Handy advice on how to let go of a windward clew and then catch the rig on opposite side?? Like after exiting a gybe clew first, or in a helitack. The rig is falling away as it spins and when I lean to get it... I mostly go too, or at very best make an unconvincing catch at full stretch.
OK gybing... I'm assuming a carve gybe with planing entry, not a groveling or flare gybe:
Sounds like you are (1) dropping off the plane and
(2) flipping rig too late.
Rig flip should commence at pretty much dead downwind, so the sail has almost NO power (you are moving downwind fast at that point) so when you let go with your back hand it is almost a weightless feeling, and as you continue your carve the sail slowly rotates.... your front hand is still on the boom to the last millisecond so the mast can't fall downwind.
If you imagine dropping off the plane at the dead downwind point, of course the sail is ripped downwind, as all of a sudden it has wind in the sail.
Big tip for carve gybes: gybe from a braod reach to a broad reach so you acr okly turning thru 100 - 130 degrees, not 180. They should call it a K gybe and then people would learn it a lot fatser i reckon. The upright part is your course and the "< " part shows what course you take thru your gybe.
Heli tack: I can't do them consistently so feel free to ignore me, but the rig is supposed to go from leaning to windward to flipped and downwind really fast. Heli tacks are always a really fast rig flip and hard to control.
Look for instructional vids and pics on Jem Hall's, Guy Cribb's or Simon Hurrey's sites.
Slide your front hand right to the front of the boom (up against the clamp) before you flip.
Keep low (knees really bent) so the rig won't pull you over.
New front hand goes under the old one.
Keep practising rig flips on the helitacks as thats easy to practise over and over. Turn further downwind (i.e. wait longer) before you flip the rig if it's flipping too fast.
while on te topic of hellitacks,
i seem to always get knocked off the board as i push the mast around and force the clew through the eye of the wind?
any tips?
I don't mean a rig flip during a carve gybe and I haven't found a picture of a flare gybe yet so don't know about that.
I mean after when I'm sailing clew first for a bit. Say I water start clew first - somehow I managed this a few times today - then the hard part should be done, I'm planing, on a reach, clew first. The sail is very twitchy and I'm thinking righto, I've pushed my luck far enough let's flip the rig. But holding the clew to the wind is like holding a tiger by the tail: hard to hang on and things get worse when I let go.
I bet this is going to be real easy when I know how, but at the moment I'm spending a lot of time in the water after my rig gets out of reach on the flip. It's like I need to lean back to allow for the weight when it flips but I daren't lean back in preparation because I'm already nervous with a twitchy clew first rig.
My helitacks got a step closer (I hope!) when I concentrated on moving my front foot first. But same problem as described above where the flipped rig is just too far away to grab without falling in.
I sympathise ItchyB. I kept mucking up that super simple flip for ages. The key to it is a nicely timed tug on the rig to pull you over the board just as you are letting go of the rig. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to get your weight moving a tiny bit over the board and then falling back again just as you grab the rig. If you watch people do it that's what you see every time.
How do you practise duck gybes etc on land? Do you have the board attached with no fin..
Also wouldn't the board need to be moving so the wind changes direction..
You don't need the board at all -- just rest the extension on the grass, and flip away! You go from normal sailing, duck flip to clew first, then flip to normal sailing again. I think this move is called a "Sail 360" or something. The wind can come from the same angle the whole time, in fact last Friday I was doing them on the water, just sailing along.
Light wind is best, and a smaller sail is easier. Perfect for when you rock up at the beach and the wind hasn't come in yet.
It's excellent practice, and lots easier to do on land rather than on the water. Once you've got them sorted it will make the water part a lot more possible.
