A lot of people in see having trouble learning to gybe are hanging onto the sail too long. Give a couple of pumps, crank into the turn, slide your front hand forward, let go with the back hand, be smooth and see if you can clean up the mess.

When I was learning to gybe, I wasn't carving fast enough and when I was about to flip the sail, I lost board speed and was not planing anymore, because I waited too long to get into position. I then though to myself, when I unhook out of the harness lines, get into position and carve that board as fast as I can to get that gybe over with and that's when it all changed for me. Now I look forward to gybing, because I get in position and crank it out as fast as I can. It's like wamm, bam boom it's done. After getting that psychological image in my head, along with learning the skills, oh man that's when the gybe really came to life for me.

I can honestly say windsurfing is like learning to play a musical instrument out on the water. Then whole rig is your instrument. I think I named my gybe, the Wamm, Bam Boom, and I play it the same every single time like clock work. When the waves are bigger, I just think about, that I'm playing for a bigger crowd. Haaaa.

Gybing is like trying to stay in control on ice that has lumps and bumps all over it. Not only you are skidding almost out of control, you also have a raft of tangling bits to take care of. The rig, the board, the foot straps, then of course, the wind !

It has to be the hardest thing to learn, I believe. To do it right, you need to be able to break down each stage of a gybe, and learn to do it well and most importantly, confidently. If you are able to do each bits well, and even better, if you can put it all together to form an entire package, ie. a successful gybe, then you are a hero.

Unfortunately, you need to be a "ZERO" for a very long time before you even get near enough to be a "sub-hero". Practice and be patience. Most importantly, be persistent. Like the cosmetic adverts said:

"It won't happen overnight....But it will happen".

The carve gybe is a just a bottom turn with a rig flip and foot change. If OP can bottom turn well, he will carve gybe within one season (seeing how he lives in WA).

Select to expand quote

MrCranky said..
The carve gybe is a just a bottom turn with a rig flip and foot change.

Or from an ex surfers perspective, a back hand slash / cutback with a rig flip, foot change thrown in. Though occasionally it's sometimes hard to remember the last part

Select to expand quote

PhilSWR said..

MrCranky said..
The carve gybe is a just a bottom turn with a rig flip and foot change.

Or from an ex surfers perspective, a back hand slash / cutback with a rig flip, foot change thrown in. Though occasionally it's sometimes hard to remember the last part

When really powered up I keep both feet in the straps until I'm on the new tack.

Not bad instructional videos