It's not a big deal winging but prone pop up is brutal on my back big toe it's bleeding 90% of the time for the last 5 years doesnt seem to bother me much!

I think I know what you mean, I often get my big toe "squeezed" during a transition up to my feet from drop knee, and its f*ckn painful, like bending you toe as far forward as you can then standing on it with all of your weight. They are not that flexible! It only happens a couple of times each session. Booties helped it a lot. I also think planting a hand down to support yourself up would help as well but I'm always too busy holding the wing in place.

I don't curl my toes under when kneeling... seems like it would be extremely painful. I do have a bad case of turf toe on one foot from multiple repeated injuries skateboarding and windsurfing. There are some pretty good taping techniques to support your big toe and alleviate stress on the joint. I used Leukotape for strapping... it's fantastic, but for repeated use it will tear up your skin eventually.

kook123 said..

...I had always curled my toes under when kneeling because for me it made the move to my feet a lot quicker and easier so I thought that was THE way...wish I could find that recent BRM video of one of the guys going from straddling and holding the parawing in one hand and then pressing straight to his feet (I think starting with front foot and rear hand on the deck)...

link below to clip of Greg making the bum start look so easy.
still havent managed to translate that start to the wing, bigger wing in partic just doesnt want to sit there and pull me up. Only non-knee start works so far is the old uphaul - not partic useful out in ocean bumps.
Water start no fun on neutral buoyancy board.
I'm in boardshorts, no booties, and waxed deck, so toe, foot, and knee wear is a constant.
Sticking a thin square of soft boat cushion EVA foam just aft of my rear foot position [so tops of feet, toes are on the soft foam when kneeling, instead of on wax or harsh deckgrip] helps a lot winging, as does varying the angle of knee starts, sometimes in-line with board, sometimes 90 or 45 deg offset so toes overboard.
Prone, still dragging top of foot and toes across the wax and cursing

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