Wing Foil Jibing is very similar to Windsurfing or Kite Jibing with the difference that the Wing can be neutralized to take advantage of a bump in the swell for a smooth turn.
There are two main ways to jibe in Wing depending on whether you switch before or after passing the wind axis.
The simplest is to jibe in your natural stance, goofy or regular. Depending on the tack you are on, you will either jibe to switch (this is the simplest because we attack from the front), or switch to jibe on the other side. While knowing that becoming symmetrical will be a long and complicated exercise.
But soon you will know how to do all four jibes perfectly by working on symmetry.
The first thing to do is to look around to avoid an accident either by looking in the window, or by moving the Wing backwards to see the trajectory in front of the leading edge, or by putting the Wing up like an umbrella.
You should also check the wind strength and wind axis before entering the maneuver.
It is fundamental to use these elements to maximize success: waiting for the slack if you are overpowered, or the opposite, can change everything compared to a blind engagement. A little wave or chop that pushes you into the turn will be a big help.
To switch on a Foil, you have to do a little pumping (an impulse) that will make the Foil go up while you have both feet in front. This will prevent you from touching the water again.
The most natural way is probably to switch at the end of the maneuver and to attack facing the turn.
The passage of the Wing is very natural; your hands go along the handles smoothly. The only thing to avoid is to pass it under the Board by deflecting it. So, don’t make the curve too long, tighten it at the end of the move. The downwind passage should be as short as possible, except the beginners’ fault is to block downwind because of lack of speed and engagement. Your turn should look more like a rounded L than a C. And attack with the Wing, then umbrella it before the downwind.
The keys to jibe in Wing Foil are :
Check before the maneuver that your trajectory does not cause a collision.
Have speed to get support, which will make your jibe easier.
Before starting your turn, you have to straighten up to go from a counter upwind heel/tilt to a downwind heel/tilt.
To switch your feet with as much balance as possible, lay the board flat as much as possible and use the kite as an umbrella.
Begin your turn by leaning lightly on the Wing with your back hand.
Half way through the turn, let go of the back hand while turning the Wing to the other side of the Board, and position the Wing on the opposite side always with the front hand.
When passing downwind, switch hands on the high handle and grab the low handle with the other hand.
Tip: Give a light push with the low hand before releasing it to dynamise your Wing’s tilt and send it towards the new tack. This is very true with big Wings in light wind.
Jibe to switch
It’s the simplest jibe : you attack the curve in front of the wing to get out from behind.
To perform a jibe to switch, you have to arrive with speed; this is the non-conditional pre-requisite to get out of the move in flight.
The simplest way to do this is to take your foot out of the back strap before jibing to place it slightly downwind and prepare the transition from heel to toe support. Take it out of the strap and place it in front of the back strap if there is one. Strapless, we will move it forward 10cm and shift it downwind on the toe side by 5 to 10cm depending on the radicality of the curve you are planning. The placement of the back foot influences the radicality and stability of your curve. The further back you move it, the shorter and stronger you turn, and the closer you bring it to the rail. Find your personal balance. Tuck your back knee in a little, this will make your curve smoother with less locked support than with the knees apart. The front foot is in the strap, so naturally in the wind.
We will keep the Wing tucked in as we go downwind, to store energy and come out like a flower of the move. Without this boost, the loss of speed in the middle of the move as the Wing passes will be such that you will fall back on the water. And then it’s all over, at best you’ll buckle on the water, but you’ll probably fall. Don’t be scared, go hard into the curve. At worst, you’ll fall down lying in the wing. The real danger is the loss of control in a strong deceleration due to lack of commitment. When the Foil doesn’t go fast enough, it becomes uncontrollable and that’s when you risk falling on it. So always keep up speed.
Note that over luffing the Wing is equivalent to braking, but in jibe this action puts your Foil in the water. This is a trick to engage very hard, which is called a racing jibe. And we will keep the Wing on the front of the curve while preparing the umbrella passage towards the middle of the curve. So, the front hand is low and it will gradually rise.
Remember to use the front foot to guide your turn. It supports 50% of your weight, or even more because even if its job is to carry your weight while the rear foot drives the curve, in reality it is a clever mix and especially progressive transfers of the role of one to the other which will be the key to the magnificent jibes you will make. The famous support transfer.
Once we start to move towards the wind axis (towards the downwind) we will try to hold the Foil in the water by a front foot pressure while keeping the angle of heel with the back foot. We will progressively transfer the support from a lift on the wing to a support on the Foil. That is to say that you will carry yourself less with your arms and more with your legs. As you get closer to the wind axis, you will lose traction and you will have to lighten the Board by sliding the Foil as much as possible. You have to be gentle so as not to create breaks, and firm to accentuate the angle grip.
You will have to release the power of the Wing slightly as you get closer to the wind axis, otherwise you risk being overwhelmed by the lee of the Wing’s traction. The closer you get to the wind axis, the more you will move your front hand up, making the Wing look like an umbrella.
Once you are close to the wind axis you should continue the curve and prepare to change hands. During this change, you will not have any traction on the Wing. So, all your weight will rest on the Foil. If you have no speed at this moment of the move, it’s game over: you reposition and you have a good chance to lose your balance. So, the solution is to tighten the curve more and more as you get closer to the wind axis. And as soon as you let go of the wing to change hands, you slide the Foil, mainly by dosing the supports; the time it takes to get back on the Wing.
Beginners will put too much back foot in this phase, often due to a lack of speed and commitment. The other solution is to close the curve violently but it is more complicated.
So, the higher your base speed, the easier it is.
And the tighter your curve, the easier it is (without excess).
When you have understood this, you can see that you have plenty of time to change hands on the wing.
To make a nice hand change you need to organize the path of your hands:
My back hand pushes the Wing to the other tack and comes on the handle with my front hand.
My ex front hand slides along the strut to naturally come and grab the rear full power handle. Usually you can unstick your hand from the strut, but at the beginning the ideal is really to slide the hand over the big section of the strut. You can even make up for it when you come out of the move by grabbing the strut with your fingertips glued to the spinnaker, it works perfectly.
During this phase of changing hands, you will rotate your chest by 90° downwind on the heel side to accompany the passage of the hands. This way you won’t have your back to the Wing on the new tack, but twisted. Ideally you will slightly back the Wing from the vertical of the nose to the new leeward rail (toe side) to prepare the relaunch.
The next step is to continue the curve by luffing on the new tack, using a heavy foot once you have passed the wind axis, and thus relaunch the Foil. This is when we will start to hang on the Wing again. The hands are well in place, the curve ends, and we can prepare to switch.
You put a pump with the back foot, and you can help yourself by tucking the Wing like an umbrella. As soon as you feel the lightness: throw the back foot into the front strap into the wind. The big toe of the back foot should aim at the big toe of the front foot from the inside of the strap. This is the trick to avoid hurting your toes when shooting for the strap. When the toe of the back foot touches the toe of the front foot, it gives the toe of the back foot the heads up to go where the back foot was: just in front of the back strap. Your new back foot corrects all the balance problems of the Board, laterally and longitudinally to avoid touching the water. This switch is done in less than half a second, really!
Remember that switching is not just changing the front and back supports. Yes, your feet are reversing longitudinally, but the most important thing is to steer the port starboard reversal. Your two feet will each produce an effort on either side of the Board, and they have to cancel each other out in perfect balance. And the longer your Foil Mast is, the more margin and therefore time you have to correct these pressure transfers.
At the end of the switch we’ll try to get some traction from the Wing, but we can also use the Foil and its lift by pumping a few strokes.
The key to the relaunch is to lower the front hand to put the Wing back on the screen, facing you as fast as possible. So, the more you reduce the hang glide between your arms after the wind has passed, the faster you will go back.
And if you had moved the Wing backwards just before, you can move it forward to give it some apparent wind and restore a laminar flow on the profile, which will give you a healthy and clean pull.
The last phase consists of tucking and tilting the Foil into the wind to regain support against the traction of the Wing. The rear foot will be placed in the strap and lean on the heels and fix the new trajectory, taking care not to touch the water. The body will lean more and more into the wind as you tuck in. Remember to manage the power of the Wing because often you will reach the end of your initial speed and you will have to re-launch the Wing frankly.
Help yourself if you need a voluntary projected start, by going upwind at the exit of the jibe you will generate an apparent excess of wind and re-launch your Wing.
Key points :
Having speed.
Use the swell and chop to maintain speed.
Manage your weight transfer well.
Have an automated and clean hand movement.
Focus :
Speed.
Trim and draft shield.
Curve.
Release power to umbrella.
Lightening.
Tighten the curve.
Change hands.
Re-launch.
Oppose.
Switch.
Wing Foiler : l’Ours and Beryl on GONG SUP Lemon FSP PRO and GONG Wing Superpower.
Beginners will put too much back foot in this phase, often due to a lack of speed and commitment. The other solution is to close the curve violently but it is more complicated.
So, the higher your base speed, the easier it is.
And the tighter your curve, the easier it is (without excess).
When you have understood this, you can see that you have plenty of time to change hands on the wing.
To make a nice hand change you need to organize the path of your hands:
