Monster, still looks to me you are leaning back and not forward and into the turn and yes, bend the knees. The board looks like it has too much weight at the back. It will turn easy enough but you will lack the speed you need to keep on top of the water and will just spin on it's axis into the wind.

I don't think you get what I'm putting down, enter at 30Deg then do a 120 deg gybe at max speed ( works well for full laydowns ) and when the sail powers up then turn the last 30Deg. 30 + 120 + 30 = 180 , if you tried a full 180 on the snow you'd be going be going back up the hill. This method is best for the windy days and does take up more room , works for me on flatish water.

Or, more importantly, you are getting a bit of propulsion just when you ae about to drop off the plane. This maybe is not so important to WA sailors who usually have more wind than they need. Various writings say that a laydown is just a way off spilling excess wind but I appreciate that it is a very efficient way of reducing the swing mass by putting most of the sail in the middle of the turning radius?

I haven't seen the dvd, but the trailer for Guy Cribb's Intuition gybing dvd gives some good pointers. It might be worthwhile grabbing a copy.

www.guycribb.com/windsurfing_technique_DVD_0142v01item58.htm

monster said...

were does one place back foot after taking said foot out of stap

I have read all this thread but I was reluctant to comment because according to all the 'expert' instructors I do it all wrong.

OK. So here is my method (all wrong) which works for me: (slalom board powered up)

Enter gybe with a much speed as possible by bearing away slightly as already mentioned by Mr No-One.

Remove back foot from strap and place just behind the opposite front strap (first thing I do wrong :-) ) This keeps the weight forward and the rail engaged and driving. Knees bent and pull sail briefly in against leg.
Just before the board has reached the downwind position I am opening up the sail trying to keep the mast vertical and have moved my front hand to just behind the mast on the boom. I let go with my back hand and allow the rig to swing on my front hand, reaching under with my other hand to grasp the other side of the boom at the front. At this stage I am flattening out the board with my feet to reduce the carve radius, aiming to have the rig back in my hands at about 120 off the wind on the new tack. By now I have let go of the old front hand and grabbed the boom in the new sailing position.
Only now do I move my feet.
On a slalom board I usually move my old back foot first by pivoting it close to the centre of the deck just behind the front straps and I support myself on that one until I get the back foot in. On a wave board I pivot it straight into the new front strap. Note that in this case I briefly have both feet in the front straps!
The leeward foot is removed and either goes straight into the back strap or just in front of it briefly depending on how well the board is running. Now the turn is completed the last 30 degrees and I am going back where I came from.

In some instructional manuals this is called a 'strap to strap' gybe and is much more commonly done in quick gybes on wave boards. (and is the technique of choice for duck gybes). However, this is the technique I have always used and taught for slalom gybing and has always worked exceptionally well for me and those I have instructed.
A possible downside is that it sometimes does not work as well as the common, clew first 'slalom step' gybe when using very large sails and when underpowered in marginal planing conditions.

Learn to duck gybe then the carve jybe all comes together

oldie said...

Is there a secret to the effortless gybe

Practice

oldie said...

Is there a secret to the effortless gybe

Flat water. lots of speed in. Let go of the boom early and just carve around. :-)

from sailquick

At this stage I am flattening out the board with my feet to reduce the carve radius, aiming to have the rig back in my hands at about 120 off the wind on the new tack.

Makes sense, because no MFP is available while the rig is rotating so a tighter carve just then will just get you into trouble. Don'tnthink that I have seen this mentioned before.

OK. Here are some more pics! :-)

My mate Crispy took some pics today so here are some pertinent ones:

Notice the body is committed to the inside of the turn. Not leaning back. Not pulling up on the boom, in fact I am not using the boom or sail for anything. It is weightless and also leaning into the turn so that it just simply pivots when released.



Here I have let go of the rig with my old back hand and the rig is standing up almost by itself. I give a light push to the right with my left hand to initiate the flip.



This is actually in a different gybe but is the next step where I have reached under to grab the other side of the boom and I am letting go with the old front hand. Body still leaning in. Weight on the balls of my feet. Rig weightless. Starting to flatten board out to widen turn radius as speed bleeds off.



Rig just coming into the hands. Board still gliding. weight still forward and on the toes. About to sink down, sheet in and move feet to new tack:



This is a light wind, marginal planing conditions gybe on a largish board (for me) ISonic 111 with a 6.6m KA Koncept set a bit full for marginal conditions. My high wind Alpha technique is much the same but a bit faster and more aggressive. (And I recon I am better on the other tack ;-)

OK. I have hung it all out there now. Fire away.....

A good point Gestalt. I have tried both ways and this works best for me for a couple of reasons.
1. I use and underhand grip with the front hand and this is where the hand ends up naturally when you reach under so there is no need to change grip as you sail away.
2. More importantly, reaching under keeps the shoulders and upper body leaning into the turn. To reach over tends to make you raise the right shoulder and lean back.

I just discovered that Crispy took some videos as well. Ummm... maybe I will put them up somewhere if I can figure out how.

By the way Gestalt. That gybe entry in your avatar is very nice. Obviously the first part of a very nice gybe!

sailquik said...

Notice that old front hand has overgrip, and the new front hand has undergrip. This technique stops your elbows knocking together as you flip, and allows you to grab the new side easily.
This is one of the main tips that helped me.

One tip for planing out that I discovered a couple of days ago is this:
REALLY lean down on the boom as you go through the carve (just before the flip).
This keeps the nose down, and on a slalom board it loses almost no speed (well it feels like that anyway!)

Here is how you do it!



Snides.. #2 in de world at Alphas

Sailquik #1 in de world at alphas

decrepit said...

sailquik said...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I have read all this thread but I was reluctant to comment because according to all the 'expert' instructors I do it all wrong.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

You'll get no argument from me, my gybes are very similar, being mainly a wave sailor, but it's the only gybe I know at speed, I only use a "step gybe" when underpowered and can't plane thru the gybe.

And nobody can argue with your alphas, the numbers say it all.
Be interesting to see what numbers the "experts" could come up with!

interesting thing decrep is the slalom racers usually "only" do the step gybe, and they are unbelievably fast through the gybes too.