Watch some good "how to gybe" vids before you go out, youtube has plenty, get em in your head, it needs to come naturally, and never, never give up, everytime you need to turn, attempt a gybe, so practice, practice, practice. They do come eventually.

Beg, borrow or steal a copy of "Turn for the better" by Peter Hart...

Everything you need to know (and more!) is on there.

Don't do super long runs. This way u get more practice. A place where u can touch ground is great to. I learnt down thomsons beach up near the creek mainly cause i could touch the ground, but watch out for the patch of rocks near the soft mud sign i reckon ive hit them nearly everytime.

look thru the turn, dont look down at your feet, kind of "let it happen"

visualisation is good

wide arc

carry good speed

wide exit

bend zee knees, lean forward

windykid said...

learning to gybe can you give me any tips
thanx

have you ever tried a 'sink gybe'? precursor to hi-speed gybe?it'll teach you the sequence of steps in a slow mangageable way

Rig your kit on the lawn, and practice your rig flip until you can do it 10 times in a row with your eyes shut. That way you won't be tempted to look at your hands instead of where you're going when you're on the water.

Get the Guy Cribb DVD called Intuition. It goes through all the stages from low wind gybes to high speed lay-down gybes. There is also a section on how you can practice the routine at home.
Don't try and do it all at once, try a step at a time or you will get confused.
Of course flat water is the best place (Sandy point in a SW is ace) and practice, practice, practice. Its taken me about two years to be able to go in at speed and come out planning. Good luck.

Make sure you are comfortably planning in the foot straps, take out the rear foot and place it just infront of your rear strap and just past the middle line of the board towards leeward, this will help you to dig the rail in and carve around, keep leaning forward though and not back otherwise you will stall, round up and sink. You can now either switch stance and flip as you go through the wind, or flip the sail first and switch later, depends on your preference, however I would think switching stance first is easier to learn. When you are baout to flip the sail, grab the mast with your back hand and bring your front hand around to the otherside of the boom, then move your other hand back onto the new side on the boom. As you get better you can flip boom to boom and skip the mast in the middle part. If you feel like your going too fast, oversheet slightly before initiating the gybe to wash a bit of speed off.

Key point: keep your weight forward through the entire turn to keep on the plane.

Dont flip the rig too late or you will find the rig ending up being behind you and may catch the water with the clew.

No 1 is LOOK before Gybing

windaddict said...

Make sure you are comfortably planning in the foot straps, take out the rear foot and place it just infront of your rear strap and just past the middle line of the board towards leeward, this will help you to dig the rail in and carve around, keep leaning forward though and not back otherwise you will stall, round up and sink. You can now either switch stance and flip as you go through the wind, or flip the sail first and switch later, depends on your preference, however I would think switching stance first is easier to learn. When you are baout to flip the sail, grab the mast with your back hand and bring your front hand around to the otherside of the boom, then move your other hand back onto the new side on the boom. As you get better you can flip boom to boom and skip the mast in the middle part. If you feel like your going too fast, oversheet slightly before initiating the gybe to wash a bit of speed off.

Learning to grab the mast set me back about two months on my path to gybing nirvana.

Every time you grab the mast on a gybe, think to yourself "I owe Nebbian another beer".
Every time you grab the new side of the boom without grabbing the mast, think "Yay that's the way to do it". Remember the new hand grabs the boom with an UNDERgrip, this lets you flip easily without banging your elbows together.

Google "Boomshaka"

Practice flipping the sail on the beach with your eyes closed

Gybing: the closest thing to zen we've got

nebbian said...

windaddict said...

Make sure you are comfortably planning in the foot straps, take out the rear foot and place it just infront of your rear strap and just past the middle line of the board towards leeward, this will help you to dig the rail in and carve around, keep leaning forward though and not back otherwise you will stall, round up and sink. You can now either switch stance and flip as you go through the wind, or flip the sail first and switch later, depends on your preference, however I would think switching stance first is easier to learn. When you are baout to flip the sail, grab the mast with your back hand and bring your front hand around to the otherside of the boom, then move your other hand back onto the new side on the boom. As you get better you can flip boom to boom and skip the mast in the middle part. If you feel like your going too fast, oversheet slightly before initiating the gybe to wash a bit of speed off.

Learning to grab the mast set me back about two months on my path to gybing nirvana.

Every time you grab the mast on a gybe, think to yourself "I owe Nebbian another beer".
Every time you grab the new side of the boom without grabbing the mast, think "Yay that's the way to do it". Remember the new hand grabs the boom with an UNDERgrip, this lets you flip easily without banging your elbows together.

Google "Boomshaka"

Practice flipping the sail on the beach with your eyes closed

Gybing: the closest thing to zen we've got

thanxs for the advice

Not too sure about that one Jord. You dont want to confuse the poor bloke now do you.

Hey Elmo lol good vid but not what Nebs was thinking. Peter Hart Turn for the better is really good. Carve nice smooth arcs and don't hang on with the back hand too long, I try to let go and start the rig rotation as soon as the board has gone through downwind and is starting on the other reach.Practice the rotation on dry land so it becomes automatic when on the water.

Well, the "boomshaka" is sort of like grabbing the mast, only faster...
Jord sez "When stepping out of your back strap, dont lay your foot across the board, place it pointing towards the nose".
Is good, this allows "hip shifting" to keep the board turning, yes?
The nicest gybes tend to look a bit gay because of this helpful move, which you can't do unless facing a bit forward.
Come to think of it, the zero success punters always have zero hip movement..