How To Setup The Footsteps & Pads

Now you’ve chosen a board you might be a little uncertain as to what the best setup is for your footstraps and pads. In the past this was limited to simply how wide your stance would be (ie. how far apart you place the pads/straps).

  • Pad distance – the distance between the left and right pad/straps and their relation to the length of the board
  • Pad angle – the angle of the pads in relation to each other
  • Pad position – the position of a single pad in relation to the width of the board
  • Strap width & fit – the width of the inside of a single strap

Pad Distance


The general rule of thumb for your initial setup is that taller people, with longer legs – have them further apart; Shorter people have them closer together. Which probably means for most of you somewhere in the middle is a good starting point.

But there are a few other areas to consider:

  • A wider stance will allow you to handle more power and give you more stability when you land from jumps. Its particularly good for people riding wakestyle boards, looking to get lots of pop and who are landing hard from powered tricks.
  • A narrower stance is more maneuverable, giving a board a looser feel, hence why it’s better for people playing around with carving turns in waves, learning sliding turns or riding topside. 

Pad Angle

blog-footstrap-positions-diagram-angle Firstly, remember that you want to keep the angle the same for both feet – we don’t ride our kiteboard twintips like snowboards where you might make your front foot more angled than the back. Why? In snowboarding most people will ride the board with their left or right foot always leading where as on a kiteboard, we ride on our heelside edge in both directions, most of the time. As a starting point about 10 degrees is a good option for most people but again the angle of the pad can give different benefits:
  • Having your feet more parallel, primarily helps when landing hard, giving you more stability and reduces some pressure on your knees. Though it’s not so comfortable simply cruising along.
  • Having your feet more ducked (angled) will increase the maneuverability of the board and feel more conformably for general riding. 

Pad Position 


For most boards & people you’re going to have the pads so they are centred in relation to the width of the board. The ability to change this side to side position is helpful for people with smaller or bigger feet to allow you to position the pad so your feet are centered on the board ie. your heel and toes are similar distances from the heelside and toeside edges.

You can play with putting the pads closer to the heelside rail. It can help with edging harder, making jumps and carving on your heelside easier, but the downsides are it’s not so balanced, so general riding can be less stable and riding toeside is more difficult.

Στιγμιότυπο 2015-11-01, 11.52.26 μ.μ.




Pin It