Foot Straps
(Written June 2020)

At first thought it seems that the topic of foot straps is pretty simple and straight forward. Further analysis, however, reveals that foot straps are actually quite complicated. There are many factors to consider including tight or loose, height of the strap, width of the strap, inboard or outboard placement. Also, will you have a narrow stance or a wide stance? Feet on top of the board or feet on the side of the board? Are you riding in waves or flat water? What about freestyle? Many, many factors to consider.

Let's start with stance as this can be nicely illustrated on a spectrum from narrow to wide stance. 
                                           Narrow Stance                                                                  Wide Stance
                                                Hydrofoil <--> Freeride <--> Freestyle <--> Slalom <--> Wave

Now, let's discuss it. Your stance on the hydrofoil can be very narrow (feet closer together) because there is NO CHOP with a hydrofoil. The board doesn't bounce, so you can stand taller. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you need a very wide stance on your wave board so that you can get lower when wave riding and so you can control the board. For freestyle riding you want your stance somewhat narrow to get greater pop, but also wide enough apart for some stability. And you can see from the spectrum above where freeride and slalom fit in. Of course, all of this depends on your height. Shorter people need a narrower stance than taller people.