The secret to easier air gibes and tacks?

[jash999]

The ongoing disagreement about the correct 'gybe' terminology in kiting seems to apply exclusively to the foil community. A kiter riding a surfboard would never refer to a change of his direction in going heelside to toeside as a 'gybe'. That would be called riding switch or just going toeside. On a wave, you are constantly changing between the two but no one says you are gybing unless you switch your feet around. The same terminology is in all foil instruction videos. If you disagree, look on any instructional web site or video for 'gybe' and you will find a foot switch is involved. Gunnar's excellent gybe videos are a case in point, as are Horue, Ketos etc. And again no one calls the toeside turn to heelside on foil a gybe either, as far as i have seen. After all, the tricky part of the gybe is the foot switch.

It seems to me that foilboarders are the only kiters who seem to take the time to endlessly disagree on this terminology. Maybe we should follow other kiters and not sailors on this one? Hopefully it would save all of us from reading yet more boring uninformative posts like the one I have just written.

[TomW]

PF and Cg agree to disagree...
With all respect : Please back on topic..

[Mossy 757]

Maybe we should follow other kiters and not sailors on this one?

Maybe.

Maybe it doesn't matter if you're talking about a kite or a sail or a windsurfer or a pool noodle, the terms are the same.

Maybe if you're using a wind-powered craft on the water without mechanical propulsion systems international maritime law will view you as a sailor regardless of the cut of your sail.

Lots of maybes...

Maybe the question of "how do I change directions on a foil board?" has lots of different answers that all end with the same prescriptions: 1) Go faster, you're probably too slow. 2) Send the kite, nobody ever did a high-speed foiling maneuver correctly with a sluggish dead kite. 3) You'll need 20+ hours on the water of dedicated and deliberate practice for most maneuvers before you figure any of this out for yourself.