"Who replaces foot straps" I used to wonder. During my first 15 years of windsurfing I was a weekend sailor from May-October, and with a good job I tended to replace my boards every five years or so. I never came close to sailing any of those boards enough to put serious wear on a foot strap. I'd look at the straps displayed on the wall at Windsurfing Hamptons and wonder about the people who bought them.
That was then. Now I sail year 'round, and the newest of my boards is eleven years old. My wonderful JP 109 is NINETEEN years old! I don't know how many sets of straps have been on it, but the current three are mismatched, one is broken and a second is ready to give up the ghost. Now my foot strap inserts are starting to fail! I love the board…nobody makes anything like it anymore (super early planing freestyle but it carves and jibes tight!) so I'll be restrapping it and figuring out the inserts. I might try using a cable tie as a shim, perhaps accompanied by a wooden toothpick.
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