Front foot rotation?

[roda]

I have Radar Vapor bindings and the front foot has rotated to the right to the full extent of the slots on the plate.  RFF so pinky toe moving right and heal moving left.   3/4 inch of travel @ toe.   Have not skied regularly over the past few years so just left it there as it didn’t feel uncomfortable.   Have been skiing quite a bit more this year and getting back to consistency in course running 22off pass @ 32.  After 3 sets this week I decided to center the binding and offside (1 ball) turn is a mess.  Ski stopping in turn etc.  

Question: leave it centered or take it back to right ?   Or take it back right and slowly move it back to center as I adjust my form?  Pro’s/Con’s of either method please.

Thanks

[ColeGiacopuzzi]

@Chris Rossi I might be mistakenly but I remember talking to Rossi and he said he rotates his front foot too a little bit. If it feels comfortable and you ski better I don't see why you cant leave it rotated. There's no wrong answer just what feels the most comfortable to you and where you can ski your best. It will probably only take a handful of sets or so to adjust to the change 

Edited April 20, 2023 by ColeGiacopuzzi

[Drago]

51 minutes ago, ColeGiacopuzzi said:

There's no wrong answer just what feels the most comfortable to you and where you can ski your best.

That!⬆️

I know of old pros on double hardshells that have rotated both feet out (toward pinkie). Your center of balance is from the center of your heel to between your big toe and 2nd toe. That's the way rollerblades and speed skates are generally set up as well.

Basically, what @ColeGiacopuzzi said 👍

[Horton]

It must make some difference but with small to moderate amounts of toe out I can not tell the difference 

[lpskier]

If the binding wasn’t designed to rotate, it wouldn’t. 
 

Just for fun, stand in your binding when it is straight and push your knee forward. Do the same with the binding rotated. Which setting puts your knee over the center of the ski when the knee is flexed forward? 

You rotate the front binding to adjust your off side turn. Your back foot rotation controls your on side turn. 
 

Binding  rotation is the final fine tuning after ensuring an optimal fin set up. 
 

@Horton disagrees with me on front foot rotation.

 

I ski with a lot of binding rotation , but unlike the more common rotation of pinky toes toward the edge of the ski that  @Drago mentions, I have both of my heels rotated to the left ((LFF) and all toes rotated to the right, giving me a true heel side/toe side. Not many people ride that set up, but it works for me. 
 

Final point: when you figure out what works best for you, don’t forget periodically  to check your binding screws for tightness. 

[Horton]

Ok @lpskier why "both of my heels rotated to the left ((LFF) and all toes rotated to the right, giving me a true heel side/toe side". How does that help your skiing?

[Drago]

@lpskier that's snowboarding (?)

[lpskier]

@Horton. In a vacuum, the heel side/toe side thing makes no difference. What does make a difference, I think, is that by rotating my front foot toes to the right (opposite of what most LFF people who rotate a front foot would do), when I flex my front knee forward, it flexes directly over the center of my ski. If my front foot is straight, my knee flexes well toward the left edge of the ski. If my front foot is rotated toes to the left, my knee flexes off the left side of the ski.

Assuming you agree that the back foot primarily controls the on side turn and the front foot the off side, and further assuming you don’t advocate skiing with locked knees, if your front knee flexes to the high side edge in the off side turn turn, the knee pressure is working to diminish the roll of the ski. If the knee flexes over the center of the ski, its pressure is neutral on both the on and off side and thus does not interfere with roll on either side. 

Getting the front knee to flex over the center of the ski is the benefit, as I see it. The consequence for me is a true heel side/toe side, which by itself probably makes no difference at all.

Jenn LaPoint encouraged me to straighten out my front foot for years. It’s easy for me to try, so I have. I tried it for four months and I lost a full pass.  My current coach says that he likes how my ski is set up. I’ll ask him about the rotation thing and report back. Could be a little while though as I seem to have injured my knee. Hopefully, not badly. 

[Drago]

@lpskier Horton advocates skiing with locked knees (locked back knee anyway 😉

31 minutes ago, lpskier said:

and further assuming you don’t advocate skiing with locked knees,

 

[Horton]

@Drago sort of...

[lpskier]

@Drago I imagine that if you never bend your front knee, front foot rotation may make less difference. But just for fun, take a listen to Freddie Winter’s coaching in the video on the “do you know what you need to fix?” discussion. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by lpskier

[Chris Rossi]

I run my front boot slightly rotated out toward the pinky toe.  I find that it is the most comfortable for my stance. There is always a give and take for any adjustments we make with regard to set up. Pinky toe rotation outward in theory would improve the off side while taking away some going into the onside.  I set my boots up in my garage and put my feet in them. I then hold my arms out in a "T" position and twist my upper body in each direction.  If I have troubles reaching the same rotation on one side, I adjust the foot rotation until it feels symmetrical. The only caveat to this is if both feet are extremely rotated I may try to reduce both and see if I get the same results with my upper body twist exercise.