Harnesses

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Grantmac said..
A waist harness will promote better stance because a seat harness will let you get away with a crappy one.
Although if your widest point is your waist then a seat is probably best.

Your first point is correct, but your second is not.
The waist harness stays in place whether you have a waist or not - once you have the stance correct.
That's because with good sailing stance when planing along, the harness line pull is outwards.

But full marks for mentioning stance. We can't have a meaningful discussion about harness comfort without using that word.

People often blame a 'bad' harness for discomfort when it's actually their stance that is the cause of any problem.
The same people claim they 'have' to use a seat harness because of a 'bad back', when it's usually their poor sailing stance that is causing the bad back.

These nuggets of truth simply tell us that experimentation is good.
Shift your mast foot position and change your footstraps. Adjusting boom height is also key. - And these three changes all interact with each other to set your sailing stance.
If you use a seat harness because you feel otherwise the harness keeps riding up - then that's the first sign that your stance is wrong.

That said, seat harnesses do have their place for holding down big rigs with serious bum weight.
Waist harnesses can be equally fast for speed sailors, but they are way better for people who want to turn efficiently when sailing in a more upright stance.

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mob dog said..
Found another dakine one. Just pictures on the web no idea where to obtain though

Are you sure you want to be a windsurfer?

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mob dog said..

Basher said..

mob dog said..
Found another dakine one. Just pictures on the web no idea where to obtain though

Are you sure you want to be a windsurfer?

Why, you don't reckon they would be any good for windsurfing. you could just change the spreader bar to windsurf one. I can never get comfortable with seperate harness and vest, can't stop the vest from riding up. don't bother wearing one anymore, I've tried neil pryde high hook and dakine surface vest and their both the same, slowly ride up throughout the session. I thought these combo ones might be a good alternative, have you ever tried one?

I had the Dakine and used it exactly once. Runs absurdly small, doesn't offer all that much float, and is no less likely to ride up than a waist harness if you sit down into it. With proper stance it works ok. The main issue was size, though - mine was an XL and at 5'11"/215lb it was crushing me.

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Mr Milk said..
Nobody seems to have mentioned harness line length. It's a long time since I've used a seat harness but I am pretty sure that the lines were more like 30 inches than the 24 inches that I'm comfortable with using a waist harness.
That's something else that you have to pay a little bit of attention to peter608

I use 30-32 with a waist harness ... and I am 170 cm "long".

Even after I switched the old ION bar to the new composite one, my ION RADIUM waist harness has a small tendency to ride up, mostly because the tightening straps get loose (thanks ion!). Just because I am getting back doing a LOT of slalom, next year i am going to try a Liberty harness, . www.libertywinds.jp/english/products_2015/harness/index.html

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Mr Milk said..
Tried on a couple of old seat harnesses today, just to check. With the waist harness, the hook sits a few cm above my navel. Seat harness it's at or slightly below, so I don't see how you could be comfortable using the same length lines for either. The boom would be too low.

I just tried on my Dakine Reflex seat harness, with leg straps tight hook is 2 cm above my navel when I pull on it like the harness line does.

you can also get the liberty harness (not the carbon edition !) through your starboard dealer (the harness is a partnership with Drake)
exactly the same product but they don't look as good (my opinion, but the colours ..... yuck !)

hate how both seat & waist harness's shrink over winter