Just started trying this one, but the sail shifting is very different to regular windsurfing.
would welcome any tips: when to shift, do you actively push the sail in any direction (as it does not fall away as explosively as it does in windsufing)? Errors that occured on my first tries: when it falls too deep towards the inside then pulling the clew to bring the sail back up unsettles my balance, when shifting the sail when dead downwind it gravitates to the outside of the turn.
thx!
Ironically I tried my first flying duck jibe yesterday. I caught the sail on the other side but was not prepared for the power in the sail so stepped back and unbalanced the board. Anyway, I let the sail go much earlier than normal. Here's a video from Jordy that I studied:
I find if I don't lean it into the turn its difficult to get under the clew and I just do a very bad regular gybe
I would say that as anything with foiling, you've got plenty of time to focus on technique.
FIN :
I am no proficient fin rider, but when I want to duck on a fin, I set up my mind in 'go for it' mode. Just full speed, lie downwind and vlam ! duck ! For me it is a snap move.
FOIL :
Windfoiling takes more carefull prep :
Get my feet just where they have to be, aft foot just in front of aft strap (3 straps board), front foot slightly loose of strap.
Get my aft hand way back.
Check downwind.
Get low, knee bent.
Then I start my carve, keeping sail slightly sheeted in. Looking for the moment when apparent wind is almost nowind, that's on a broad reach but before dead downwind.
Then I duck, trying to keep my balance and carve as steady as possible (knee bent). No change on feet pressure when flipping the sail. I aim to grab the wishbone as close as possible to the mast on the new side, but I wait before sheeting in ( even sometime don't grab with aft hand), staying in switch stance. Complete the curve but keep a broad reach, don't go upwind, so as to stay in low apparent wind.
I got really decent on one side but doing it on the other side is like a separate skill. 
Things that helped me as somebody who never really did one on fin:
I tried at first underpowered so all I'd end up is falling off the foil halfway through. Worse, by going slowly and with a small sail, it makes it easier for the apparent wind to be behind you which makes the sail flag hard when you are trying to switch sides. This makes it very difficult to bring back towards you.
Go in with enough speed so when you start the carve, the sail depowers. Flip as soon as it depowers. The key to this is don't wait for it to depower but anticipate it. By the time you start to feel it, you should already be initiating the hand movements. You want to be finished with the sail flip before you are dead downwind.
As a smaller guy, I found that getting all the way to the end of the boom hindered me as the extra weight and distance made it harder to bring the boom back. My better jibes were almost to the end of the boom. When I started out, I focused on getting to the end of the boom and I'd be standing there with the sail flagging and everything starting to fall apart. That's actually the easy part - instead focus on pulling the boom back in front of you on the new side. The further up the boom you can go on the first reach forward, the better off you'll be especially if the sail starts to power back up.
My best ones were starting when there was just still a tug of power in the sail as I carved in at speed and have it depower as I began to make the sail transition.
I'd say something about the feet but, for me, by finishing the flip before downwind, at that point it's similar enough to a regular jibe that I can't say that I really thought about it much.
I have a couple different approaches depending on the conditions. My initial issue when I started duck jibing was getting the sail to pivot/rotate with momentum to bring it all the way around. If the board was flat and heading directly down wind, I would throw the sail forward and grab the clew but the sail wouldn't rotate. Then I would stall and crash attempting to bring the sail back on one side or the other.
My preferred method: Tilt the board AND the sail to the inside of the turn. When the sail gets thrown forward, the weight of the mast at the low angle will naturally start the rotaion as as soon as you grab the clew. The key here being to stay in the carve and keep the board tilted over.
The "uh ohh" method: if the board ends up to flat due to poor handling,footwork,windshift etc, i use my forward hand to "push" the mast in the same motion when I'm throwing it forward. That will get it to roate around (usually).
Thanks! Great tips to work with. Getting the sail rotation actively started instead of relying on the wind to do it like in fin surfing.
Select to expand quoteWsurfAustin said..
I have a couple different approaches depending on the conditions. My initial issue when I started duck jibing was getting the sail to pivot/rotate with momentum to bring it all the way around. If the board was flat and heading directly down wind, I would throw the sail forward and grab the clew but the sail wouldn't rotate. Then I would stall and crash attempting to bring the sail back on one side or the other.
My preferred method: Tilt the board AND the sail to the inside of the turn. When the sail gets thrown forward, the weight of the mast at the low angle will naturally start the rotaion as as soon as you grab the clew. The key here being to stay in the carve and keep the board tilted over.
The "uh ohh" method: if the board ends up to flat due to poor handling,footwork,windshift etc, i use my forward hand to "push" the mast in the same motion when I'm throwing it forward. That will get it to roate around (usually).
This seems very consistent with my experience
Made a short clip with a few duck jibes.
And at the end I threw in a couple of ordinary wing foiling jibes and then a wing duck jibe equivalent, to show how small are the differences there, plus a few tacks.
My version at 0,28. I pull the sail behind my head. The sail rotates by itself
Select to expand quoteTaavi said..
Made a short clip with a few duck jibes.
And at the end I threw in a couple of ordinary wing foiling jibes and then a wing duck jibe equivalent, to show how small are the differences there, plus a few tacks.
Effortless
