The end of the beginning - SPG Wings (photo heavy post)

[Admin]

Hi,

No, this was a straight 8 foot longboard leash attached to the ion waist belt and the board loop.  The ion leash was on the wing.  Two leashes on the belt is working well for me, although I think two straight leashes may be where I end up.  Still messing around with that. 

[PonoBill]

I had my waist leash fail too, but that was my fault. It's a homebrew one, and the knot came undone. But the unusual strains I've been putting on it getting twisted up and needing to get the foil untangled probably exacerbated the problem.

[Julie_Scheyer]

I am still confused what broke?

I don’t think ion is getting rich selling waist ion board leashes, so I’m tryin to be helpful and not promoting them, but they make it pretty easy to switch your feet, and seem strong. I’ve tried a bunch even. 

 I do use creatures of leisure body board leashes for the hand wing.  Nice shorty could stays close to the boom. 

[PonoBill]

Good late session today. I could have used a 5 or 6 but managed to get up on my 4 with some wing and foil pumping. I fixed my poor battered Axis foil today. Looks good. I'll have it in the water after I get back from PDX tomorrow.

I'll probably do a test run with the new smoker this week. It kind of means a day out of the water, which would be a high price to pay except the forecast looks nasty.

[Admin]

This is my current waist setup.  I took off all the extra cuffs, to keep it as minimal as possible.  I will replace the coiled wing leash with a straight leash.  The coils seem to tangle and grab everything in reach.  I would love to see a slightly more contoured and robust waist band  (like a super minimal harness for windsurfing or kiting) with the elastic Velcro dual cinches to snug it on .   It would have two slider strips (one front, one rear) with a small metal rings as leash attachment points for the board and wing.  The downside of the Ion waist belt is that it rotates around on my waist.  It requires a lot of recenterring.  It is a good enough start for now, though. 

I also wonder if a forward board plug may not be useful.  I always liked that for downwind boards.

[Dwight (DW)]

We cannot have elastic in a waist leash. The belt would pull off your ass when a huge wave drags you backwards. It almost happened to me many times. I have no ass as it is.

I like the waist leashes with the stiffy out the back. It makes the leash hang way behind me. Less chance of stepping on it. Like the leash loc Hawaii.

I’ve done both straight and coil off the waist belt. For us, the straight leash got caught around the wings more often. The coil is short enough to stay away from the wings. But, we’re long past the kook stage. I wonder if you’ll come back to the coil later.

[PonoBill]

While my current waist leash revealed my knot-tying deficiencies, it is worthwhile keeping the leash attachment simple. The one I use in big (to me) surf uses hand tied leashes a la Beasho, with big swivels and a closed plastic thimble relief for the attachment. I don't think we need heavy leashes, but they need to be reliably attached to the board, belt and human.

I'm going to make a lighter version of the one I have, with both velcro and a buckle for closure. I'm going to try the fcs skinny leash for the wing, and a short coiled 6 or 7mm for the board

[Admin]

We cannot have elastic in a waist leash. The belt would pull off your ass when a huge wave drags you backwards. It almost happened to me many times. I have no ass as it is.

I like the waist leashes with the stiffy out the back. It makes the leash hang way behind me. Less chance of stepping on it. Like the leash loc Hawaii.

I’ve done both straight and coil off the waist belt. For us, the straight leash got caught around the wings more often. The coil is short enough to stay away from the wings. But, we’re long past the kook stage. I wonder if you’ll come back to the coil later.

The elastic would be in the harness/waist belt not the leash.  This is awesome on harnesses.  It is in all waist harnesses for windsurf and kite and it keeps them from wandering.  https://youtu.be/i4fJvw3TbVk?t=52  Right now we dont need any support from the harness as we aren't hooking in yet but it does suck to have the belt free spinning.  Even really tight it wanders.

The new leash issue here is two leashes.  The foil rarely gets caught up but the coil does grab the other leash a lot.  This is worse with two coils but it still happens with one.  I will let you know how no coils goes.  This area of gear can get a LOT better. 

[Admin]

I think we will be back at it tomorrow.  We had the grandkids for the weekend and I took a flying tot to the ribs.  We were in the middle some heated old school pro wresting (Wild Samoans vs Moondogs) when a 40 lb Rex Moondog came fast off the ropes with full force and elbowed into an already flattened Sika Samoan (grampy).  I am one Naproxen away from repaired. 

[Admin]

Some setup tips from the guys at SPG. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zr6ePwk0cD4

[PonoBill]

WIND. We need wind. WTF, July is supposed to rock, but the river is a lake. I guess there might be something out east today, but I'm getting desperate. I'm starting to get things done in my shop. A few more windless days and I might even clean up some.

[Admin]

Great morning at Swell City yesterday on the 5 SPG (day 10).  I should stop writing on the 5 because all of my sessions are on the 5.  I did get a 4 meter SPG on order and I am stoked about that.  For my current (low) level I would say that the comfortable range for the 5 meter is 12 to 20.  In that range it is really well behaved, is super stable in flight (even flying from the handle) and I love the dual strut for wing angle.  This is going to be a pretty critical size for a lot of guys in my weight range (160-180).  If your goal is to get out in light wind to cruise or score some unpopulated waves I see this as a necessity.  I would have been struggling on a 4 yesterday.  We are feeling like the right wing size is 1 notch down from a windsurfing size.  So when guys my size are windsurfing on 4.7 I would want a 4 wing.  I am digging the 5 wing where guys would windsurf on a 5.8 or 6.  The wings do have a broader range than sails but I am finding that the 5 is getting maxed out when guys my size are sailing 4.7 and it kicks my ass at 4.2 or stronger. 

The far side of Swell was pretty magical, opening run, corduroy conditions for an hour and a half.  Light current, small chop and pretty much blow dryer 16 MPH.  It got windier in the afternoon but for once I was stoked to have missed it.  I was mid-nap by the time it came up .

[Dwight (DW)]

I like the windsurf sail size wind range comparison. It really helps me.

[Admin]

Yesterday was a wild one.  We went out east to avoid the forecasted gusty, strong winds.  It was supposed to be lighter out there.  But what we got was 15 to 30.  Angry, unstable wind as well.  To make things even tougher, the first 150 yards has weeded in and it took us 10 minutes of knee winging to creep through it and clean the foils.  I don't know of a faster way.  On the way in I flipped my board, got up on it and swam it over the weeds dragging the wing.  That wasn't easier .  It was a hysterical condition because you could see these dark cat's paws moving towards you and then detonation.  Fortunately, every so often, I found myself in a workable range and that was pretty cool.

I had a minor revelation about stance.  I angled both feet forwards more (toes more towards the nose) like an an old school snowboard stance.  That opened my shoulders more towards the nose with less of a bound up feeling than just twisting my torso forward.   Then I focused on driving my back knee forward as well.  That helped me a lot.  When I focus on bending that back knee forward everything else shifts a bit forward with it.  Maybe this is just a really familiar position for me but all of a sudden I found a position that I could pump the board from.  I had been struggling with that.  My previous pumping attempts had felt pretty spastic and had been entirely non-productive.  Is this my magic pill?  I doubt it but I did have some really good controlled foils after the switch so I am sticking with it for now.  I think we are in for a few more days of abusive conditions before we get back to a steadier pattern.

PS:  I switched to two straight leashes on the waist belt and I think I am going to stick there for a while.  As a warning though, Chan tried my leash setup and absolutely hated it.  It is pretty funny but I am seeing every possible leash combination in videos.  Still some work to do there.

[PonoBill]

I've been playing with waist leashes for a long time, and it's clear to me that they aren't for everyone. They solve a specific set of problems, if you don't have those they suck, if you do, they're magic.

If you're stiff and clumsy a waist leash is great. If you have no ass or your waist is as big as your butt, then they aren't great. When mine slips down it stops at my butt, but not firmly. If I really get worked it can slide off--been there, know that. Catching your waist leash by spreading your feet wide when you're getting worked is an interesting exercise.

The biggest problem is stepping on the leash, and the only way I've found to solve that is to limit the length. This can create problems in the water if you need to spin your board around--you have to pay attention to how much leash you have to determine which direction you can spin the board in, and if your leash is already wrapped on the foil your only option may be diving under to untangle it. Adding in the wing leash increases the complexity of staying untangled by 3X or more. Maybe X**