Something I am starting to really understand as being vital to completing a carve gybe is making the rig go light....... its something I am trying to get a handle on as well as the footwork.....
Cribbs says to oversheet when heading downwind so you speed up past the speed of the wind..... I'm not really getting this happening so far... I had one gybe recently where I felt it on one occassion and literally fell back into the water as no resistance was felt on the sail even though it was windy enough.... that would have been the sweet spot to flip the rig.... and I'm guessing that since the rig is flipped while travelling at a greater speed than the wind it comes around nicely into your hand on the boomshaka...... then when you head up as you complete the carve the wind then fills the sail again? and powers you out? since you aren't travelling faster than the wind at that point? Am I understand this right?
Discuss / add / suggest :D
I think Cribby means that if you oversheet you offer less sail/edge of the sail to the wind going dead downwind . This means it doesn't catch much wind making it weightless and easy to flip. If you don't and are entering really powered up as he suggests the power in the rig can make the entry uncontrollable - get catapulted board bounce everywhere ( although thats more about not enough mastfoot pressure) etc..
This is the bit I am working on. Oversheeting , letting the rig pull me forwards ( eek
..still not getting that one! & tipping it into the turn..I've got to lift some handweights and build my arms up as I must have been doing it right last sail with my 5.8m ( biggish sail for me) and strained my arm muscles.
I haven't been able to do much with my arm all week 
and I'm not sure how its going to go sailing tomorrow but hopefully it will blow so I can use a 5 or 4m 
which won't need as much effort to over sheet.
..still not getting that one! & tipping it into the turn..I've got to lift some handweights and build my arms up as I must have been doing it right last sail with my 5.8m ( biggish sail for me) and strained my arm muscles. and I'm not sure how its going to go sailing tomorrow but hopefully it will blow so I can use a 5 or 4m which won't need as much effort to over sheet.
When everything goes right, at the point of the sail flip, the sail is so light you can initiate the sail rotation by flickiing the mast backwards a little with the front hand and then completely let go of it for a second or two as it rotates, and then you pick it up on the other side with both hands in the right place on the boom. Except for the short flick at the beginning, your hands are off the rig for the entire time of the sail flip.
The sail stays completely in position and doesn't blow forwards at all, so long as everything is balanced, right speed, right timing etc.
The board is going slower than wind speed to do this but not by a lot. The art is in determining when the force on the sail is light enough so it doesn't blow the rig forwards when you let it go, but still strong enough to flip the sail to the other side.
When it all comes together it's magic. 
No. The board is not going faster than the wind.
The board is going slower than the wind because it is this difference that provides the force to rotate the sail.
Whoa - have to have the gybes pretty dialed in to do those on que. So the board slows, wind faster, pushes sail around.....geezus...
Just from my own trials and tribulations while learning them, if you stand around waiting for a sail that feels weightless you will be flipping the rig way too late, the moment has been and gone. You certainly shouldn't be falling over backwards, at least on the entry phase.
I'd suggest just trying a few gybes where you set up your wide hands and the initiate the carve but instead of worrying about the footwork at all, just try flipping the rig as soon as the board is just about to point downwind or even a little earlier. Hard to explain but you want the rig to be flipped and coming back to you as you start to bear into the wind again.
This should give you a feel for when you need to start the rig flip, you won't likely be sailing away planing but just try having less things to worry about to sort out the timing. Definitely tie it in with your footwork later (don't try to learn strap to strap first up).
To try to simplify the "light sail" if the sail is being ripped away from you when you let go with the back hand then you need to be going faster or you are letting go way to early, but after MUCH experimentation I found that my tendancy was to try the rig flip too late. I'd have a hard time catching and controlling it and had slowed down and pointed upwind too far by then for any planing exit.
It's rare that you're speeds and timing will be ideal where the sail will float around and be in the perfect spot for you to catch on the other side. To begin with be a little proactive about making it flip quickly and when you catch it after the flip try to pull the sail across you so that the mast isn't behind you. Make it happen rather than hoping for the perfect rig flip.
As a side note, my other big mistake when learning was way too tight a carve, a wider loop gives you a lot more time to get things right and means that you don't lose speed as quickly when you start to head upwind again.
..still not getting that one! & tipping it into the turn..I've got to lift some handweights and build my arms up as I must have been doing it right last sail with my 5.8m ( biggish sail for me) and strained my arm muscles. and I'm not sure how its going to go sailing tomorrow but hopefully it will blow so I can use a 5 or 4m which won't need as much effort to over sheet.
Too cold to do it now..I'll revisit that nex summer..
If your doing the guy cribb way his 3 step plan helps to make it easier..Dry land homework for the rig flip & footchange till its automatic , big board lightwind practise to get everything in sequence and then high wind go for it to finally get the planing stuff..
Still a lot to think of .
I get the occasional fantastic 
flat out gybe ( in flat water ) but at the moment I often stuff up hopes of planing exits by exiting at too sharp an angle so I'm concentrating on trying to keep the radius of my turns wider after the rig flip.( If I want to try & plane out).
Gybes are really tricky and unless you are athletically gifted I would suggest you break them down and work on one bit at a time, starting with the entry. When you have that so it is automatic then go on to the next step and so on. Dry land practice helps to speed up the process a lot.
To oversheet, straighten your front arm and move the sail forward, move the back hand back, and sheet in with the back hand. The sail will pull you into the turn and if you are going fast enough the rig will go light. You should be on your toes and leaning forward so you will not fall backwards. Flip the rig just before you are heading directly downwind. For a while you will be too busy thinking about everything else to even notice when you are going directly downwind!
If you have enough board speed the rig will come around nicely and you can grab it, and when you get your back hand on the boom and sheet in the power will come on, so get low to brace yourself.
Regular practice practice practice is the key. You get rusty very quickly if you haven't sailed in a while.
Some good tips, really glad I asked, helps to visualise your comments.
Print to file.
weighing in here with no solid credentials...
if i can find a 'relatively' flat spot and have plenty of entry speed i can crack a reasonable and consistent planning gybe. and I do it without really over-sheeting.
first step is *always* to put my back hand way back so there would be a natural sheeting I guess. but every now and then i get it right and exaggerate the oversheet and wow - it is such a strong carving position, and I feel super confident with it even in rough overpowered weather.
but it's counter intuitive - i spend so much time making room between the sail and ourselves, opposing that pull by leaning away, that pulling it into screams 'wrong!!!'
i flip the rig a lot earlier than just about everyone I observe. at times (not through intention and quite by surprise to me as well) i let go of the rig with both hands about 75% of the way through the flip and catch it on the other tack.
so while i can't say with certainty, i suspect my early rig flip is what makes the rig go light
You carve with your hips not your feet...
If you carve with your feet then the board shoots away down wind and you fall off the back - unless you dig in with your feet so you can catch up....
Stand on land and practice transferring the weight onto your toes with your hips not your toes.
I get gybes but they'd be better if I kept the rig further away..
I wonder if it would be applicable to modern equipment?
Sorry to flog this topic, but wondering about laydown gybes and the rig flip.
Initially I was thinking you lay the sail down through most of the turn, but been watching videos again and again, and thinking you lay the gybe to bear away downwind right? Then flip the rig before you pass to the otherside of the wind, so same theory, flip the rig before the other wind direction even on a lay down gybe?
Am I understand this right?
I am riding a couch for a few days, sodon't do what I do
Yes, rig flip does not change except that the sail has to come back up and fotward faster.
The more you read, the more it will clag up your style, maybe?
The main thing is (like a kiter?), to be always aware of where your sail is and what it is doing. Lots and lots of TOW fror this.
A laid down sail (away from the waves) is to help
complete a gybe when totally overpowered.
At the other extreme, not much wind, a half second of clew first before the rig flip wll stop the board coming off the plane, but a "THAI CHI" moment is nicer and depends on more entry speed..
