freestyle board any good to learn to gybe on

What board are they using now?

What weight? What average winds?

A little more detail

Modern wider boards should be easier to uphaul.

Hi gofaster,

I remember when I learned to gybe, I tried and tried to learn on my Bic Techno 135 liter board and was unsuccessful. To this day, I don't believe that board was a good board to learn gybes on. Anyway I did some research on boards and saw that this Naish Titan 110 liter board was for sale used at a good price. Built in 2003, and had a great write-up on the board as well as a being a gybing friendly board. I bought the board and man oh man could I start learning the gybe. Every attempt was better and better. That Naish board was the perfect board for me at the time to master my gybes. Some boards just have better shaped rails and better volume distributed under the footstrap area to allow for a better gybing recovery when the board slows down through the gybe than other boards. But I would make sure your board is super gybing friendly before you attempt to learn the gybe. You will progress so much faster and less frustration throughout the process. Good luck!!

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Shifu said..
Get an FSW type board. Freestyle boards are built for freestyle and will limit him everywhere else.

+1 - swiss army knife of windsurfing and will gybe easy (edit the Tabou 3S is a FSW)

ok thatnks for your comments.
By FSW you mean like Kode or something from Exocet like cross or x cross? We have some jp . I'm pretty confused with the categories. I've seen a kode 86 but not seen the exocets. Volume ? learner gyber 70kg would be ok on what volume? xcross 100l? or the Kode?

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gofaster said..
ok thatnks for your comments.
By FSW you mean like Kode or something from Exocet like cross or x cross? We have some jp . I'm pretty confused with the categories. I've seen a kode 86 but not seen the exocets. Volume ? learner gyber 70kg would be ok on what volume? xcross 100l? or the Kode?

I've got the earlier Xcross 115ltre.
It's a bit big for me in chop as I use it as my 5-15kt board but it's very forgiving re gybing. I remember once weighting the wrong edge halfway through the gybe and it still came out the otherside! My Tabou rocket would have tossed me off..

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gofaster said..
.....He won't go out in light winds as needs wind to waterstart - can sail in 30+Kn, but never gybes - just organises a fall in with the sail the right side then pops up with a waterstart! Unique.

Not quite unique! That's a bad habit that also revived from the early nineties, never really mastered the gybe back then on a short board.
Still working on the gybes on my FSW 103L (Kode), success ratio is low but starting to get balance/weight a bit better to carve into turn rather than stalling half way through. Wind conditions have been a bit unkind to be able to get too much time on the water. I've found the Kode to be a real allrounder, can just uphaul at 80kgs. Can't blame the board for my lack of skill.

Just as important as the board is learning the right technique and youtube is a big help. Go into it and dont be shy. Gybes are way more likely to come unstuck if you are timid. Really bear away with lots of foot steering. Flip the sail as late as possible. Have a look at bjorn dunkerbeck videos and guy cribbs tips.

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gofaster said..

Wind here is usually over 20 knots. My sail is 5.4

3S from the last years jibe beautifully. Skates jibe even better - the regular version, that is, the team edition has been to oriented towards extreme moves for at least one year. But for more than 20 knots, I'd take a 3S over an older 100 l Skate.

Ok we went for the 3s
Now we have the choice of sails simmer mission X 5.6 brand new year?, simmer crossover 5.3 2011,naish force 5.3 2013, and all about the same price. i don't know about any of these . Is it the right idea to look for a wave type sail?