realitycorrodes said..
Riding Strapless is illogical

Surfers are strapless because the water is glassy.

No chop and strapless makes sense!

But when the sea is choppy it is illogical to be strapless.

Even surfers when the sea is only mildly bumpy know it makes sense to wear straps.

An example of this is big wave tow in surfing - they wear straps for a reason!

Being strapless on a surfboard in choppy conditions only means more time spent body dragging because one comes off their board more often and less time carving the waves up.

Spending more time body dragging reaches a whole new level when individuals need to get their bliss more from others watching them rather than them enjoying what they are doing - nothing highlights this fact more than by doing strapless tricks/airs.

The only time strapless kitesurfing in terms of wave riding really makes a lot of sense is in perfectly glassy
conditions - which means offshore wind - very rare in most parts of the world. And it is amusing that all the great wave riding videos of people hitting lips is always in offshore wind.

The other time one would be practicing strapless kitesurfing is when there is no waves in that person's area - so in order to overcome the boredom of not having waves, they try to challenge themselves by doing strapless tricks on flat water lakes or river mouths. I've never seen anyone yet choosing to do strapless tricks/airs on flat water over actually getting out and riding monster waves with their kites?

The only logical reason for one to be strapless while kitesurfing is it is easier to have one's feet anywhere on the board without the straps getting in the way. Also, being strapped into your surfboard can cause damage to one's knees - if one comes off the board with straps on - sometimes one's foot gets stuck in the straps and the board twists around causing the knee joint to twist - most likely causing damage to the knee joint.

Kitesurfing has made it so that an individual no longer needs to rely on having the energy and strength to
paddle themselves onto a wave - therefore one can use a significantly smaller surfboard - which means one does not really need to adjust their feet as much as they would have had to riding a standard sized surfboard. That way the straps can be put exactly where they need to be without really getting in the way of the riders feet as the feet never move out of their original position - except if the rider needs to ride switch (heel side in both directions).

Any good wave rider on a kite knows the secret to riding waves is to be proficient at riding toe side - when
the Kitesurfing wave rider is so proficient at toe side they never really have to switch their feet to go heel
side in both directions.

Being strapped in on a small surfboard for kiting allows one to really attack the waves without fearing coming off their board - they can really commit and extend themselves - hence the bottom turns and top turns are more radical - which is what true surfers are looking for..."radical wave riding".

Not wanting to take advantage of the extra features of being powered up and strapped in while kitesurfing is really quite illogical as such features only extend the possibilities of wave riding. Those strapless
kitesurfers who say they want to ride the wave as if they are actually surfing the wave without a kite
should just do that...stick to regular surfing! Because riding the waves with a kite is always going to be
"riding the waves with a kite" - it's different, it can't be otherwise!

Strapless kitesurfing more often than not makes as much sense as a twin tipper saying they want to twin tip without straps - Why? Because it makes it more difficult to twin tip hence I can spend more time body dragging! Makes sense doesn't it?

To not want to be able to improve on surfing a wave by having straps on and to be powered up by the kite does not make any sense to the person who gets their bliss from just wanting to ride the wave for the sake of just riding the wave.

When all of the above is taken into consideration, one has to wonder whether strapless kitesurfers are not
victims of their own insecurity. Often persisting in doing something that is illogical is usually a sign of
misplaced ego.

Some have suggested the reason strapless surfboard riders persist in their illogical behaviour is more about what others think of them.

In other words, instead of just wanting to ride waves as efficiently and as radically as possible - and getting pleasure directly from that intimate relationship with the wave solely - they are getting more pleasure from thinking someone else on the beach is watching them.

Their happiness seems to be geared towards getting a picture of themselves in a magazine spread than the pure enjoyment of riding a wave.

On the internet, one comes across sites that have titles like "Lose the straps..dedicated to the progression
and evolution of strapless kitesurfing". If one were to replace "strapless kitesurfing" in the phrase above with "people who need other people's attention to make them feel good about themselves" things would make a lot more sense.

One never sees web sites encouraging people to wear straps i.e. "Get into straps...dedicated to the
progression and evolution of Kitesurfers who just want to extend the possibilities of what one can do on a
wave". This is because the strapped Kitesurfer does not need to overstate the obvious...it's simply more logical to be wearing straps.

Strapless kitesurfers are always the first to make derogatory comments towards individuals who are logically using straps on their surfboards. They seem to have this continual need to put others down in order to big themselves up...this behaviour on its own should give the game away about what their real motives are behind their illogical perseverance with strapless kitesurfing - a deep insecurity based on a profound lack of self love?

So now we have cut through the insecurities of strapless kitesurfing we can hopefully hear less insecure
comments about needing to become a strapless egotistical kitesurfer!

Peace and love!

Piros said..
I ride everything strapped , TT , SB & Foil but if I ever get to this level strapless is the go. I've been very fortunate to hang around Keahi and film him over the years and he puts a whole new perspective to strapless riding.

richierich said..
26 paragraphs of rubbish. Ride what you want but don't judge others choice of weapon. I'm pretty sure I don't ride strapless to be egotistical and to me it is logical to be strapless- and I'm not coming from surfing background but more snowboarding. I can see why you'd want to bag strapless riding if every time you tried you spent all your time body dragging back to your board, letting all the good waves go unridden...but come on... doesn't look like many good riders are held back (ie Keahi at cloud break) cause he cant handle a bit of chop. I guarantee if he was strapped in on the same day it would be awkward for him being so at home with no binders. Sounds to me like you don't get it and never will.

Two Ao shots of unsteapped and unhooked. Spent all day ( or at least 10-20 seconds) body dragging after these illogical crashes. Time to strap up and snap shackle in so this will never happen again. At least I can be more aggressive on wave and won't get bucked off by that nasty chop.