PLANING DUCK GYBES

Jem Hall discusses how and why the duck gybe may be just the ticket to unlock your first planing gybes...

- Jem Hall

MOVE ON UP - WITH JEM HALL

This month we look at how to complete your first planing gybe, which somewhat surprisingly, can often be a duck gybe. This will form part of a series of articles; with the tack following on later in the year and then finishing off with the planing carve gybe. The skills you will build in your planing tacks, and duck gybes, will really help you to plane out of your regular gybes. Below I will share my top tips to help you come flying out of your ducks with a who? What? Why? Where? When? And how format.

WHO?

This move is for anyone that is already pulling off a few gybes and has mastered the preparation phase of the carve gybe, i.e. the ability to get set up efficiently and gain enough speed to get the sail to go light. A 'wannabe duck gyber must also be prepared to do some 'light wind homework,' and should be keen to embrace this. You can get more info on the basics of the duck gybe in a previous piece from the Nov/Dec '18 magazine.

WHAT?

The duck gybe is a carve gybe in essence, but you switch the rig around to the new side by ducking it, and quite early on in the manoeuvre. In some ways it is more pure and less technical, and due to this, plus the fact you reach the new side of the boom earlier, it can actually be easier to plane out of.

WHY?