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Windfoiling jibe instruction

Author

Marco Boone

Subject Our experiences
Published

20/12/2021

The wind foiling jibe is the most difficult part of wind foiling and at the same time also with most cool part. Below you will find a step-by-step instruction on how to learn this yourself. We have experienced that the ideal wind is about 12 knots, as it does not blow too hard, but it is enough to stay in the air easily.

Basic instruction

Using the video below, we try to get you started. At the bottom of the article is a drawing with the different angles in which you windfoiled in the different phases. Lots of viewing pleasure and good luck

Step 1

At this stage, prepare the jibe

  1. This is the easiest step, which most closely resembles just windsurfing
  2. Remove the rear foot from the foot strap and put it in the middle (centre line) on the board just before the rear foot straps
  3. Slowly go down wind and release the pressure in your sail a bit (keeping your sail closed can also, but is a bit trickier at first)
  4. By discharging the pressure in your sail, your board will want to go up, compensate for this by placing your weight slightly forward
  5. If you go down wind even more, you notice that the pressure in your sail is decreasing, which is nice to have the sail knocked over later
  6. You turn quietly to about 135 degrees* (so down wind the other way, see drawing at the bottom)
  7. With very little wind (< 9 knots) the sailing speed can be higher than the wind speed, making it difficult for your sail to turn over.
  8. As you can see in the video you go quite long for the wind (about 20 meters)

Step 2

At this stage, balance, speed and control are the most important. This is the hardest and scariest step:

  1. If you have the nose of the board at about 135 degrees*, then you step in 1x to the other side (without turning your sail)
  2. Make sure you stand straight on your board, so this is different from just windsurfing! This also keeps your weight straight on your board
  3. In order to move as little as possible, we recommend removing the front foot from the foot strap in 1 x and placing it next to the other foot (i.e. in the middle, just in front of the rear foot straps)
  4. And then immediately after placing your back foot in the other front footstrap. Therefore, it helps if your back foot is already in the middle and just in front of the rear foot straps, so that the distance is not too large
  5. Steps 3 and 4 follow directly on top of each other (so you only stand for a fraction of a second with 2 feet next to each other)
  6. This is really the critical moment because; a) So you are not in a footband for a while and b) So you more or less cope (points 3 and 4), which disturbs the balance
  7. Placing the new front foot directly back into the front strap has 2 advantages; a) You are quickly ‘stuck’ on your board again and b) You have 1x the final position on your board, so that the balance is not disturbed again
  8. The more you can leave your weight (and therefore your feet) in the middle above the front wing, the easier this step is

Step 3

* Depends on which way you go. 135 degrees is a.o.

Wind foiling hijack learning?

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