Steps to learn a planing Gybe

Hi all,

For those of you who have mastered the Planing Gybe, how did you learn it? what was your progression like ?


Did you practice mostly with a big board ? and for how long?

Did you practice at a location with flat water or any condition of the day?

Did you learn it by yourself or with an instructor?

I am at an intermediate level, can plane comfortably, although not always with both feet in the footstraps, and can do Gybes in non planing conditions.

My usual location unfortunately has rarely flat conditions above 15kts so when I try to practice the moves for a planing Gybe, I really struggle to make any progress with the chop and swell.

I would appreciate any advice you might have, thanks.

Agree with everything Manuel said. If you can make a trip somewhere with flat water/ 15+knots of steady wind it will greatly improve your chances of success in a shorter space of time. Chop makes it much harder to nail them, even when you know how to do them.


Its not necessarily a case of needing to learn to do them on a big board either, the first ones i planed through were on a smaller board, because it made it easy to do strap to strap, which meant less disturbance to the board whilst carving through the turn.

I have the same problem and found that the strap to strap gybe was easier for me on a small board. That's the one I use 100% of the time now.

What really helped me was getting a second hand GoPro, attaching it to the boom, trying to do a lot of gybes and then watching the videos to understand where I was failing. This was a game changer, without that or someone looking at you, it is hard to understand where are you failing because everything goes so fast.

Boards are a bit shorter than they were in the 90s when I cracked gybing on a Bic Veloce 278cm long board (from memory), which reduces the change in angular momentum as you go through the arc. That actually makes it a little harder to get the sail flipped before the board tries to go upwind, so my suggestion is to move the mast foot right to the front of the track.
That will do 2 things for you. It helps keep the board flat on the water so you don't lose speed in the gybe, and coming out of the turn the board won't want to go upwind as much.

Do a multi-day windsurfing camp with a great teacher. I always sailed in chop, and never got close to a planing jibe on my own. The first time I planed out of a jibe was in a private lesson, but I rarely not reproduce it afterwards. I eventually took a 5-day ABK Boardsports camp in Bonaire, planed out of jibes after a couple of days, and many times after. I still struggle with incorrect " muscle memory" from many years of trying on my own, so I sometime mess up jibes when I don't concentrate, and the conditions are not great.

I am a slow learner, and there certainly are many windsurfers who learn faster than I do, and can figure it out on their own. But I have also seen many faster learners learning the jibe in windsurf camps, including my wife. Not only did she (and many others) get the planing jibe very quickly, but she does not even know how to mess up jibes (which is my "superpower"). The great instruction she received when learning to jibe is one big reason she's on the #1 spot in the women's ranking on the GPSTC challenge for alpha, hour, and distance.

Depending on where you are in the world, you may have to take a trip to get to a windsurfing camp, but it's a worthwhile investment in future windsurfing fun.

Three things (repeating some of the above)
- Flat water is your friend. Most people crack the code after going someplace flat and breezy. Smaller boards and sails help, too.
- You likely need more speed than you think. Most people starting out are going way too slow. Jibe in the gusts (assuming they aren't insane) not the lulls.
- Bend the ankles (because most people who think they are bending their knees are just sitting back). The more chop, the more you bend.

The marks of a beginning jiber (because we've all been there): Putters into the jibe in a lull. Arms close like T-Rex weight back on the tail of the board. Legs either stiff or sitting back looking like about to sit in a chair. Board runs out of energy about dead downwind. Stares at hands, nose of the board or something else other than the exit. If still on the board, pivots out to a reach in the new direction with no speed.

Marks of the competent jiber: finds a gust and bears off. Front arm extended and knees bent keeping weight forward over the front straps. Flips sail without looking at hands. Finishes off bearing away on the other direction until speed is up and back in the straps and harness.

Of course there's more nuance to these steps and there are plenty of tips above and on youtube videos including how/when to step, the sail flip, etc. A planing jibe is just an amazing amount of fun and you'll be amazed at how much time and energy it saves. Absolutely worth every bit of effort you'll put into it. None of us were born knowing how to do it so keep asking questions if/when you hit a rough patch.

The important part is that before you enter the gybe, make sure you look and see that where you plan to gybe is clear of other people. Simple safety that is easy to forget but disastrous if someone else is coming up fast behind you.

When you start off, you can try practising the moves on the beach without the rig. It looks a bit strange but will help your muscle memory when everything happens really quickly on the water. Do it over and over again until it becomes natural.

Something else the other seem to have missed is that to successfully carve gybe and maintain speed through the turn, you need to avoid putting too much weight on the back foot in your endeavours to turn the board from there. Too much weight down the back end will wash off lots of speed and often lead to falling in. Obviously, you don't want all your weight forward, but it is the front section of the rail that should drive the carve. Keep the speed up, it is your friend.

check out the video

Jibing with Alan Cadiz if you can find it

you need to extend the front arm and move your body more forward to keep the board flat and not sink the tail
Seems like you got the last one

Benz the knees, drive forward and look where you want to go. Oh and smile your having fun.

Very interesting discussion. I learned to windsurf in 1982 but my friends and I were totally focussed on wave sailing asap. All we had to learn from was Windsurf magazine and the movie "Trade wind". We were refining technique all the time and ended up in the same place as everyone else. I hear the instruction from pros and it's the same as we ended up doin, but we learned the hard way over years. Sort of highlights that, like a golf swing, there is basically only one way.