Sore knees.. Get rid of straps..

Since the beginning of the sport, the strapless riding of longboards, fish and shortboards as long as it is not TOO chopy irritated the damaged knee a lot less. Unfortunately the desire to jump over set waves, etc when straps are there is hard to resist. Forced myself to just use my 6'4" strapless today after a few hours on the old Becker fish strapless. The 6'4"s bottom end opened up dramatically with the ability to shift the feet around constantaly as you would expect. What a great time on that board. The 12 m synergy was perfect with that UG surf/kiteboard. Tiny waves but still a hoot. On the larger days a dreaded leash might be an idea to prevent the swim and a loose board to go boucing through the surfers way on the inside of county. Will probaly use a long board leash attached to the rear strap on the DaKine harness. This will eliminate the pull on the torqued knee. Snap back of leashes is a huge issue and even the reel leashes are accidents waiting to happen. We tell all our students to avoid leashes like the plague and for good reason. Always drag back out to see imediately when in surf and let your board wash in with the surf, with or without a (in very few instances necessary) board leash.

So, for a bit of a wrest for your knees and a good time over all, go strapless again. It is still as much fun as ever.