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jibing: "speed is your friend". well, sort of.
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watermonkey



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 7:16 pm    Post subject: jibing: "speed is your friend". well, sort of. Reply with quote

After multiple seasons of focusing on sailing as fast as possible on approach ("speed, speed, speed", "speed is your friend", "git er done", etc, etc) I've come to realize that it makes things far worse. Sure, you can't hope to exit planing unless you're well above wind speed on entry, but if you can't make it through footswitch, it doesn't matter. This is particularly the case in rough water - keeping things under control with your back foot across the board, unhooked, back-hand-back in bumpy water and preparing for entry is that much harder. That is, it keeps you from focusing on the upcoming steps. (assume finding sufficiently flat water isn't an option).

So I backed off to slightly-faster-than-planing and focused on staying low, staying sheeted in and trying to jam my front knee into the sail. This allowed me to determine that I wasn't staying sheeted in and I was too far back...riding the fin, reaching for max speed, oddly enough - I couldn't for the life of me get my weight forward. Now I'm finally working my way through footswitch...not every time, but way more than never-getting-there. Sure, I'm close to DOA in the water after the switch, but I'm not getting ejected on a sloppy entry (backwards!), either. Less abuse on one jibe = more success on subsequent attempts. I also managed just once (infinitely more than never) to get everything right, fully set the downwind rail and knife right though chop. Holy Smooth Carve, Batman.

The other thing that occurred to me is that by having a lower entry speed, you're forced to be smoother on approach in order to maintain as much of that reduced speed as you can. "Slow down to speed up", as they say in other pursuits.
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manuel



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I agree. I try to look for flat water (in between waves or a wave to push off of) and not be overpowered before committing, this is critical to improve success rate.

There are two main actions to achieve at the jibe, feet switch and sail flip.

Switching feet is easier on flat water, sail flip is easier when correctly powered where sheeting in is easier.

Speed helps with sail flip (no power in the sail) but it requires faster correction and chop eating stamina in the knees which only comes with experience.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 8:56 am    Post subject: Re: jibing: "speed is your friend". well, sort of. Reply with quote

watermonkey wrote:
if you can't make it through footswitch, it doesn't matter. This is particularly the case in rough water - keeping things under control with your back foot across the board ... back hand back ... working my way through footswitch ...

... and your front foot partially removed so its heel crosses the centerline, AND its ankle plantarflexed to drive its strap upwards (!) or our knees forward AND the old back foot stepped forward at a certain canned moment in each jibe ... $#!+, my legs and feet ain't that smart to begin with, and puttin' them five feet away from my brain compounded the matter.

Thus the far simpler, more universally applicable jibe approach I used, which incorporates Ye Olde Fashioned Steppe Jibe when appropriate and without having to be a champion Irish step dancer. In fact, at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgGAzBDE454 is a step jibe instruction video from the instructors of a leading windsurfing camp, the very appropriately named Riverdance Clnic.
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B737



Joined: 27 Mar 2009
Posts: 216
Location: Jersey Shore

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 9:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

im with ya monkey!
im totally ok with jibing to a stand still as long as i can sail off and not fall in! Smile
the speed will come later... maybe

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winfreak



Joined: 26 Apr 2001
Posts: 61
Location: Oregon Coast

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 11:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is all music to my ears!
You'll see what I mean eventually... Idea Exclamation

(user driven innovation is what we do at Disruptive Wind) Smile
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 12:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

B737 wrote:
im totally ok with jibing to a stand still as long as i can sail off and not fall in!

Great attitude for one's peace of mind, but not one conducive to progressing past that point. It's a personal choice; we gotta really want it -- or find and take some serious pro lessons -- to graduate to fast, fully planing jibes, especially as terrain builds and volume sinks. They don't get handed out free at the store for ordinary sailors like myself and, apparently, you.
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PeconicPuffin



Joined: 07 Jun 2004
Posts: 1830

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

B737 wrote:
im with ya monkey!
im totally ok with jibing to a stand still as long as i can sail off and not fall in! Smile
the speed will come later... maybe


Speed will not come later if the jibe you are developing is the low speed don't fall in jibe. Planing jibes require that you accelerate the board as you initiate the carve. It's unnerving at first, but necessary. If you are focused on managing your speed (ie not trying to go fast) you won't have enough board speed to flip and catch the sail while still planing. It's over.

Regarding speed: You need to be in control of the board. If you are going fast and the board is not in full control, you're either on too big a board for the conditions or need to work on your speed skills. If you're in a mad gust you can head upwind a bit to gain control (not to bleed speed) and then initiate your carve from the upwind reach. If you are lit and near tailwalking...that's not when you initiate a jibe.

Some people give up on the planing jibe. You can certainly enjoy windsurfing without it. But if you want to plane through them (it's great fun) you must get used to a little fear as you bear off...trying to accelerate, not slow down...and begin your carve. Rough water is not the best place to practice, but if that's what you have, then pick a path between the bumps, get your hips well forward and into the turn, and try to sit on your ankles (not really, but deep knee bending to the point that your eyes are at boom level or lower)will help you keep control as you shoot through chop.

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http://www.peconicpuffin.com
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keycocker



Joined: 10 Jul 2005
Posts: 3598

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 1:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are overpowered it is much more important to over sheet.
It helps also to head off partly before beginning the jibe.
On a downwind leg the pressure in tne sail eases off.
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watermonkey



Joined: 16 May 2003
Posts: 108

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My goal is a planing exit...neglected to say that up front.

My assertion is that it makes more sense to get through a given step then add speed, rather than the other way around. Obviously, there's some minimal speed for a jibe to work at all (I'm talking powered, not light-wind), but I think that getting to max speed as a prerequisite for everything else is overkill and can be pretty counterproductive. Instead, you work your way up to it: setup, then setup with more speed; followed by entry, then entry with more speed; then... This incremental approach (skill, then speed) is standard stuff for pretty much anything else - I don't see why it wouldn't apply to this sport.
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It applies, but it's also all relative. A slower entry demands greater jibing skills because it is less tolerant of mistakes or lost speed. A jibe is an aggressive maneuver, in the sense that if we aren't committed to it, it's not going to happen regularly. Trying to stay dry is not conducive to learning to plane through jibes; like entering the deep end of the pool from the side, we're either in or we're out. Sticking a toe or a foot in neither counts nor helps in the deep end, and sailing upright, ready to abort to avoid a fall, neither counts nor helps much with learning to jibe.

Take the carve, for example. People often say -- correctly, I believe -- that until we can crank the board HARD through 180 degrees into a full in-the-face backwinded sail, we ain't ready to sweat the small stuff like sail handling and footwork. That's because unless we know how to jibe the board, there's no point jibing anything else.

Generally, people who can't go fast also lack confidence and skills important to planing through jibes. If we're out of control going in, this question arises: is it because even the good sailors would be out of control in those conditions, or is it because we're not yet a good sailor? The former was addressed by the Puffin; the latter means we should develop greater reaching skills before we should expect much jibing success.

A Gorge local who sailed short boards every windy summer day once asked me to teach him to jibe. I had to break it to him that he must learn to plane first; he'd sheet out and lose his plane every time he accidentally got planing. It frightened him.

Mike \m/
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