MOVE ON UP – WITH JEM HALL

PLANING DUCK GYBES

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

Photos: 

Eye Sea You Photo

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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?

Why indeed? Why should we jump or duck gybe, well mainly because it gives you new challenges, which once we accomplish, makes us feel ready to try more moves while significantly upping our self belief. From a technique point of view, it will force you to be more precise with your footwork, and to move your hips faster, while it will also ensure that you learn to keep the sail away from you, and open (not pulled in and over sheeted), to exit your duck with speed. 

WHERE?

There are lots of options here; the easiest place to learn is on flatwater, simply because  you have both the time and the space to get the sail to go light and complete the move. However, it is also great to perform a duck gybe in the waves as the space between them is often very flat. The coup de grace of duck gybes is to do them onto a wave because the downhill slope, and the power of the wave, almost guarantees a planing exit, or at the very least, a damn fine crash!

WHEN?

Learning the move is often best, and easiest, when you have solid wind and board speed, but you should look to initiate the move when heading into a lull. However, to plane out you will need good power to keep you planing through the move, or the momentum from going down a wave, or swell. Overpowered ducks can be high risk, and will certainly focus your attention, but they can yield some super fast exits. 

HOW?

I will now give you the main tips for planing duck gybes and break the move down further in the sequence below:.

MAIN TIPS FOR THE PLANING DUCK GYBE

• Patience: This really is the main one. Taking time to tip the rig forwards (towards the nose), helps to get your hand to the back of the boom, which will then help you to pull it hard across you, so you can WAIT for the front of the new side of the boom to come to you. You also need to be patient to move your hips across, and carve smoothly, as you keep the rig away and let it breathe.

• Vision: Looking in the right place will really help you with your patience. So, look forward as you carve and tip the rig forward, until you see the very back of the boom. As you duck (the rig) look at your exit to get your hips across, keep you carving and facilitate a smooth foot change. You can then see the wind and choose your planing line to maintain your speed – a tighter arc when well powered and a bit of a broader arc with less power, so you can keep momentum.

• Precision: As a final debrief to many of my rippers I often tell them to sail with power, passion and precision. Your hand position and grab position (on the new side, next to the harness lines) are crucial to nailing a planing duck gybe. As is the foot work to keep the board carving smoothly and ensure it maintains a nice arc, so that you don’t oversteer (lose power and oversheet) or understeer (get ripped out the front door due to too much power from being too far off the wind). For carving your original back foot should be back and on the rail and then the new carving back foot (heel) should pivot all the way across to the rail.

• Planing: Your planing technique will really be called into account when looking to plane out of your first duck gybes, and other moves. Refresh yourselves with my tips from my August ’22 piece. The main actions are; keep the rig away, pull down (not in!) on the boom, hands near the lines, look upwind to see the wind, so you can adjust your sailing line accordingly.

Kit:

Turny boards, that plane easily, like a medium to small freemove, or a fast big to medium freestyle wave.

Sails from 6.0 and down are easier to duck. A 6.5 can be used, but for most people, this would be the biggest I would recommend.

Less fin; a smaller fin on a bigger board means you can keep the board carving, while benefitting from the additional volume to help you plane out, e.g. a 35cm fin on a 105L–120L freemove.

Generous footstraps allow proper carving and ensure your feet can get out of the footstraps smoothly.

Long lines enable unhooking from a low position so you can get the sail light, thereby easing the duck.

Ezzy Sails, RRD (boards, wetsuits & softwear), Chinook & Black Project Fins sponsor Jem Hall. Get him live and direct on one of his highly acclaimed coaching holidays – check out his website

www.jemhall.com

for details. You can also follow him on X / Facebook / Instagram.

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