JOHN SKYE
“For me, the gybes are the highlight of slalom racing. Having eight guys going full speed into a buoy is one of the most intense parts of the sport, where split second decisions have massive outcomes on the end result. It is also the strongest part of my racing, and the best opportunity for me to overtake around the course! The fundamentals of gybing stay the same whether you are banking into a high-speed gybe mark, or cruising on a Firemove freeride board. Without going into every tiny detail (which is a 5 episode technique article in itself), the 3 key points that I think are most critical are the following:
Hand down the boom.
This allows you to control the sail, keep it sheeted in and steady and most importantly keep it forward. If you hit some chop or a gust comes from behind and your hands are not down the boom, the sail will open, which will release the mast foot pressure and suddenly the board will have a mind of its own. With the hand down the boom however you can keep it locked in and driving the front of the board, keeping it held in position and flat.
The gybe in this shot is a bit of a ‘posey’ lay down gybe, but in reality I prefer to always keep the sail a little more upright and more forward.
With the rig forward, you keep the board flatter in the longitudinal plane, which helps to keep the speed through the turn and keep you driving all the way through. There is a tendency when people make a “slalom gybe” to pull the sail back and lay it down. This looks cool, but puts too much pressure on the tail of the board, causing it to slow down. Also in a gybe mark situation it is much harder to adjust the turn quickly should something happen in front of you.
Finally, I always step gybe, which means the feet change before the sail is flipped.
This firstly keeps the board flatter on the exit, which keeps the planing and speed better, plus it also allows you to choose your exit and to change direction quickly and easily even at the end of the gybe. Again this is very useful when at a busy gybe mark, when 9 times out of 10 someone will fall or stall their gybe, and being able to react quickly can gain you huge ground on your opponents!”