Select to expand quoteblazing928 said..
thanks Shifu, very well explained
nigel novice gyber!
+ 1 - Shifu is a master gyber at out local spot Queens Beach and is an inspiration to all of us sailing there. We have very rough open bay conditions and he is usually revelling with his gybes and sailing.
Sue, watch your local sailors and ask them ask them to watch you and give you some tips. That can really help and then its just time on the water and practice.
Select to expand quotesboardcrazy said..
I actually used to gybe better in chop a few years ago- I'd go for it and when really powered in a gust gybe and was pulling off some planing exits..
Too much flatwater sailing has made me whimpy. Now in chop I gybe in the lulls which ensures I don't fall in but no planing exits.. 
..
Actually that's probably because the only time I sail in chop now is in under 20kts and I have big heavy cammed sails up that I don't want to drop in the water..A 7 or 7.8m that could fill up with water and give me a swim in.. I'm 5'6 & 65kgs.. 
On flat water, you can keep your legs pretty straight in jibes. But in chop, you'll bounce around a lot more if your knees are not bent. If you sail too much on flat water, it's easy to develop bad habits. You can't really bend your knees too much - some of the best jibers I know seem to bent them to 90 degrees, and have their head way below the boom.
The other thing that helped me a lot to jibe dry in chop is to focus on the "boom shaka", as Guy Cribb calls it: sliding your front hand all the way to the mast before the flip. Just concentrating on the boom shaka got my dry jibe rate in nasty chop up from 50% to more than 90%. Not moving the hand, or moving it only partway to the mast, is a pretty common mistake to make.
Jem Hall's gybe technique has a delayed rig flip as he takes power clew first before flipping the rig. Any comments?
Select to expand quotegofaster said...
Jem Hall's gybe technique has a delayed rig flip as he takes power clew first before flipping the rig. Any comments?
Don't see how this will work in strong conditions.
Select to expand quotegofaster said..
Jem Hall's gybe technique has a delayed rig flip as he takes power clew first before flipping the rig. Any comments?
Looks hard work!
Select to expand quoteMrCranky said..
gofaster said...
Jem Hall's gybe technique has a delayed rig flip as he takes power clew first before flipping the rig. Any comments?
Don't see how this will work in strong conditions.
+ 1 - imagine the power in the rig..?
One of the gybe marks on the Patrik Slalom events last year
You can see Jesper (AUS-10) carries out the clew first technique
I think this was in about 15 knots
Select to expand quoteStuthepirate said..
One of the gybe marks on the Patrik Slalom events last year You can see Jesper (AUS-10) carries out the clew first technique I think this was in about 15 knots
I believe that if you begin to sail clew-first, much of your speed would have had been lost. The situation you depicted showed the sailors are playing safe because they are in a race. So it is better to stay upright than to take risk and fall. Also, in 15 knots of wind you can do clew-first. I doubt you can do that in stronger winds.
By the way, sailing clew-first is OK when you are still trying to get your gybes right. The next step is to flip the sail correctly without resorting to sailing clew-first.
I recon Jesper knows how to gybe fairly well, seen him do it countless times..
there a many ways to gbye-the clew first exit is generally used when going from beam reach to beam reach i.e. 180deg turn.
As for too much power in the rig,this is not usually the case...as you bare off to initiate the gybe you gain speed and the
apparent wind swings forward thus reducing the load in the rig.
most mistakes i see is people trying to flip the rig too early and the board hasn't turned far enough to the new direction of travel.
I watched Jesper gybe in the South Beach slalom 10 years back in 25-40 knots with a 5.8m race sail ( rigged quite full) In extremely choppy conditions.
After 6 heats he did not fall off a single gybe. Only on one gybe on the inside did I see him look uncomfortable / overpowered.
90 percent of sailors were falling off half their gybes.
Many did not enter due to the wind,just watched.
Rowan was using a 5m wave sail and he was the only other one making his gybes,though he did fall off one or two from memory.
For gybing those two are still the benchmark!
Those are the conditions that sort out very good sailors from PWA guys.
It was gusting 48 knots on Rottnest that day.
most of the vids show a step gybe, which works well for a larger bulky sail and is the easiest to learn, but can be a bit clumsy, slow and disrupts the flow of the board if using smaller sails and boards
for the smaller sails up to 6m-ish, the strap-to-strap gybe (flip sail, sail briefly in switch stance while gaining speed, then change your feet) is the schizz imho. learning to "spin the sail" effortlessly is the key, even for step-gybes. The last gyble in this vid (3m:16s) is quite a good example as done right there's almost no loss in speed
and as mentioned, learing to duck gybe will help your normal gybes immensely 
.
Holy Shiz, i wish I knew about the Karate cat stance in the seventies then I could have learnt to gybe in my pyjamas
Select to expand quotegofaster said..
Jem Hall's gybe technique has a delayed rig flip as he takes power clew first before flipping the rig. Any comments?
That is a bit unusual, even for the step jibe. ABK teaches to sail out clew first only if you loose a lot of speed in the jibe. If you keep enough speed, flip right away, don't sail out clew first. Doing it that way works well.
But Jem's video is probably primarily directed to windsurfers learning a planing jibe, and it's short, so I assume he simplifies a bit. When learning, you'll probably loose a lot of speed, and picking up some speed clew first before completing the sail flip will give you some extra stability.
There are many ways to skin a cat. Some of them quite messy!
Likewise, there are many ways to complete a reasonable Gybe. Some get messier than others more often.
The videos above show some quite different methods, all working quite well.
Because we are all windsurfers here with some skills and habits already ingrained, there is no one answer to 'how do I do a better Gybe.'
Also, the type of gybe that suits your conditions and sailing situation best could vary a lot. A serious Wave Sailor will do it differently from a Slalom Sailor from a High Wind Speed Sailor from a Bump and Jump Free-rider etc.
For instance, one answer is to decide to do it the hard way and forget everything you know and start again from scratch with a particular method in mind. One that you think will suit your conditions and abilities best.
Yeah, I know. That approach is probably not going to suit anyone without a serious dose of OCD and a hell of a lot of time and wind on their hands. It's always to hard to completely reinvent the wheel!
So the logical approach, is to get a good coach/teacher to watch (with no particular method to push), and have them analyse what you are doing now and suggest some areas and directions to work on to nudge you in a better, more consistent direction. Ideally, with regular follow ups to tweak your progress. Video could help a lot but it need to be in the right conditions, from the right angle and analysed with a particular goal in mind. :-)
Select to expand quotesailquik said...
There are many ways to skin a cat. Some of them quite messy!
Likewise, there are many ways to complete a reasonable Gybe. Some get messier than others more often.
The videos above show some quite different methods, all working quite well.
Because we are all windsurfers with some skills and habits already ingrained, there is no one answer to 'how do I do a better Gybe'
For instant, one answer is to decide to do it the hard way and forget everything you know and start again from scratch with a particular method in mind. One that you think will suit your conditions and abilities best.
Yeah, I know. That approach is probably not going to suit anyone without a serious dose of OCD and a hell of a lot of time and wind on their hands. It's always to hard to completely reinvent the wheel!
So the logical approach, is to get a good coach/teacher to watch (with no particular method to push), and have them analyse what you are doing now and suggest some areas and directions to work on to nudge you in a better, more consistent direction. Ideally, with regular follow ups to tweak your progress. Video could help a lot. :-)
This^^^^
There's so many parts and methods to doing a successful planing gybe.
There's plenty of hints and tips that can be given here, but if you can get someone that gybes pretty well to watch you do a few, they'll be able to see what you're getting wrong and what you're getting right.
Practice on flat water rather than chop.
Can I also add that " the person who can gybe well' is not always the best person to coach you. I know some people who are incredibly good at skills who will gladly tell you that they don't have a clue how they do it, or at least don't know how to teach someone else to do it.
I know that doesn't help a lot to find the right persons. Sorry. Just something to be aware of.
Im not a great gyber, but like most want to get better. For me a revelation was watching bjorn dunkerbeck and guy cribb on youtube. Like sailquick says, there are lots of ways to gybe. I really like the lay down slalom gybe, even though my completion rate is not great, i like the high speed entry. Key points for me are back hand back, sheet in enough to try and get the foot of the sail touching the shin, foot shuffle and flip from boom to boom. Some boards gybe better than others. If you havent tried this type give it a go, for you first go dont even try to flip the rig, just bear off, sheet in and bank the board right over and see if you can lay the rig down flat and settle into the water after a 180 degree turn (mast pointing into the wind, you still on the original side of the board) After a few goes you get the feel of when it is right to shift your feet and flip the rig. Definitely best to learn it in waist deep water! Maybe not recommended if your aim is 100% completion.
Seems like there is plenty of advice for you to go on now. I think the next best thing is to go out and just gybe. Gybe, gybe, gybe as much as you can. Practice, practice and practice. It will come. Hands on experience with the board is what you need now. The footwork, form and style will all come to you over time.
That's the same way I learned the gybe. It's all about hours spent on the water. You can think about, ask questions all you want, but you're ready to just get out their and do it over and over again until it clicks.
When I learned to gybe, it took me about 30-40 plaining sessions before I mastered it. That's about one season worth of just gybing. Before I learned to gybe, I would tack every time. But I just said to myself no more tacking, gybe only. Now It's a peice of cake. I now have the footwork, form and style down. Most importantly I go into the gybe with confidence knowing I'm going to pull it off every time. The key is once you feel it, you own it.
Have fun, but be patient with yourself while learning the gybe. Goodluck
And some at Sandy Point on a light day on big gear. Very smooth gybe's on smooth water.
IMO, in a "perfect" high speed flat water gybe the rig literally becomes weightless.
If your entry speed is just right (powered up), body positioning dynamic, constantly adjusting to the change in board angle to the water as well as rig positioning, the rig becomes effortless and should "flip" with minimal effort when you reattach yourself to the opposite side of the boom and power out through the last part of of the gybe.
The adrenaline rush from a high-speed gybe where exit speed is as close as possible to entry speed is comparable to many other more technical windsurfing tricks.
Select to expand quoteRoar said...
LG gybing strap to strap from a few years ago
They would have been nice Alphas! Beautiful
Select to expand quoteHaircut said..
most of the vids show a step gybe, which works well for a larger bulky sail and is the easiest to learn, but can be a bit clumsy, slow and disrupts the flow of the board if using smaller sails and boards
for the smaller sails up to 6m-ish, the strap-to-strap gybe (flip sail, sail briefly in switch stance while gaining speed, then change your feet) is the schizz imho. learning to "spin the sail" effortlessly is the key, even for step-gybes. The last gyble in this vid (3m:16s) is quite a good example as done right there's almost no loss in speed
and as mentioned, learing to duck gybe will help your normal gybes immensely
.
from the legacy of old advice, many sailors try to rotate the sail around the axis if the orange line, but it's the green line that gives you the most effortless rotation. It requires slightly tiling the mast to the outside of the turn and spinning it (using back hand to push away and front hand to pull and sweep across your chest). You can take your hands right off the boom as it spins when you get the timing and angle right. Once you get the spin right, and the strap-to-strap foot technique, you can plane even through the lightest winds, and you'll also realise you don't need big sails. efficiency is the trick
Thanks yes green line is what I need to aim for.. I like strap to strap on small boards well powered up but if the wind is gusty ( like around here) and you run out of wind half way through a gybe I find the stepgybe puts you in a much better / more stable platform to exit..
Select to expand quotesailquik said..
There are many ways to skin a cat. Some of them quite messy!
Likewise, there are many ways to complete a reasonable Gybe. Some get messier than others more often.
The videos above show some quite different methods, all working quite well.
Because we are all windsurfers here with some skills and habits already ingrained, there is no one answer to 'how do I do a better Gybe.'
Also, the type of gybe that suits your conditions and sailing situation best could vary a lot. A serious Wave Sailor will do it differently from a Slalom Sailor from a High Wind Speed Sailor from a Bump and Jump Free-rider etc.
For instance, one answer is to decide to do it the hard way and forget everything you know and start again from scratch with a particular method in mind. One that you think will suit your conditions and abilities best.
Yeah, I know. That approach is probably not going to suit anyone without a serious dose of OCD and a hell of a lot of time and wind on their hands. It's always to hard to completely reinvent the wheel!
So the logical approach, is to get a good coach/teacher to watch (with no particular method to push), and have them analyse what you are doing now and suggest some areas and directions to work on to nudge you in a better, more consistent direction. Ideally, with regular follow ups to tweak your progress. Video could help a lot but it need to be in the right conditions, from the right angle and analysed with a particular goal in mind. :-)
I've already spent 18 months going from 80% gybing success rate to 10% while learning the step gybe.. I came out the other side but I think all the flatwater sailing is making me soft..+ old age and injury has me loathe to fall in.. 
..That's going to be the biggest hurdle to fixing bad habits..
Select to expand quoteMagic Ride said..
Seems like there is plenty of advice for you to go on now. I think the next best thing is to go out and just gybe. Gybe, gybe, gybe as much as you can. Practice, practice and practice. It will come. Hands on experience with the board is what you need now. The footwork, form and style will all come to you over time.
That's the same way I learned the gybe. It's all about hours spent on the water. You can think about, ask questions all you want, but you're ready to just get out their and do it over and over again until it clicks.
When I learned to gybe, it took me about 30-40 plaining sessions before I mastered it. That's about one season worth of just gybing. Before I learned to gybe, I would tack every time. But I just said to myself no more tacking, gybe only. Now It's a peice of cake. I now have the footwork, form and style down. Most importantly I go into the gybe with confidence knowing I'm going to pull it off every time. The key is once you feel it, you own it.
Have fun, but be patient with yourself while learning the gybe. Goodluck
I need to learn how to tack..I keep avoiding it as I have a shortnosed board and a heavy 7.8m cambered sail.. I need to get more adventurous..but the first step is to get well get back on the water and make sure my ankle can cope with a crash.. 
