Learn how to jibe / gybe a wingfoil

What are the fundamentals of the wingfoiling foil gybe?

So let’s get the basics confirmed. A gybe or jibe (depending on where in the world you are) in wingfoiling is a turn to get you riding in the opposite direction, but it must be performed going down wind. The other type of turn that you could perform is a tack. This is where you turn, but are going up wind. For wingfoiling, the tack is a more advanced move, so we’d suggest nailing the gybe first. Please read on.

What are the benefits of learning to gybe?

• Without having nailed the gybe, you’ll probably be finding yourself falling or jumping off your board when you’re ready to turn around. This isn’t enjoyable and it drains your energy, having to expend energy in getting back on the board, getting up on your feet and potentially pumping the wing and board to get back on foil.
• Once you’ve mastered gybing on the foil you’ll be able to efficiently turn around whislt staying on the foil.
• The motion of carving round with ease on foil and quickly being flying in the opposite direction is one of joy.
• Last but not least, it’s a thing of beauty. You’re friends, family and bystanders will be amazed at what you can do whilst flying above the water on your foil.

What’s the difference between a foiling gybe and a taxiing gybe. A foiling gybe simply means that you stay up on your foil for the complete manoeuvre. A taxiing gybe is where you turn around, but you haven’t risen up onto the foil. The name taxiing comes from an aeroplane taxiing on the runway. When starting to learn the foiling gybe, it’s likely that you will have some of the gybe where you are up on foil and potentially some where you drop down to taxiing. That’s OK, it’s part of the learning process. As you practise more and hone your skills, you’ll spend less time taxiing and more time foiling. At some point, you’ll then be able to foil gybe all the way round and ride out on foil.

The diference between a foiling gybe and a taxi gybe

What’s the difference between a foiling gybe and a taxiing gybe? A foiling gybe simply means you stay up on your foil for the complete manoeuvre. A taxiing gybe is where you turn around, but you haven’t risen up onto the foil. The name taxiing comes from an aeroplane taxiing on the runway. When starting to learn the foiling gybe, it’s likely that you will have some of the gybe where you are up on foil and potentially some where you drop down to taxiing. That’s OK, it’s part of the learning process. As you practise more and hone your skills, you’ll spend less time taxiing and more time foiling. At some point, you’ll then be able to foil gybe all the way round and ride out on foil.

Heelside Vs Toeside Gybes

Within both the gybe and the tack, there are two different approaches. In a toeside gybe, you start with your toes pointing toward the wind (toeside). This stance requires you to carve the board downwind by applying pressure on your toes. In a heelside gybe, you initiate the turn with pressure on your heels, leaning slightly back to steer the board downwind.

If you’re not familar with the diferences of riding switch Vs regular, we’d recommend reading our guide on Riding Regular and Switch.

For both, you can either come in whilst riding regular or riding switch.

Based on this, we effectively have 4 different gybes to learn:

1 – Coming in riding regular and making a toeside gybe and riding out switch.

2 – Coming in riding regular and making a heelside gybe and riding out switch.

3 – Coming in riding switch and making a toeside gybe and riding out regular.

4 – Coming in ridingin switch and making a heelside gybe and riding out regular.

The general consensus is that No.1 from the above (regular toeside gybe) is the easiest to learn first. Due to this, we’ll concentrate on explaining this technqiue within this section.

What equipment is needed to learn to foil gybe in wingfoiling?

When learning to foil gybe, one of the initial considerations is around your equipment you will use when learning this new manoeuvre. It’s wise to consider the size of your foils. It will be easier to learn if you have a nice big front foil that allows you to glide and stay on foil for longer. You should also consider your stabilising foil, as you’ll want to reduce the speed at which your board will rise or dive, giving you more time and control. It’s ideal if you rent or borrow some slightly bigger foils from what you are used to for a session or two when first learning to foil gybe. This will give more time and confidence up on foil when learning.

For your wing, it’s mostly easier to learn with a wing that is slightly too big, than slightly too small. That extra power and ease of generating the power will come in handy.

The usual safety equipment should always be used, especially as you are likely to be falling off more frequently as you learn this new skill.

What are the best conditions to learn to foil gybe in wingfoiling?

Conditions can play a big part in how you progress learning the foil gybe. Strength and consistency are key. You’ll want to choose a day that has decent strength and as consistent as possible. We’d recommend at least 15 kn’s and the appropriate wing size that keeps you powered up.

If you can find a spot that has flatter water, when learning this will reduce the impact that waves and chop has on the foil and increase consistency of foil lift through the turn. The last thing you want when learning is an increase or decrease of lift from a wave or piece of chop that throws you off balance.

When turning and heading downwind, you’ll want to be helped along from the wind, so if you’re in gusty conditions, we’ve recommended trying to turn when the wind is strongest. This can sometimes mitigate your lack of proper technique early on in the learning process.

How to practice a wingfoiling foil gybe on land?

As with a lot of wingfoiling moves, it’s normally a good idea to start with a bit of dry land technique practice, which allows you to become familiar with what happens with the wing and how your body should move within the manoeuvre.

For a gybe, you can move through the process by walking through the turn and understanding where you’ll move your upper body and how you’ll transfer your hands with your wing.

If time allows and you have the equipment, we’d recommend practising your dry land walk through with a slightly smaller wing that you’re likely to go out with. You won’t need the power to keep you afloat and a smaller wing is slightly more manageable.

Find a spot that has some decent consistent wind that doesn’t have any obstacles or obstructions around. Ideally on some soft ground such as sand or grass.

Riding in regular for a toeside gybe – land practice

Start by holding the wing as if you’re riding along across wind in a regular stance, heelside, on your favoured side (goofy or regular), with the wind hitting your back. Remember, the aim is to be able to turn downwind and be riding back the other way.

The first top tip we have is understanding your front hand grip on the handle or boom. The likelyhood is you have been holding both handles with a nuckle up grip (the same as riding a bike or motor bike), this is fine for general riding along. But when gybing, you’ll have the wing rotating around the front handle. We and many others find it much easier to make this rotation by changing the front hand grip to a knuckle down and palm up style grip. So the first recommendation is to change this before you initiate the turn. One way of doing this is changing the angle of the wing so it’s less powered up, then quickly spin your hand around trying to keep some contact and making that movement as quick as possible. Try this a few times to get used to it.

Now as you’re walking slowly in your chosen preferred direction, start to twist your lower body (as if the board was starting to turn) downwind. As you rotate through 90 degrees to the wind, you can let go of your back hand. You will see that the wing naturally turns with the wind and flutters, with your front hand still holding onto the front handle or front part of the boom. It might be a good idea to pause at this point and observe your body positions and the feelings.

Now still holding the front handle with your front hand, look to bring the wing up and slightly above your head. You’re now opening up the space for you to turn effectively underneath your wing.

Continue to walk down wind and turn to the opposite direction of the way you started walking. You’ll notice your front hand and arm start to feel twisted as the wing still flies downwind. At this point swap the front hand over to your other hand, still on the front handle or front of the boom. Having made this swap of hands, your previous back hand will now become your new front hand. Continue walking, so your body is twisted and the front of your chest is now facing up into the wind. Depending on your flexibility, it might feel a bit awkward. This is only natural. You’re now getting into the position of riding switch.

As you continue to walk with your chest facing up wind, you’re now walking in the opposite direction to which you started. By looking up wind in the direction you want to go, it will open up your body into the correction alignment. Your wing should naturally swing round and allow you to grab the back handle or back of the boom with your new back hand.

Congratulations, you’ve successfully gone through a heel to toeside gybe on land!

This is the first type of foil gybe that we recommend to practise. So repeat this multiple times until it becomes familiar and you’re not having to think about positioning and where you need to grab the wing. You could even try with your eyes closed. Once you feel comfortable with that, it’s time to take it to the water.

Riding in regular, for a toe side gybe – water practice

As with all manoeuvres and techniques that you try for the first time, give yourself a bit of a warm up getting used to the conditions you’re out in, the feel of your kit and the ability to loosen up your muscles and get your heart rate comfortable to being increased.

Similar to the land based pratice, we’ll start by riding across wind in a regular stance on your favoured riding stance (goofy or regular), with the wind hitting your back. Then as per the land practice, switch your front hand to a knuckle down and palm up grip.

A must before you go to turn is your safety check. Raise the wing above your head and have a good look around. Spot for any dangers or other people on the water downwind of you. If there are, continue riding until you have a safe zone, or make a safe controlled stop and manually turn your board around. If you’re unfamilar with the safety look, practice this first.

Now try to gain a decent amount of speed (remember it’s your friend!) where you’re still in control, but you will have lots of speed to carry you through the turn. Pulling in on your back hand will power you up and increase your speed as needed.

You’ll also want to initiate the gybe whilst relative high up on your foil. This extra height above the water gives you time to glide around. Over the turn, you’re likely to lose a bit of height. If you start low, then you have less room to move and are more likely to touch down and progress to a taxi. Obviously you don’t want to be right at the max of your mast height as you’re likely to breach your foil when putting it on the slight angle needed to turn. We recommend experimenting with this optimal height with practice.

Now with your head up and looking downwind (look where you want to go!), start to initiate the downwind turn by putting pressure on your toes. The board might have a slight delay in reacting, but it will come. Keep the toe pressure constant throughout the turn (you want to resist putting pressure on and off).

As the board starts glide around and you turn down wind, you can let go of your back hand. Some find it useful to give the handle a slight push down wind or around in order to initiate the rotation of the wing. At this point, you’re not needing any more power from the wing and will be using your momentum and glide from the foil to keep you moving round.

As your wing naturally flutters and flies downwind, move your front hand towards the front of the board, slightly above your head and away from your body. This gives you space for your body to move and lean forward to continue the toe side pressure.

As the board continues to turn around you now want to start looking back to direction in where you came from. Remember, your eyes and head initiate the move and your upper body will follow, then your hips and finally your lower body and feet.

At this point you can initiate the front hand swap. Start to bring the wing around with your front hand and pass it over to your old back hand. Remember, at this point there shouldn’t be any power in the wing and it should feel light. Now with your old back hand, due to turning around, this now becomes your new front hand. For this to happen you will have had to twist you body and start riding in a switch stance.

With that new front hand, bring the wing forward towards the front of the board. Your other hand, your new back hand shouldn’t need to stretch to far in order to reach for the back handle/boom. If you are finding it hard to reach for it, bring the wing further forward. Or you’re trying to grab it too early and you haven’t made enough of the turn yet.

You’re now about to try and ride out of the gybe. This is where being able to ride switch comfortably comes in to play. Most people find once they get to this stage they can only ride out for a brief period and fall off. Don’t worry, that’s natural. But as you practice more, you get more comfortable with switch riding.

Congratulations, you’ve successfully gone through a heel to toe side gybe on the water!

Well if you managed to do all of the above on your first attempt and stay up on the foil, I’d suggest you go and speak with the local dealership and get sponsored straight away – you’re a future pro in the making! For the rest of us, it will take practice and repetition. You will find some of the times you loose balance and fall. Other times you’ll lose speed and drop to a taxi. Lots of times you’ll start to ride out switch and stack. Don’t worry, this is only natural. Stick at it. Keep going. At some point, you’ll make your first full foiling gybe and you’ll find that Eureka moment. After that feeling, it won’t be long until you are gybing without even thinking. You’ll look back and think, how did that take me so long to learn, it feels so natural now. Then it’ll be time to go through a new learning curve with the foiling tack!