This was not only helpful as a windsurfer learning, but also as someone who is always trying to help friends jibe better, eye opener for some things to look out for and ways to help them!
Very nice, thanks a lot Nico. Can't wait to get back out there when it warms up a bit. One thing I will try is, as you state in the end, you want the shortest amount of time without pressure in the sail. You seem to pull very briefly on the boom with the right arm at 21:33 when moving your back foot to front, then let go of the sail. This likely helps in keeping the board moving for the final few meters onto the new tack, right? I'm saying this as it's the point I often loose speed and end up turning upwind as a consequence. Thanks.
Have a great year ahead and thanks for sharing the "how to not entertain a Jibe" video which puts the angle to what to avoid and progress from there. If I am not mistaken one could keep the speed by sailing clew first longer in light wind conditions. My key take aways were: get low to go(bending the knees), step more forward onto the board when switching the stance and maintain the railward pressure at all times for a smooth arc from downwind to downwind.
My Mistral Energy (same age as you 😉) is a beast in the jibes. You know, if you remember, it is much smaller on the tail. But you did a good job even with your 8.2 race sail. Any advice for me?
This was very helpful. I can see some of my own mistakes from the past and present in the student videos. I've been trying to learn to switch my feet first before flipping the sail, but it's hard after spending the last 30 years switching my feet after the sail flip. I can see the obvious benefits though. One thing I noticed is that almost everyone (except that Danish sailor and you) tends to let the sail pull them off balance downwind during the sail flip. I've struggled with that quite a bit too, but am learning to avoid it. It was good to see Lucas make some progress with that. One key way to avoid getting pulled off balance (I've learned) is to slide your front hand all the way to the mast before flipping the sail.
PS: 👍🏼 for Lukas/Lucas really good improvement in your jibes and a very nice share waves session with Nico (despite the cold weather in Northern Germany 🥶)
Hi Nico, really helpful video and I'm loving this new format!! This is extremely useful! One wish for 2022: please do a similar video also for the waterstart! Thank you, Chris
Awesome tips!! Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!! Shout out to Lucas for improving so much in 1 hour. It took me like 10 hours of gybing to improve like That!! Happy new year Nico!! Hope to see you in Viana do Castelo this year!!
Thanks for the tips on my gybe Nico, you are completely right and I do struggle with the control when its more choppy. The radius tips are also very useful.
Most carve jibe tutorials on youtube recommend to set the back foot towards the back of the board and then put the front foot in front of it ("heel to toe") when making the switch. You recommend to put the back foot behind the front footstrap to engage the whole rail. Is that only a good technique for big boards? It would be hard to change the technique depending on board size.
Firstly thank you for your great channel. So entertaining and professionally done (I am a camera editor for BBC news). My question is about the carve gybe. I usually grab the new side of the boom with an overhand grip. Some other instructors (Guy Cribb) say underhand grip uses stronger muscles to flip the sail. I find it puts my wrist in an arkward position. I wondered what your take on this is. I notice you do both, is it boom height that influences your choice or the sail size? BTW I am 66 but sail and ski with friends who are much younger. I still feel in my head like I'm 35 (I try to avoid mirrors), and a lot of this is due to windsurfing. It's so good for your mental and physical state😊
Lovely instructional video, explain all my mistakes! Mystery why I am loosing a speed during gybe resolved. Hopefully I could remember all those tips next time on the water, as soon as tomorrow I hope.
I'm trying to understand the foot switch. The common advise is, that you step down with your back foot, then step down with your front foot IN FRONT of the back foot with it's heel to the toes. But I see Nico and some others do it opposite: Stepping down with the back foot, and placing the front foot BEHIND the back foot in the switch. Any right or wrong - pros and cons here? All the best Per - Denmark
Thank you Nico - great stuff to improve. Do you think it is also helpfull if I pull up a bit the front foot witch is still in the foot strap? - While not giving too much pressuere with the back foot into the board / rail??? My local windsurfing dealer (with nearly 70 years) gave me this tipp. And he also said, that I can try to learn it onto the grass first for better balancing. Do you agree with that?
Hi Nico! I see that you put your carving foot quite forward to engage the rail, and then the new back foot *behind* as you switch feet. Other tutos do it the other way (carving foot not as far forward, new back foot *forward* when switching). What do recommend for someone learning to carve jibe? Many thanks for all the amazing videos and best wishes!!
That was very help- and insightfull! As they say: you learn most from your (or other's) mistakes and I saw quite a few of my own errors in these example video's. Sure hope there will be a follow up in the future. Happy new year!
Thanks Nico for the detailled analysis. I recognize some of my postures in the video, so I'm eager to have it tested asap. Happy new year to you too, and looking forward for new interesting videos.
Thanks for this video, its extremely helpful!! I am refining my jibes, and so many of the things you are talking about are things I am currently working on, yesterday I was able to do more planing jibes than I have ever done in one session before. This is by doing most if not all the things you are talking about. Excellent format for a video tutorial, I really enjoyed it. One thing that might be worth a mention is how to read the wind going into a jibe, especially in gusty conditions, if the wind is not there at the end of the jibe, that is not going to get you out planing. I am interested to hear what your visual check on the "pre-jibe" wind is.
Truly excellent tutorial. You are addressing a large audience as the majority sails with Freeride boards at moderate windspeeds. I very much like the "how not to do" approach... I noticed that when changing the feet you are moving your foot behind the other foot rather than heel to toe. Is that specific to large boards?
Absorbing the chop is a great tip. I know how important that is because one of my knees is fixed due to an operation. For me, gybing will always be a great challenge. But with your other tips i can improve my technique. Thanks and have a great year.
Great explanation. Such a tricky maneuver but great when it succeeds. Another tip for the shoulders, look in the direction you want to go and not at your hands.
Nico, thanks so much for the video! The tip about the back foot closer to the front foot strap was so crucial for my exit part. Once again , thank you. I really appreciate what you are doing for us.
Fantastic format! Watching intermediate windsurfers jibe and getting immediate analysis of their mistakes has really helped me see where I need to make adjustments. Over the Winter I have set up a dry land rig in my garage using the bottom section of a mast, a boom and a rope to tension the boom. I use this daily to practice my sail rotations and foot transitions on the board to hopefully build some muscle memory for when I get out on the water again. The lakes here in British Columbia 🇨🇦 are frozen solid. I hate Winter🥶 I knew I should have become a videographer rather than a teacher😆
Super content 👌. I'm struggling with my jibes when I do the sail rotation. Should I have my body close to the boom in the moment when I rotate the sail? Thanks again for a very good video 👍
Hi Nico, a huge Thank You since I passed my first Carve Jibe Yesterday. Your videos have been very helpfull. Can't wait for the next one-s (jibes and vids).
Very very good analyze of the most difficult steps of the planning jibe. In fact it is a very complex movement and one single fail can effect much and influence the movement of the jibe... After your active race time you should teach the teachers of windsurfing.
Great video Nico!! My takeaway, bend the knee MORE :) , I will focus on that because my problem sometimes is that I hit the back of the chop in front of me and I more or less stop... Thx, greetz Lucas
Common mistake is that people dont look over their shoulder when they are half way. Your head is looking in the direction you want to go. Don 't look at your sail! Especially the second part of the jibe. None of the windsurfers in this video do this right. Only Nico does it the right way off course 😉
Good video. I'm struggling trying to fix 30 years of bad habits. I can do planing gybes in the flat but as you say bad habits cause issues in chop. I always bend my front arm plus stand up on the rig flip .I'm concentrating on staying low , looking at the exit and trying to let the mast drop into the turn on the entry. I'm gradually improving but I think I'm trying to fix too many things at once! During lockdown I did dryland practise with a rig on the board but you can't practice the bit I need to do which is entering at speed and coming across to initiate the carve .
Poor lukas, great effort, not only unlearning his foot position but having to explain in a foreign language. As an englishman with a smattering of foreign language skills I am always impressed by every other person on the planet that can converse well in their non native tongue. Excellent video and great tips.
Great video. Quite often I have heard that you should change your feet "heel to toe", meaning that when you change your feet you put your new back foot just in front of you rail foot. I saw that you put your rail foot quite far to the front of the board and, when changing feet, you put your new back foot behind the rail foot. Is this your recommended way or does it depend on circumstances like flat water, choppy water, slalom sail and that kind of thing?
Hi Nico. Thanks for the video. Could you make some video comparing the isonic to futura or another slalom board versus freerace/free ride with cambed sail and not cambed? Could be interesting because sometimes people like me want the same equipment than pwa people and almost all the time i only need early planning and plane with less wind possible and confort and dont need top speed… thanks!
The most important part is sheeting in by having the back hand further back. This way you put a lot of pressure on the mast foot and therefore keep the board flat and in control. Especially in choppy conditions. And bend your knees! I still suck at jibing, because I'm stupid :D
Great video! Really interesting to see how intermediate windsurfers all make the same mistakes: 1) weight too far back. 2) straight legs. 3) sail closed and leaning into the corner. 4) lack of commitment in the exit phase. Best way to learn jibing is to jibe around a mark/buoy/floater, even better if following a (expert) coaching buddy.
For sure the full planing jibe is almost a dark art 🙂 That last section when flipping the sail is always where the speed goes and the balance becomes more tricky 🙂 real speed and flat water do make this a lot simpler.
watched the video yesterday, made my first power jibes today! soo cool thank you🤩 really helpful how you described every small movement together with the video material! Keep going!
A lot of your subjects seemed to be holding the boom too close to the body, as opposed to keeping it at arm's length - especially the front arm. This will not only maintain more mast-foot pressure but also effectively slow that part of the transition down and then not give the board nearly as much tendency to turn quickly upwind!
Thank you for this video It’s very nice to see other windsurfers who sails about like us with the same defaults Your tips are very precious to correct them At least, it’s nice to see you as a model You give me the motivation to improve Have a nice year 2022
Yes this is really the sort of thing I like to see. Thanks Nico. More of this would be good. Not yet done a full plane out in chop and it's handy to see what I need to do to improve it.
