Starsky wrote:The only upside to straps is that you can be dainty stepping on and off the water.
And more tricks, and the ability to get rid of your board when you don't want it or it endangers your life. Think about skateboarding. Would skateboarding lose it's appeal if the board was connected to your feet? Damn it all, I would totally ride a directional surf or a skate type board if I weren't addicted to massive jumps.
tautologies wrote:That said...catching a board tip hurt a hell of a lot more with boots...
Yeah, I learned that lesson quickly when I tried boots.
I was kinda lit, and blasting along the flats one second, hit a couple ripples, then
bam, I'm all woozy, getting belly dragged, and can't get my feet in front of me. Damned near knocked myself out on the water. I think I prefer the board to come off, because I'm good enough body dragging that I can get it back in a couple passes.
Tiago1973 wrote:in the waves when the sets are higher than ~ head high.
tumbling in the white water with the board attach to your feet is a bit scary.
Man I hear that. I have been knocked around by big waves, and I don't even want to think about trying to swim up through whitewater with a sea anchor attached to the appendages I need free to actually swim.
DirkGently wrote:Are you confused on the function of boots? They positively attach your feet to your board. Which means as well as being able to relaunch your kite more effectively, you aren't going to have the board 'get away from you' in a situation like this.
There's an advantage that I hadn't thought of. It is significantly harder to launch a kite in light wind if you lose the board. If the wind had completely died it would have been impossible anyway, but you can always take the boots off if you need to reel in the kite and self-rescue, so the boots wouldn't be an inconvenience in that case.
I suppose boots have a couple of advantages in certain situations, and disadvantages in others. I think I'll always be a straps guy, though. I like the old-school a little too much to not be able to do board-offs and Jesus walks.