Most ppl when they Learn to windsurf are taught in light winds to use the sail to turn the board. You need to change to a "surfing" view that you use the boards momentum and the rails to turn. the sails just there to add power when needed. In a perfect gybe the sail feels almost weightless on the rotation

As mentioned before it all come down to timing :)

Timing is determined by your board speed - keep the speed up and you have a lot of time - stall the board and you have no time

To keep board speed up bend those knees and get weight forward - the more you push the sail away from you the the better your stance will be .

Get the board working first then the timing for the sail will follow naturally.

Thanks again everyone for your gybe tips, i have been out a couple of times on my 86 litre board . My foot change seems to have improved and I am turning the board better. However I still fall in, once I flick the rig. I think I am conditioned to drop in the water after 20 years of sailing & not turning around. Anyhow I will persevere.

if you fall in upwind it is because you need to drag the mast and the boom more to the other side of the board when you do the rig flip, also try and bend the knees more and stay low, will give you more stability.

Select to expand quote

Dogged said..
Thanks again everyone for your gybe tips, i have been out a couple of times on my 86 litre board . My foot change seems to have improved and I am turning the board better. However I still fall in, once I flick the rig. I think I am conditioned to drop in the water after 20 years of sailing & not turning around. Anyhow I will persevere.

Yes, persevere with it. You will be surprised one day when you suddenly make a perfect one, and not even know what had happened. That I believe is "experience". Because you had made mistakes, perhaps too many of it, just like myself in those "painful" days, those mistake are actually your "investment". You invested enough hard work into it, and one day, you find yourself coming out positive, and planing gybes are your friends!

I tend to believe your brain and your muscles become conditioned to the moves. When that happens, you don't even think about what you are doing anymore. Think of driving a manual car...with all the gear changes, steering, brakes, clutch, etc. Then above all, you still need to watch where you are going ! But you don't give it a second thought about all that.

By the way, I have noticed most people failed at the last moment, before they do the sail change. They tend to straighten their bodies rather than leaning into the turn. The moment they straighten up, their weight is transferred to the back of the board.. The board no longer carves and sinks. Once its speed is gone, it is no longer a planing gybe.

The most important element, in my humble opinion, is SPEED. So you need to have a fearless attitude because you can have some rather nasty falls.

make sure just before you flip the rig that you let your front hand slip right to the front of the boom near the mast. If you don't do this the rig will be too far away from you once you have flipped the rig which can mean you'll fall in.

Plenty of speed, angle the board downwind instead of across wind before starting the gybe.
Committing the rail by getting you back foot out of the straps, forward and across.
Keep low and drive the board through a wide arc instead of a tight turn on the tail.
Flip the rig after the 180 degrees off wind when the sail feels light.
keep low and power up the sail as you switch your feet.

Like this...
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Laydown-Gybes/#1619852