I use a waist harness and a seat harness. The seat harness is better for longboard sailing eg Mistral One Design, Equipe and also Windsurfer LT, at least in my opinion. For wave and slalom I think the waist is best. What about foiling? I use a waist harness for foiling but I am still very much learning. I notice Aaron McIntosh top NZ sailor uses a waist harness (see below) what do the foilers here recommend ?
I use a seat harness Rich, it helps keep everything locked down and means I don't have to run too short harness lines.
I use waist but I also do a lot of wave and freestyle sailing and that is my background so I find it a lot more comfortable. I have tried seat in the past and initially learned with one but I just don't like them. The one benefit of a waist harness is you can move you body around a lot without effecting the rig as much and vice versa; you could argue this is an advantage when foiling. I also use adjustable lines as for racing I find you need shorter lines upwind as you are raked/healed over a lot and longer downwind so when you send it you have a bit more rig control.
I think at the end of the day what you feel most comfortable with is going to be the best option.
Ditto what CJw said in his last sentence.
for me a waist harness for everything now... because it's easier to get on and off
I use seat for slalom and waist for waves. I have been using the waist for foiling and did try the seat but found the seat much more unforgiving as you need to make small adjustments which I found difficult with the seat harness. I found I was crashing more and had less control with the seat so for the moment will stick to the waist.
I started foiling last year with my trusty seat harness and only recently moved to a waist harness. I wish I'd done it sooner as its greatly improved my control over the foil especially in gusty conditions. It's also brought me more upright, placing more weight on my feet which is working well. No going back for me.
I used to have a seat harness. It locks everything in and takes a bit of pressure off your back. But went to a waist harness some time ago now and prefer it mainly because you have so much more freedom. For foiling, I haven't tried a seat harness, but I'd be thinking it would make moving your weight around a fair bit harder. I know when I can feel the board nosediving, I can move around enough in the waist harness to be able to avoid the crash on most occasions. With a seat harness, I think it would be harder to avoid the crash, and the crash would likely feel worse too, than a waist harness.
Select to expand quotemartyj4 said..
I used to have a seat harness. It locks everything in and takes a bit of pressure off your back. But went to a waist harness some time ago now and prefer it mainly because you have so much more freedom. For foiling, I haven't tried a seat harness, but I'd be thinking it would make moving your weight around a fair bit harder. I know when I can feel the board nosediving, I can move around enough in the waist harness to be able to avoid the crash on most occasions. With a seat harness, I think it would be harder to avoid the crash, and the crash would likely feel worse too, than a waist harness.
Same here.
