SunSurfer

And enjoy those rare and precious times when you meet another carver and find yourself greeting a stranger like a long lost brother/sister.

If Intec heels are in your future avoid the .951s. Tight hamstrings gave one recent Northwave purchaser posting here low back spasms and agony. If you're 40+ years old consider a regular stretching program to be able to continue to use bail bindings comfortably.

I'll own that, and we have lots of company.

I'm with @Neil Gendzwill No way of knowing what you want if you don't know or understand what's on offer. Having read some of JJA's plate instructions and setup notes provided to buyers in the past I'm not sure he and I use some words and concepts in the same way. A picture is worth more than any number of words for me in that context.

@Sintered Man I have an interest in modded boots, having made changes to HSPs and UPZ RC10s. Did you do the changes sequentially, with time to work out what each successive change produced? OR All at once? OR Somewhere in between? What differences did you notice between stock UPZs and your creations?

No. Go down to where your boots are and check your cables if you're in any doubt. (written by another who's walked the walk!)

@crote123 some closeups, from various angles of the JJA plate mechanicals at each end, and the centre mechanisms please. This model has been seen in distance shots, but up close shots help us to understand the designers performance intentions. This is stuff that should then end up in the long thread on the different plate designs. Edit 5th Jan 2020: Thanks for the additional top photo of the central plate mechanism.

Before breakfast, again before lunch, likely be at least one more session later! I'm at the family beach house in northern NZ so only have a hand board and flippers.

Where I am the Christmas day swell is 1 metre and glassy, the pohutukawa are in flower, the sun is out, and the waves were sampled before breakfast. Merry Christmas!

Thanks Jack! Able to view this in NZ too. I think this is the best form of giant slalom. Would love to see our current crop of racers and equipment on a course like this.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/19/snow-machines-fleece-blankets-inside-ski-industry-battle-with-climate-change-alpine-resorts Guardian "long read" article published today. Depressing but thought provoking reading.

Seduced and abandoned: tourism and climate change in the Alps https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/09/seduced-abandoned-tourism-and-climate-change-the-alps?

Oops. I missed the crucial fitting around the first buckle issue. Please ignore my bracketed first suggestion below. (Try turning your bail bindings into your front binding and your Intecs into your rear binding and only have an Intec heel on the rear boot. Voila, 2 identical binding sets.) Options: Sell the bail bindings and buy another pair of Intecs. Modify the front plastic bail piece, use the shoe lace trick, and go standard front, Intec rear so that you only need to undo the front a few times a day.

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-alpine-skiing-women-ledecka/alpine-skiing-ledecka-produces-another-upset-with-world-cup-downhill-win-idUSKBN1YB00H From bib No. 26 again! She is no longer a snowboarder who skis, she is a true champion in both disciplines.

Ask yourself the question "If two snowboarders/skiers were subjected to identical forces in a fall/crash/collision and only one was wearing a helmet, which one would be more likely to have the more severe head injury?" I suspect more people wear helmets than not these days so likely more helmet wearers than non wearers are injured. Helmets are not responsible for the rise of park and half pipe riding, nor for extreme skiing, nor for the crowds on ski fields. Nothing will save you if you come to an immediate stop from 50mph/80kph by slamming into a tree/ski lift pylon/ other solid immovable object.

Best quality version I've seen of this.

You're the guy on the spot, who knows exactly what he's feeling and touching. I'm just guessing from the photos and heckling from the sidelines. Hope you solve your pain problem.

Don't equate the bony prominence of your ankle with the centre of rotation. The video and Corey's circled x-ray image show the COR to be significantly lower.

@Corey there is a parallax error in the image created by the point from which the x-ray is taken. With x-rays the image is formed by transmission through the object to the receiver behind the object. Generally the distance between the point x-ray source and the receiver is quite short so that the edges of the image will appear misaligned while the centre of the image is correctly aligned. Objects further away from the receiver appear magnified in the image. Understanding this is key to understanding the alignment of the square ankle pivot nuts in the x-ray.

Watch the video to see where the centre of the rotation movement is when the ankle moves and the upper curved surface of the talus slides underneath the tibia and fibula. The pivot in the UPZs might be better matched to where the rotation occurs than you thought.

@bigwavedave Agree with the points about the pivot point and the type of plastic in the Northwaves, and there are other things about the design that make the heel hold and movement control excellent. Reading the OP's description of the pain makes me think that the amount of forward flex being created while riding may be creating the pressure point. That might be due to the liner compressing or pressure from the strap across the front of the ankle.

I'm reminded of Alice's conversation with the Cheshire cat in "Alice in Wonderland". Alice asks which road to take but doesn't know where she is going. The first step to solving the pain problem is working out what you think is causing it. Only then can you come up with a remedy for the identified cause. Examine the evidence you have, make an hypothesis about what the evidence means, and then try and solve the hypothesis problem. If you don't have an educated guess of the cause, just trying different things just generates white noise in the process of identifying and fixing the problem.

I had thought the location and angle of the strap across the front of the ankle joint on the Northwave made for better heel hold down. I have modified Head Stratos and UPZ boots to achieve approx. the same angle and had better heel hold down as a result.

My thinking is that the pivot point for the hinge is unlikely to be a cause, and unable to be altered. Fixes may lie with the position of the 3rd strap/buckle, maybe the liner, and maybe with the adjustment of the spring system. Something(s) putting undue focal pressure on that part of your foot/ ankle.

Does the pain feel like it's from the joint surfaces itself or more from the flesh in front of the joint? When I read your description above it seemed more like the flesh rather than the joint.