My experience is that in a hard stuff the foot strap is hard to hold onto with your foot. You also run the risk of a twisted/broken ankle or a hyperextended leg. The foot strap is nice in a bouy race where you are running a mile or so downwind and the waves are only a foot or so. Generally in that type of situation there will probably be a gybe or two in there as well in which case the chicken line becomes more cumbersom than it is worth for such a short run. In the big waves or when running for a long time such as in a distance race there is no substitute for a chicken line. During the GT we used both as waves tend to try and knock your feet out from under you.