Upwind straps

[Jenko01]

Hey guys
I do quite a bit of course racing and have been looking at other peoples kit just to pick up some ideas for tuning. One thing i did notice was that many people have really long upwind railing straps. Is there a reason for this.
Thanks Sam

[Phill104]

Take a look at the longboard windsurfing website and one or two of the other links found here.

http://www.windsurf.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=45

There are also a few articles in the american windsurfer archive (link on above page) and the Australian windsurfing site.