain telling feet to do what they usually do to get out of footstraps (which doesn't work with them being solid).
but as i said, probably just me. They seem to work well for others. Maybe its a case of brain relearning to make it all work.
I had them on my rear strap on my baja board this winter and I really liked them. Easier to get in, I could see a particular angle where it might be hard to get out, but I think that is unlikely.
I have used a single centre rear half strap for three years. They are a good compromise between stability and freedom of movement for your back foot.
I use half straps facing forward on the tail of my board. Allows me freedom to move my back foot around when carving swell or doing tricks while giving me an anchor point when it's time to blast back upwind.
If you want to try them, act now. As far as I can tell they are discontinued by both Slingshot and Ride Engine.