When it comes to gybing

Your blue text reminds me of what I feel like 30 seconds after I enter the water with my gear. Works especially well in winter

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Originally posted by MavericK040

So when it comes to Gybing ive got nothing also , maybe all you distinguished blokes with gray hair and beards could share some knowledge with us clean shaven non grey fellas who arent very good (yet)?
any tips ?

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I have grey hair and grey beard so that means I have to respond

Get a good video, Just got Jem Hall's that's excellent or get lessons.

The basics are as follws: Break the gybe into 3 componebts.

1 The Set up/The Carve/Transition with rig flip.

Set Up; Need to be planing. If moderrate winds, start going a bit broader (down wind) to pick up speed. Unhook, have a look, take foot out of back footstrap and place on leeward rail (opposite to where wind is coming from). Move clew hand further down boom and sheet in, bend knees, depress leeward rail, lean into turn.

Carve; Carve the board in a long steady arc, using your bent knees as chop shock absorbers. Lifting the heel on your front foot can be an added shock absorber for choppy conditions.

The transition; As the rig begins to feel light, need to get ready to flip the rig and change feet positions. Once pressure builds in the it has to be rotated or your in the drink. Flip the rig (and think fast hands),and catch it, then it is time to move feet (The step gybe is recommended here) The front foot is taken out of strap and placed in middle of board (To become your back foot) and the carving foot takes a step in front on the other foot now becoming the front foot. Pump a bit to get your momentum going again, hook in, get feet into footstraps.

Practice, practice, practice, find flat water to practice on, it's a complex and technical manouvre and you need to make things as easy as possible, if in WA Metro, try Safety bay or mandurah estuary, or the sandbars near Applecross, this is very important for building confidence, chop will only make gybing when learning feel like an impossible manouvre.

One of my stumbling points was leaning into the turn enough to engage the rail. It's easy to ovrelook given all the other things you need to think about and the natural tendency to fight the force thats pulling you forward. So a coupke of tips to try and trick yourself into doing this.
1. Point your head into the direction of the turn, you body tends to follow. Look through the sail at the imaginary arc you are about to carve through.
2. Another option is concentrate on making the foot / clew of the sail almost touch the water (leeward side). Again focus on this act makes you forget about all the other conflicts that may be on you mind.
Sometimes you get into a rut trying one method so it can be good to break the pattern.

One more thing, embrace falling into the water. If you try too hard on avoid it then the ....

The three things that helped me crack it were:

1) The rig flip.
Make sure both hands are using overhand grip, move the front hand up the boom till it's very near the mast, then grab the new side of the boom with underhand grip. This means that your elbows don't knock together as you change sides.
Practice this on land, again and again, till you can do it with your eyes closed. And I do mean with your eyes shut!

2) Weight distribution without bowing.
This is hard to explain, you basically need to get the centre of your body over the inside strap, but without bending at the waist. This also includes lifting your front heel right off the board, and pushing down on the boom (mast foot pressure) as you carve. Chairman explained it to me by saying "Keep your body parallel to the mast". Your knees need to be bent, and for your body to be vertical, that front heel needs to be right off the deck.
I was pushing hard for a planing gybe the other day, and ripped the footstrap out of the board -- this shows you how much you need to be levering the footstrap with the top of your foot.

3) Practice

i can't resist these gybe questions...
probably cause i still stack so many.

step gype -

step first flip last.
most people struggle with this gybe because they try to step and flip the rig at the same time. (me included) stepping when the board is pointing downwind helps you keep planning, balance prior to the rig flip and give you more time to adjust your body before the rig flip.

stepping late after you have gone through the downwind position leaves the rig fully powered in the clew first position (this is what the pros do) but it's more difficult to manage for us mere mortals and tends to sink the tail and stall the gybe resulting in the board pointing hard to windward and us falling in.

strap gybe -

flip first step last. essential for duck gybes.

Well Knoty, you've taken the first step. Now as a confessed member of crap-gybers anonomous you can take the next. Give up gybing. Take up vulcans. They are way more difficult so it doesn't matter if you can't do them. You will get loads of respect for trying.

Because of speedsailing I am practiced in the art of German Gybes. Very easy to master and you can check your GPS max, scratch your bum, and relive all the moments of the previous run.

and don't forget to bend the knees!

"Get more than one video. They all give you a different tilt on things. Visualise the moves as if you were doing them yourself. Be fresh and committed when you are trying them"-quoting combs....this is how i learned how to gybe! all i heard from that cort larned flick was to just visualize and no matter what always commit and not half-hearted..i just reviewed the tape over and over without even listening till i dropped dead on the couch....

I find the more speed you carry into the gybe the easier it is! This may seem counter-intuitive but it helps

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Originally posted by frant

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Originally posted by Wet Willy

Gybing is simple. Bear off, try to turn the board past the downwind point by any means necessary, throw the rig in the water on the downwind side as you fall to windward, climb back on, uphaul and sail away smiling. Nothing to it. Sometimes you may have to swim the rig around or flip the board over in the water if it's pointing the wrong way. Practice makes perfect.

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Wet Willy This is a simplified version of the German Gybe where one simply holds the rig as you fall in to windward.... then fly the rig, flip (gybe) if necessary and waterstart and away you go.

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That would require the ability to waterstart, and to flip the rig without falling in again, and is therefore wholly impractical. You're living in dreamland, sonny.

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Originally posted by frant

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Originally posted by Wet Willy

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Wet Willy This is a simplified version of the German Gybe where one simply holds the rig as you fall in to windward.... then fly the rig, flip (gybe) if necessary and waterstart and away you go.

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Frant, you been watching me then, A?

I reckon learning any move, even the humble ones, is at least 75% attitude. Two key attitudes that is, namely -

1) I AM GOING to learn this (insert name of move) before the end of the season or, failing that, well before I die.
2) Go for it like a kid.

1) is about persistence and application.
2) is about having fun and taking chances.

This is a perfectly good theory and I'm sticking to it.

OK, sounds like you guys are getting the hang of it... one point to remember: If you're planning on planing throughout the jibe from start to finish you need to move your weight forward, as you are bearing away you need to stand more vertical, start to stand on your toes, get that back foot out, plant it on the leeward rail..and keep that weight going forward, basically leaning forward into the turn, just after you gibe your sail and it passes through the wind you need to take your old back foot, rotate on your front and place the old back foot right up in front of the foot still in the front strap usually about the same distance in front as it was behind. All the while you are still turning your board so some fancy footwork is required to keep the board at the right angle. Now it's a matter of getting that other foot out of the now leeward strap, sheeting in..mooving back again...and getting established on the new tack.

Nebbian,

You've cracked it?? Damn, one winter off the water and you've pulled away from me !! Anyways, my brother's going OS for a couple of weeks this summer, and I'm staying at his house while he's gone, so at last I get to sail with you guys like I've been threatening to do for the last 2 years.

I'll let you know when I'm coming up.

Regards,
Harrow.
(who is not dead despite the rumours)