Many wingsurfers have previous experience in other sports such as windsurfing or kitesurfing - so it's no wonder that most are open to the use of harnesses. What has put many wingfoilers off harness surfing so far is the fact that the harness rope has to be significantly longer than usual for other sports. However, the longer the rope, the more annoyingly it dangles around. Especially when manoeuvring or pumping the wing, there is always a risk of accidentally hooking yourself in.
The Artness trapeze rope system aims to solve precisely this problem by retracting the rope when not in use and lying flat against the centre line. We have tested whether this works.
Practical test of the trapezoidal rope system
The system comes from France, the parts are 3D-printed and cost €49.90 as a set. The Artness system consists of two plastic cuffs that can be attached to hard and soft handles within a minute using Velcro. The rope is firmly attached to the front cuff, while at the back it runs through the cuff and is hooked onto the rear edge of the wing via an elastic band. When unhooked, the rope now runs parallel to the centre line, but offers just enough space to hook in if required. When hooked in, the rope extends to the previously set length - you can now take the strain off your arms.
Unhooking is a little trickier and takes some getting used to, because as soon as you take the weight off the rope, the elastic pulls it back. We therefore recommend not adjusting the elastic too tightly. However, with a little practice and the right dynamics when unhooking, you'll soon have no problems. For manoeuvres and when pumping up, the trapeze rope then lies tightly against the centre line - there is no more dangling of the rope and therefore no more accidental hooking.
Artness trapezoidal ropes - the conclusion:
The system works as intended and eliminates one of the main reasons for not using a harness when wingsurfing. The Artness pad system is ideal for wings with fixed handles, where you always have enough space to hook in. It can also be used with soft handles. It is only less recommendable for wings with a continuous boom (e.g. Duotone Slick , Slingshot Javelin etc.), as here the trapeze rope runs only a few centimetres away from the boom - hooking in is then a little trickier.
Functional, simple, inexpensive
Not ideal for wings with continuous boom
Further information and ordering HERE .
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