Love this sport . . .

[jingebritsen]

those that flip their sail late are doomed in light wind venues. those that flip late in strong winds had better be good at doing the over sheeting thing. other than san fran, pozo, maui in summer, and aruba in old times, few have the luxury of strong, consistent winds.

sorry i didn't indicate the light wind phrase coach. OH, my advice works when it's windy too????????? gee

[coachg]

I'm sure just like me you can jibe & sail away clew first on a plane. Anything you do to keep the board flat increases your chances of staying on a plane. I didn't say that an early flip, or a fast flip doesn't help, only that as long as you keep the board flat & smooth it doesn't care when you flip.

Coachg

[marc5]

Perhaps it's because I'm an old dog and styles were different when I learned, but I heartily endorse jingebritsen's "sail first" jibe. OK, I admit to watching hours of videos of the French team practicing slalom jibes (step first or simultaneous to flip). It works for them and many average Joe sailors, but not for me. I see newer folks working on jibes and struggling with that late sail flip, usually getting backwinded. When I suggest flipping the sail early and then worry about the feet, they suddenly get it.

Sailing switch-foot momentarily followed by that subtle little foot switch keeps the board perfectly calm and can be quite elegant. No big step required. That's why it's also known as the strap-to-strap jibe. There are some nice examples of it on youtube.

Marc

[westender]

Making the same jibe or sail flip every time,,, who does that? Boring!

[cgoudie1]

+2

I agree with John though, late flips cause rounding up.

-Craig

[westender]

Some of the most powerful turns you can make will be clew first exit.

[PeconicPuffin]

If you enter a jibe with good speed and a solid carve with the inside rail engaged, the only reason you wouldn’t plane out is because you waited too long to turn the power back on (ie to flip the sail.) Whether the feet switch before or after the sail flip is a secondary consideration, and each choice has its advantages. Like coachg said, the board doesn’t care. There are plenty of freestyle jibes in which the sailor spins around the front of the mast or never changes his feet or jibes backwinded…if the sail powers up again before the plane is lost, he/she planes out.

Many jibers suffer from what ABK calls “carve fascination”…the sailor rips into the turn, sets the rail, feels the G’s, and takes a few seconds to enjoy that feeling of being oversheeted and cleanly carving. The problem is that to turn the power back on early enough to plane out, the flip needs to be initiated pretty much as soon as the sail is fully sheeted in. (For people who love that carving feeling, there are carve 360’s.) We don’t get to luxuriate in the moment of a high speed entry and solid carve…we have to keep the jibe moving and flip early…we want to catch the sail on a broad reach to maintain speed.

Coachg wrote “Anything you do to keep the board flat increases your chances of staying on a plane” and that’s why switching the feet first is favored when learning, for most conditions. It gets the weight forward earlier so the tail doesn’t dig in and kill the plane. But marc5 is also correct about the quality of the carve switching the feet later “Sailing switch-foot momentarily followed by that subtle little foot switch keeps the board perfectly calm and can be quite elegant.” That’s why duck jibes are so smooth and glorious when done right.

As for rounding up, that’s the sign of a very late sail flip. If you catch the sail after the board has turned 80 or 90 degrees, you’re rounding up.

Here is video of a simple jibe. Note how early the sail flip begins…there is no long drawn out carve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Nlr-Ej92E