Kitesoul Magazine #10 English Edition

174
TECH
Harnesses 2.0
PROFILE, SUPPORT,
FLEX
Once you have chosen the
Waist model or the Seat one,
the following BIG hurdle you
face is whether you want it to
be soft, medium or rigid, with
high or low profile, with little or
much support. Quite often one
wonders which is the difference
amongst the various models
and just as often one gets confused
during such evaluation
because of too many variables.
Actually it is very simple. The final
choice should be based not
only on the features described
by each manufacturer which
although being considerable
are secondary, but also and primarily
on two basic parameters
PROFILE and SUPPORT:
1- PROFILE, that is how "high"
or "low" is the harness shape.
The higher it is the more your
back will feel supported and
comfortable. The drawback for
such choice is that you'll have a
slight movement limitation due
to the resistance given by the
very shape of it. This is a problem
encountered by real and
extreme freestylers or by wave
riders. The size of the profile and
the support are connected that
is how you feel your back gets
supported during your sessions
in the water. Hence, the higher
is the profile the greater is the
support. However, the support
does not depend primarily on
the profile but more like on the
flex of the support provided...
Let's be clear...
2 - THE SUPPORT is identifiable
in two very specific areas:
A - BACK SUPPORT (central
back area)
B - LATERAL HIPS SUPPORT
(two areas: middle-lateral left
and right)
In order to better understand
how the support works we can
use a simple example. Just imagine
you sit on a chair with a
high back and on another one
with a low back and this will
explain the support difference
for you... Or else you could imagine
to sit on two chairs with
the same back height but one is
rigid and the other one is soft.
This can give you an idea of
the difference between rigid or
soft support and also of the flex
concept. The type of back support
can be quickly identified by
carefully observing the shape
of the harness. You can identify
three types of support:
HIGH (when you observe the
harness you can notice it very
much stretches vertically)
This kind of support is more
comfortable as a bigger part of
your back rests against a support.
This means that if you do
quite big rotations in the air
then such harness with so much
support could turn out to be the
wrong one. On the other hand
if you like spending six hours in
the water then a harness with