well where to start...I'm in Darwin so big boards, bigger sails and not much of that wind stuff....
I was given a mistral Explosion 145 with a gaasta 8m sail Which i use all the time as it's my only sail..(getting a 6.5 shortly when i find some money) Maui 48cm fin...
Now the problem at this time of the year we have only onshore winds, which means most of the time choppy waters, which makes it hard onsuch a big board learning to gybe....
What I do...Coming in, unhook, try and sheet in, front hand forward, back hand back, back foot out and across, reallly lean into it, flip sail across when I feel the tug, then I'm through....I make it through everytime nowdays and I'm not falling off anymore, BUT IT WONT PLANE THROUGH!! No matter what I try, coming out low on a broad reach, coming out square, high, in the water, no matter what it just wont plane through...remember we're talking like 10 - 15 knots here with probably 1 - 2 foot chop....
Anybody got any help for a young new windsurfer
Cheers
i dunno man...
The best advice i was given was, sail the first 3rd of the gybe! and make sure its not a super tight loop!
Make the loop big so you can keep your speed up!
GOOD LUCK!
With bigger boards I've found it helps to flatten out the board after you go downwind.
So don't try to carve all round 180 degrees... bear off, carve for 90 degrees through the wind, then sail out with a flat board.
Also try consciously leaning on the boom as you carve.
Regardless of the above, your equipment (and wind strength!) will make it difficult to nail those planing exits, if you get a 20 knot day and can go out on some smaller gear then you may find yourself planing out of a fair percentage.
Good luck, planing out is the most satisfying experience I've had windsurfing, let us know how you go.
keep your knees bent to absorb the chop. Change your feet and flip the sail a lot earlier. My guess is you're leaving it too late for the sail flip which results in you dropping off the plane at the end. Pretty common mistake. There's no reason why you can't plane out of your gybes in the conditions described with your equipment.
Not sure I agree with post above, I think you need to change feet early (before dead downwind) and think about carving the board the whole way through the turn.
Cheers!
Carbe Gybing??? I thought someone was going to tell me to eat lots of pasta to gybe well.
Thanks a lot guys, will give your suggestions a go, I'll try making the actual gybe smaller, Same as gybing the laser, easier to come out planing when reducing the turning arc which reduces drag, makes sense I guess... I was thinking about it, what makes smaller boards and smaller sails easier to gybe?? Is it the less drag factor or is it just because of the more wind that is there to use the smaller gear??
I think sometimes I think to much about gybing, It's a bloody challenge to get!
Most of the problem with planning through gybes is that you are leaning back to much , try to lean forward and aim your shoulders and head into the turn that is near the exit point (not sideways) alot of people lean sideways you must lean forward and look for the exit of the turn. Sometimes you should even get thrown forward when you are learning .
hope this helps
And the wind usually isn't that great on the inside of manly...
The best advice I ever got was to think of the gybe in three parts.
Entry - bear off till you are at about a 20-30 deg angle off the the wind.
The flip - Keep your weight forward, you do almost want to feel like you are going to head over the front. Flip the sail early, usually earlier that you might expect when learning.
Exit - Grab onto the new side of the boom and get in to the straps while still heading about 20 - 30 deg off the wind in the new direction, a couple of pumps and turn the board back onto a broad reach.
So in essence you are only gybing somewhere between 120 to 140 deg, not 180. I am pretty sure Sailquik from Vic gave the same advice at some stage, I got this advice from Phil McGain about 8 years ago when sailing with him in Sydney.
This is a great example of racing/planning gybe, although not on big kit and choppy water.
www.windmag.com/
Enjoy,
Remi
Also when you switch your feet, step forward so your new forward foot is about a foot behind the mast
use the waves, stay on the face off a small wave if possible, use it to keep you planing, other than that I just wait for more wind, planing gybes without enough wind to pull you out the other side are bloody hard.
My two pesos (are they worth more than the $AU now?):
WIIIDE arc through the turn, big as you can go, and actually power through a lot of the turn. Yes, I have actually fully planed out of a gybe twice and that's how I did it (then I blew my load and stuffed the rig flip). Plus I take note of how people do carve gybe and the wide arcs seem to be the basic ingredient.
In Panda's strap to strap vid one of the noticable features that I reckon helps, is that he leaves his feet in place until AFTER the rig has been flipped and powered up again.
This means that he can keep carving the board round smoothly without the change of feet upsetting the rail engagement half way round.
I know most people move their feet as they flip the rig, but I reckon the strap to strap jibe looks the most seamless when done well.
Thanks for the tips guys, Tried otu the tips yesterday and was getting better results, Hopefully the breeze will be in again today and I can practice some more...Thanks for the vids
Hadn't thought of checking youtube out...So thanks for the research on my behalf...
Came in yesterday and really tried to nail one, slammed my foot across on the rail, dug the rail in and the board just catapulted me....Learnt from that, confidence means nothing in windsurfing...
Thanks again guys
