Has anyone any tips for gybing in lighter winds with a big (6.2m) wing ? . It feels heavy and drops rather than being held up by the wind . I also feel I am overtaking the wind . Any useful tips to help would be appreciated.

try this :-)

This is my default light wind and DW jibe.
When DW it is very normal to overtake the wing if you carve down a fast one and the wind is not too strong or drops.
The Heineken jibe posted previously and the Laydown also work (and look way cooler) but this one is easier and more reliable for me.

My problem with 6.5 Slick is that wing has so much inertia, turning so slow, I already exited jibe but wing is not flipped yet, so board is losing speed and fall of the foil.

Same problem with big windsurf sails in light wind, start wing flip SOONER, and turn sharper, so some breeze is on the wing.

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motogon said..
My problem with 6.5 Slick is that wing has so much inertia, turning so slow, I already exited jibe but wing is not flipped yet, so board is losing speed and fall of the foil.

The Gong light wind jibe vid i posted should help you.

It moves the wing up and outside the turn on the first half turn and then down and ahead of you in the second half.

This keeps the tail of the boom away from water, gets the wing out of your turning path and the up/outside-down/forward motion keeps air flowing through the wing and aligns it nicely in the new tack.

It is like you are flapping the wing from the front handle to keep it flying.

Give some practice, it is very reliable in iffy conditions.

In light winds with my 6, I bring my leading hand up to over my head and then flick-push the wing with my back hand. So that the wing turns while being in a neutral position (much like the Gong video above), except for the added flick, so it's slightly more "active" than that the Gong technique.

I've noticed Heineken also flick-pushes with his back hand, althoug it's more of a finesse than a strong movement. Before jibing, he will change the grip on his back hand and very gently hold the wing with his fingers and then finesses it around. I've also started doing this in normal conditions. i.e. well powered and on smaller wings. It somehow makes the wing turn very gentle and effortless and if also feels like it gives you a lot of time for the hand switch and grabbing the back handle again.

HTH.

Lay down jibe works best with big wing, light wind. No backwinding, and you accelerate going into the jibe.
Gong calls it racing jibe (I think of Heineken jibe as racing jibe).

I go into all my gybes toeside and exit heelside. Going in heelside and exiting toeside messes with my head because 3+ decades of windsurfing gybes it's programmed in to the grey stuff to switch feet mid gybe. As others have described, I think it's useful to go into the turn with some speed with the wing slightly "umbrellad', but when you feel the wing lose lift (because you're going at or faster than windspeed on the downwind part), tighten the turn by rolling weight onto your heels and I also use my back hand to flick the wing into the new position. This has the added effect of twisting (or yawing) the foil around to the other side. The slicks are good as the boom allows you to twist the wing very effectively too.

if you outrun the wind on your jibes, more useful to point the LE into the apparent wind... essentially do some sort of duck jibe. the racing jibe and heineken jibe are variations of this. you can also put the wing over your head and point the LE straight downwind as you enter your jibe... other way to turn around in lighter wind is to tack so your transition increases flow over your wing.

the first transition in this video is where my boat speed is higher than the true windspeed... especially inside where I jibe, so i end up sailing into the apparent wind on the jibe... a regular jibe usually results into the clew dropping and the wing plastering me, so a different technique is required. wind speed was ~13kt gusting ~17kt... lighter inside.



you can also see on this 360 that i'm actually towing the wing behind me when i'm going straight downwind.