I'm an beginner/intermediate windsurfer and I'm looking to improve my gybes, been doing some research and there seems to be many way to get a similar outcome. Such as duck gybes, and gybes with a rig flip etc... Is there are particular type that is best? Duck gybes look quick and easier... And I plan on giving them a crack this weekend.

Hi L & L , I'm intermediate too. I still don't find Duck gybing that easy , there is a tendency for the Boom head to clip the water unsuspectingly throwing you forward missile like and it's a little off putting. But give them a go it feels great when you pull one off and I found it seemed to help with normal gybing also.
There are a lot more informed windsurfers who have posted in the past technique tricks on this site ,you just have to find them in the forum search box.
Good Lux

I reckon laydown gybes look the best.
Not as fast as a normal planing gybe but definitely worth a couple of street cred points when executed in front of your mates
Or you could really raise the bar with a vulcan

They look Phat !!! Something to aim for, The recent Green Island thread has some great shots L & L.

There's one called the failed Gybe.which l do a lot of.

a lot depends on the conditions, smooth versus choppy, powered up against underpowered, different gybes for different conditions.
When very well powered up you need to kill the sails power, oversheeting and or laying it down. Under powered you need to keep the power on as much as possible. In the smooth you can really crank it generate huge Gs. In chop I'm not sure, my gybes don't work in chop, but I'm more successful doing step gybes than strap to strap in chop, I think it keeps more rail in the water.

I find it nearly impossible to get my back foot out of the strap in strong conditions.

Then sheeting in to kill the power - that is pulling backhand in and pushing front hand out.

Then applying enough pressure on the rail with both my legs to stop the board bouncing.

Just one bounce of the board during a gybe and basically your gybe becomes non planing.

Try to fully rotate your sail whilst your board is facing 45 degrees downwind.

The oldish guy down at Melville yesterday on a Windtec and Reflex sail - now those were the best,tightest gybes I've seen in many a year.

not what i was expecting

^^^
Thats the kind I do ,
I would prefer the drier kind
Some flattish water for a change would be good.

Seriously though learning to gybe (any type) is hard work. Here's a few articles on duck gybing and carve gybing from Peter Hart (Windsurf magazine) that give some good tips:
www.windsurf.co.uk/peter-hart-duck-for-glory/
www.windsurf.co.uk/carve-gybing-the-power-and-the-glory/

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Mobydisc said..

That would be mine!

Awesome. Thanks so much for the tips. :-)

Jetlag's screamer is one of the best ones I've seen caught on camera.
Kudos to Jason for the pic.

Guy Cribb's DVD describes the step gybe - the most important kind of carve gybe. Trictionary 3 describes all gybe variations (and every other windsurfing move) in excruciating detail.

Back in the day we all wanted to do the "no-handed gybe". But then we didn't have a lot to go on, "Trade Winds" was about the only movie around.

I think with these new-fangled sails I need to learn the laydown gybe.




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top stuff agrid...some great sailing ....for that time...love the booms

When you are learning the duck gybe isn't there a bigger risk of nose damage to the board? You are throwing the mast over the nose instead of the clew, so if it hits.....

Is it just me, or are those booms awfully high?

you are right mr milk ...learning ducks i done my board nose in a few times ...


yes mr cranky those booms are high ,hows those floppy harness lines ...

thing is... they still all sail pretty good ...i think todays gear might be a little better .

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petermac33 said..
I find it nearly impossible to get my back foot out of the strap in strong conditions.

Then sheeting in to kill the power - that is pulling backhand in and pushing front hand out.

Then applying enough pressure on the rail with both my legs to stop the board bouncing.

Just one bounce of the board during a gybe and basically your gybe becomes non planing.

Try to fully rotate your sail whilst your board is facing 45 degrees downwind.

The oldish guy down at Melville yesterday on a Windtec and Reflex sail - now those were the best,tightest gybes I've seen in many a year.

I'm the oldish guy believe me it's the Windtech not the sailor

Forget duck gybes.. IMO.. They are more of a trick than a useful gybe.. Lay down gybes are worth learning.

One thing I hate about doing duck gybes is getting stuck.. like I did at the end of this vid..

I made this vid a while ago showing that stand up paddle boards work ok for windsurfing.

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Outraged said..

petermac33 said..
I find it nearly impossible to get my back foot out of the strap in strong conditions.

Then sheeting in to kill the power - that is pulling backhand in and pushing front hand out.

Then applying enough pressure on the rail with both my legs to stop the board bouncing.

Just one bounce of the board during a gybe and basically your gybe becomes non planing.

Try to fully rotate your sail whilst your board is facing 45 degrees downwind.

The oldish guy down at Melville yesterday on a Windtec and Reflex sail - now those were the best,tightest gybes I've seen in many a year.

I'm the oldish guy believe me it's the Windtech not the sailor

Is it one of the new WTs ?
Or which one

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Tardy said..
yes mr cranky those booms are high ,hows those floppy harness lines ...

Ironic since now it's high boom for everything, except for wave sailing (where it's as low as possible).

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MrCranky said..

Tardy said..
yes mr cranky those booms are high ,hows those floppy harness lines ...

Ironic since now it's high boom for everything, except for wave sailing (where it's as low as possible).

The one thing that does stand out was how far up the mast tracks where at the front of the board . in them days ..which probably made them easier to gybe .?
we have come a long ways ...I just do normal gybes ..with as much speed through the gybe as possible ,it's still a blast coming out of one at full speed .
don't forget the good old tack ..sometimes a must getting up wind in tight spots .even on a 100 litre board ..
i try and do one every season so you don't loose the nack .

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BSN101 said..

Outraged said..

petermac33 said..
I find it nearly impossible to get my back foot out of the strap in strong conditions.

Then sheeting in to kill the power - that is pulling backhand in and pushing front hand out.

Then applying enough pressure on the rail with both my legs to stop the board bouncing.

Just one bounce of the board during a gybe and basically your gybe becomes non planing.

Try to fully rotate your sail whilst your board is facing 45 degrees downwind.

The oldish guy down at Melville yesterday on a Windtec and Reflex sail - now those were the best,tightest gybes I've seen in many a year.

I'm the oldish guy believe me it's the Windtech not the sailor

Is it one of the new WTs ?
Or which one

The new Wintech 72

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Outraged said..

BSN101 said..

Outraged said..

petermac33 said..
I find it nearly impossible to get my back foot out of the strap in strong conditions.

Then sheeting in to kill the power - that is pulling backhand in and pushing front hand out.

Then applying enough pressure on the rail with both my legs to stop the board bouncing.

Just one bounce of the board during a gybe and basically your gybe becomes non planing.

Try to fully rotate your sail whilst your board is facing 45 degrees downwind.

The oldish guy down at Melville yesterday on a Windtec and Reflex sail - now those were the best,tightest gybes I've seen in many a year.

I'm the oldish guy believe me it's the Windtech not the sailor

Is it one of the new WTs ?
Or which one

The new Wintech 72

Great to hear, thanks.

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Mr Milk said..
When you are learning the duck gybe isn't there a bigger risk of nose damage to the board? You are throwing the mast over the nose instead of the clew, so if it hits.....

I was afraid of that. I even taped a dorky piece of pool noodle to the nose when I started them, but the mast never went anywhere near the nose. It always drops to the inside.
I suppose you could mess up throwing the sail over your shoulder. If you do it too late you won't be able to throw it into the wind. Then you might conceivably just pull it back so it falls on the nose.

A slam gybe's a pretty easy and safe gybe to learn, functional too.
You can get around without losing way downwind almost as well as a tack.

That guy with the pink sail and the short shorts seems to know what he is doing. Check out the one-handed duck gybes and how quickly he gets form boom to boom.

I'm finding the duck gybe real difficult these days, I reckon its because modern sails have so much shape the just keeps going when I let go. Also the foot smacks me in the face. I'd like to do one good one to see what sort of GPS alpha I can get. Maybe this summer.

Interesting comment about the position of the mast track. I reckon that was the thing that took most to get used to when I came back after a 20 year layoff.