clues on clew position in jibe

[whitenucks]

I really appreciate all of the excellent feedback Ive gotten on when to flip the sail in a jibe, and Ill be taking those ideas with me to Hatteras for practice sessions this week and hopefully, finally master the jibe. One more question, though,if you will. What is the proper position of the clew of the sail,or rather, the butt end of the boom, as you move through a jibe? Ive noticed that some sailors seem to carry it higher than others. Once I got it too high and got hit with an unexpected duck jibe. When flipping the sail finally, does the boom ever point straight up in that process ? Should one keep the clew higher to sail the board around in lower wind? All feedback would be much appreciated.

[isobars]

What Phil said ... plus it varies with entry speed. When powered up, we thrust the mast forward as far as our front arm can extend at the same time we swing the mast into the turn a bit (more if were overpowered) and oversheet. This does raise the clew, but thats only because its attached to the rig. Then we spin the sail as Phil said, about its natural axis of rotation (dont search for that precise axis; itll take care of itself when we throw the boom away and throw the mast across our face).

If the boom were pointing straight up .... where does that leave the mast? Worse yet, where does that put the boom after it has rotated 180 degrees? Nope, the boom and mast form sort of a Y as the rig spins, with the mast and boom forming the arms of the Y and the axis of rotation forming the leg/base of the Y.

And, yes, when using sail power to jibe (when underpowered and barely ... if at all ... planing, we tilt the rig WAY outside the turn for maximum leverage.

And a word of advice: We all thoughtat your stage that this next trip to Paradise will cement our jibes. Yup .... thought that for scores of trips over many years, then one season they finally began to click. My point?Dont set your hopes too high, and you can avoid some of the extreme frustration, disappointment, screaming, cursing, crying, mass murdering, and total beserk fury and self-doubts we all went through. And, no, you will not be the exception. Only a handful of the millions of windsurfers out there were, and the odds youre one of them are abouta handful of millions: a handful.

Just go to Paradise, play long and hard, try to jibe every time you get solidly powered, and one of these years youll start planing through them fairly often. Then youll try them in the real world (i.e., chop and swell), and youl be back to ground zero because all that flat water let you get away with straight knees.

Mike \m/

[whitenucks]

Thanks to both of you guys for the excellent feedback. I see that I need to focus on the axis of rotation, rather than the position of the clew, and that this will change with conditions. I also particularly appreciate the honest admission about how hard it was for you to learn the jibe. Even though people tell me I learned to sail pretty quick, have a knack for the sport, its been so hard to learn the jibe, Ive started to doubt I have any talent for it at all, and it really helps to hear that others have gone through the same frustrations, and that I need to hang in there (with knees bent) and trust in the process, rather than inisiting that I have to suddenly start jibing perfectly on this trip.I see now that that expectation is just a set-up for frustration, and I get to sail so infrequently that it could cause me to want to drop out of the sport. So, thanks again for the good technical information and also for covering the psychological side of the street. On this trip Ill be working on the jibe, but more importantly enjoying the sailing.