I've spent a lot of time learning to gybe and then teaching others.
Coming from a windsurfing background, I found it hard NOT to swap feet mid gybe on foil as that's what you do windsurfing. So I learned how to swap my feet beforehand and going into the gybe toeside, then performing the gybe to exit heelside. It's dead easy for me now.
The big things for gybing -
What is your toeside riding like? If it's not great, work on it. You need to do some toeside riding when gybing, so practice it to assist the gybe process. I do this by shuffling my feet closer together on the board, then making the switch of back foot to front and quickly followed by front foot to back. Try and find flat water to work on this as it helps a lot. I see (and was one myself) people complete the gybe exiting in toeside and then massively struggle to stay up on foil as they can't ride properly like that. You expect a lot of yourself to be able to learn how to gybe and also ride toeside in the one manouver.
What are the conditions like? If there's lots of swell/chop then this will complicate the process. Not impossible but harder. Try for an area where the water surface is flatter.
I orientated towards longer fuse and bigger tail. Both of these items slow things down a lot but provide more stability.
Also found that a boom wing made learning gybes and tacks easier too. Sliding hands instead of reaching and grabbing for handles.
I tried what you suggest - to switch feet while riding to get toeside (switch) practice. But I gave up on that again, since I found it very hard to move my feet while winging in our usual chop, and always crashed when I tried. So I had to learn toeside riding after jibing, which was a bit frustrating for a while. A common mistake is to have the wing to high, with the arm over the head - any wind pressure and you're on your back foot, falling off while the board does a nice jump. The key for me was to concentrate on keeping the front hand at eye level, and towards windward. That's best practiced on land until it is natural, preferably with a smaller wing so the tips don't hit ground. I just reached the stage where I can sailed for a few hundred meters toeside with control. Like many others, the foot switch is not trivial, so perhaps I'll try tacking out just so I can claim a jibe that did not eventually end in a crash.
There must be a lot of different ways to learn their jibe. For me, slow turns worked best so far. My jibe radius is about 60 meters, about twice as wide as my wife's (who learned jibing in maybe 10 sessions). For the longer radius, a big foil with a lot of glide (HPS1050), long stab (Axis short), and big stab (Anhedral F 500) all help. But coming from windsurfing (mostly speedsurfing in recent years), a wide jibe radius seems normal to me. Someone coming from wave sailing, kiting, or prone surfing may be used to much sharper turns, and a faster-turning gear setup may be better for them.
Last two posts make so much sense now. Thanks for advice I will try these next session. I've played around a bit kitesurfing on a surfboard and do exactly this. Bring feet closer together and practice toeside heelside, heelside toeside various transitions.
I might even practice toeside on a land sailor with the wing.
Thanks Dale
