I know this is a dividing subject. Some people prefer strapless, some strapped. I have been winging for about a year and a half, round 250 sessions under my belt, I think I have decent intermediate level. I've always been winging just with front V strap, always switching stance after turns. My main interests are waves and free fly, I don't jump but perhaps would try if I had a back strap. I tried putting the back strap a few times, but it's just annoys the hell out of me. I move my back foot quite a bit in different positions so having it fixed in one position feels strange.
So is there any advantage of getting used to it?
If you aren't jumping, then my take is that there is no need for a rear strap and it limits you more than it improves you. Switching feet with a rear strap is definitely more cumbersome, pumping is also compromised, but you get used to it. Overall, if the strap is well-placed it doesn't limit you a lot after you get used to it, but it also doesn't really improve the type of riding you are referring to.
I ride my performance board (which I jump) with front and rear straps, but I ride my mid-length board without straps.
I think you need to be strapless or both straps. I ride strapless only, no jumping because I am old ( and I think the jump's look terrible 
).
a single strap will end in injury. I had a Lis franc injury in 2018 from windsurfing. It kept me off the water for about 9 months. This is common in waterskiing and windsurfing I think winging with one strap makes it even more likely.
Select to expand quoteVelocicraptor said..
If you aren't jumping, then my take is that there is no need for a rear strap and it limits you more than it improves you. Switching feet with a rear strap is definitely more cumbersome, pumping is also compromised, but you get used to it. Overall, if the strap is well-placed it doesn't limit you a lot after you get used to it, but it also doesn't really improve the type of riding you are referring to.
I ride my performance board (which I jump) with front and rear straps, but I ride my mid-length board without straps.
I think a lot of boards don't have the foot straps well placed, also takes a while to figure out your relation foot straps to mast position. I always put the front straps all the way to the front, rear one middle and then play with the mast position til happy. This makes the board feel smaller
I don't like riding without footstraps anymore, but I mainly use the front one and only put the rear one to jump and working to leave it in to ride waves. (Dreaming of aerials)
not having straps let you find the sweet spot by moving your feet a little and adjust. With straps you can't do this so everything has to be spot on.
I've recently moved to a full strapped board, but it's crap fo wave/swell riding. I realise now that I move my feet around a lot when on a swell, to get that perfect spot. Switching is also such a pain with straps, and so easy without, yes you can remain on toeside but your upwind angle is crap.
So now I have two boards, one for wave/swell riding and one for jumping.
I ride f-one rocket v3 and gong foil. Single board quiver from 12-40 knots, 88lt for my 90kg. Front straps in the middle and foil almost all the way back. This I found is a sweet spot in this setup. When riding I noticed that my back foot is often in leeward position and putting the back foot in a centered back strap disturbes this ballance. I tried full strapless and didn't like it, specially in strong wind since I like winging powered. I will give it a try a few more times with the back strap, try few different positions and see how it goes. I guess it is just the matter of getting used to a specific setup.
I find using a back strap is much better for wave riding. You can get far more leverage over the board, and can also lift the tail upward to better control height.
From what I've seen, all the GWA pros are using back straps for wave riding.
Back strap is a divided point. Most will never need it, and the true necessity is beyond most riders.
The more complex and steep your wave, it really helps for hard carves. If you're just slowly snaking around a wave, you won't ever need it. However, If you're at the level where you think you need it, give it a go, but likely won't enjoy it or benefit from it. Obviously need it for jumping, but changing from stance with straps is very easy.
Only point missed, straps give you more leverage and therefore more righting moment. But I only ever point this out to more advanced riders as this is wasted on others.
I ride strapped a full 6 in farther back than my non strapped stance(which is already pretty front footed). My back foot in the strap is pulling up a lot of the time to keep my weight cantilevered forward. I find it makes things really dynamic and unstable in a fun way and allows more aggressive riding
I had some bad experience with the back strap 2 years ago, when the board tilted leewards and I fell windwards. My foot got trapped and I spraind my foot. When I saw Tucker from MAC kiteboarding riding a half strap or hook I tried it and still love it. Easy to get in and out, doesn't bather you while footswap and I still can jump a bit, no rotations...
I think a big part of not getting injured is having a narrow enough board at a low enough volume that when you fall the board doesn't haven enough leverage that it breaks your ankle instead of sinking a rail and tipping over. I'm on a fanatic 75L at 220 lbs and I think at 24" wide that's fine but I feel like a 100L sup size board would increase the likelihood of injury dramatically.
I have tried to learn using backstrap in waves for couple of years time to time. But i always go back to front v-strap only. Being in back strap just feels akward. And actually pretty scary when on bigger faster waves.
It is easy to kick board of with front strap only if the foil breaches for example. On the other hand if both feet are locked to board i could maybe save some of the situations.
I have to agree with @toomuchepoxy. The bigger the board the bigger is risk to get stuck in straps. Also foil size plays a role. A big front wing has inertia/resistance that it won't always follow your weight. Back when i was using big beginner foils 1900cm2 with 2 liter's of volume i did get stuck in straps myself on other side and board rolled other. Nowadays with 800-1000cm2 and below 0.6liter volume foils this have not happened in years. I thought it was because i was just gotten so good... Until i tried a big foil for first time in years and fell straight over to other side with foot stuck I had gotten used to that when i put a little bit of weight to rail, the board will roll. This time it didn't with big foil under.
When I started winging, I was able to get up on foil only with all straps. Then for a 2 years I was driving strapless. After that I started using front straps. I do not jump and I place my heal of the rear foot on the center of the board, so I cannot use rear strap (most bords offer rear center strap position). Front straps makes easier to pump, better recovery if nose hits the water, better control in gybes. Rear central strap makes my stance out of the balance and unnatural. It is much harder to control the board
Depends on the spot and the conditions. But when wave riding and using straps on smaller boards then both straps and the back strap in the offset position. And the foil trimmed and positioned for the most neutral feel for the max speed you would have on the biggest waves and hardest turns you do.
When you get straps dialled you can ride more aggressively and recover in situations that strapless riding would not allow. I also wear booties with straps. This allows your foot to twist in the bootie to prevent injury from getting foot stuck in straps.
I only use back strap when I jump. It feels awkward as I like my back heel in the center of the board so the back strap feels strange but I only use to get ready to jump.
Mostly I'm in my front straps only for swell/wave riding.
DC
I'm in the camp of front straps always and back strap just for jumping. I'd be tempted by two rear straps on the rails and use the downwind side, possibly even twist my heel into the upwind.
Haven't seen it done though.
