I'm relearning how to gybe ( correct way) and I find it frustrating that I just get it a bit with my smaller board and then the wind doesnt oblige & Im back to my big board & its a whole new board game ( pardon the pun
)..I don't change my feet till Im exiting with the little one whereas I have to change them as i flip with the big one..Im good in non planing conditions ( so much practise..[}:)]) but then when you are just planing but come off the plane to gybe its different than you have the overpowered / powered up gybes ..then add chop , gusty winds .. cripes will I ever get it..
I know people say they like a challenge but I just want to be able to get around & not wear out falling in & restarting..I last half the time due to all the energy needed to waterstart etc. Mind you I am getting pretty good at waterstarts..
Anyone else find it frustrating?
Yeah its a challenge but that is why I love windsurfing. I guess the main thing I do is to try no matter what not to fall in. However that sort of leads to these very conservative gybes where there is a fair chance of not falling i but there is little chance of not planing out the other side. This especially happens on my smaller board. On the bigger one I'll sometimes give a go and be more aggressive but then will more often than not fall in.
Oh well its summer and the water isn't freezing cold. Perhaps the go is to learn to gybe the board in a place where you fall into water around waist deep. So if you stuff it up its not such a big deal to get going again. Plus practicing till its perfect on flatter water before trying the chop and swell.
I once read in a pommy mag what seemed to be reasonable advice on a planing carve gybe. If you are barely planing into the gybe, you won't be planing out of the gybe. The fastest point of sail is usually the broad reach so the author suggested getting onto a broad reach before the gybe then doing the gybe and sailing out on a broad reach. He also wrote because the angle is lower on going from broad reach to broad reach the gybe is easier to do too.
The main problem we have is we can't get out every day and if we did get out to windsurf every day we'd be worn out. The other thing we could do is book into one of those gybe clinics in Egypt or Greece.
one of the causes of falling off is improper rig flip usually caused by not moving your front hand up to the head of the boom just prior to the rig flip.
if you leave your front hand in the normal sailing spot the rig will be difficult to control during the flip and result in a powered up clew first sailing position exiting the gybe or falling backwards off the tail of the board.
also make sure you lean towards the front of the board with knees bent. plus gybe in the gusts and use an even carve.
as a suggestion try heading over to somewhere like Coronation Beach for a few weeks in the summer. Plenty of breeze and people to watch, and motivation.
You would probably pick it up a lot quicker than trogging around trying to learn.
I went out on the big Mon last week & the place was great as when you fell off it was only waist deep & you could beachstart etc.. It only works in a W & then when the tide is up or water is deep which is rare.There isnt really many places here that get good wind but are flat either although generally the onshore gybes will be in flatter water than out in the middle.( I remember in the old days I could do lovely duck gybes on port tack only as that was where the flat areas always were..also one sided jumping....oh for the good old days & a younger body..)
Try not to stress over "completion" of a good gybe. It's the ultimate objective, but there's a lot of pieces in that particular puzzle!
If you've been watching the technique vids you'll appreciate the various components to nail a carving gybe. Recognize each of those components and consciously grade yourself on each bit as you complete every gybe. A great planing approach, or a sweet rig flip should be as much (if not more) of a positive as getting around dry (and wobbly!). Particularly if you can start to replicate that bit of technique regularly!
Even in sh!tty conditions when you're not planing consistently there are parts of the technique that you can be getting wired. Gestalts tip of leading hand right up to the boom head is a great example. Didn't appreciate how much this was going to improve ALL my gybing and it's the first thing I consciously check for now if I drop a couple as it's normally part of the problem.
Good gybing is less about having rote learned the action start to finish, it's more about being able to adapt to slight variations in each situation with a solid grounding in technique. Relish the variation in conditions as that will ultimately make you a better gyber when you do get it wired!
Crazy, the trick is to gybe pretty much teh same on all your boards.
The basics stay the same.
Be a good passenger, meaning, set your self up and unhook without disturbing the trim of your board or sail.
Lean forward into the carve with constant rail pressure.
The arc might change with different board sizes, but that's all.
As Gestalt said, your front hand must slide down to teh boom for the rig to rotate around the axis of the mast and wind up in the right place.
Get that right, and the rig will flip itself.
Voila !!
Things that I stuffed up most last time ( I do a post mortem after each crash) was forgetting the boom shaka ( hand slip to mast before flip), forgetting to keep mast foot pressure going and being rugged on the footchange ( too close to the edge when in underpowered consitions). So many things to think of! I know I should but I'm not game to really let the rig pull me forward as I enter..I had no mast foot pressure which is prob why I was having trouble with the board getting out of control as I changed feet .It would just start to tail walk & round up.
The main bad habits Ive had to try & change is from over to underhand rig reach + to do the twist when I change feet..
I should concentrate on the good bits ..its just that in subplaning conditions I generally go well & never fall in so it @## me off when I deteriorate so much in changed conditions.At the rate Im improving Ill be dead before I get it..[}:)]
gybing in light to moderate wind should be as easy as walking, in strong wind i
confess i fall in heaps.
3 things i try to remember gybing in strong wind,
1. as you apply back-foot to leeward rail, bend your knees to absolute maximum.
[it should feel like your backside is touching the board], this bending of knees will
help you to apply max pressure to rail.[which in turn will help the board to turn
sharply + smoothly]
2. pull back-hand in [meaning sheet the sail fully in]or even oversheet the sail till
board has turned first 90 degrees.
you need to do this to kill the power in sail. this is the biggest error most make.
3. as board starts to carve past 90 degrees, you want to rotate the sail as early
and as fast as possible.
hope this helps.
Peter I sorta disagree with number 2. I know what you mean but I can see that is not how people will take it.
The rig flip starts before the 90deg point. If you are going reach to reach you let the back hand go before that point.
The oversheeting does not extend to the downwind point. All that will do is if you lose a bit of speed and are travelling slower than the wind you will get badly backwinded every single time.
Most important for planing out is (as somebody said above) going from broad reach to broad reach - like a K where you are following the bent bit.
in realy cranking overpowered conditions i find it quite scary to bear away into the jybe . so on my slalom and wave board i keep back foot in strap .. bear away hard not quite square but deeper than if u were running the normal down wind angles .. once u slow down to a anerage speed out comes the back foot to normal position just a lil carver thru 90degrees flip rig and cruise on .. works well when its realy choppie 2 .. means u loose a bit of ground but if ur in that much wind y make it back quite quick
Sounds like you are releasing the rail pressure.
A friend once gave me the piece of advice to try and dip my knees in teh water.
Of course, you can't, but that constant rail pressure really is critical. Get that and everything follows, lose it, and you are screwed.
Ken Ho said
Sounds like you are releasing the rail pressure.
A friend once gave me the piece of advice to try and dip my knees in teh water.
Of course, you can't, but that constant rail pressure really is critical. Get that and everything follows, lose it, and you are screwed. Ill try that next time..
As Gestalt said, your front hand must slide down to teh boom for the rig to rotate around the axis of the mast and wind up in the right place.
at what point in the sequence should you move your hand forward?
Select to expand quote
About half a second before you do the flip itself.
Lots of gybes in here, many of them show the hand movement:
Awesome vid, loved the parts where you were charging head on and the jumps off waves. Where were you sailing?
