Q: Why duck jibe?
A: It’s so much fun!
A dozen years ago I got out of big sails. If I couldn’t do basic tricks with it, I didn’t want it. I thought that meant 6.0 was about the limit. Good bye 9.8 and 8.8. Yeah I’d miss some planing days but this was my thinking. Dumb. Fortunately one day in Bonaire I met a guy named Steve who I knew liked freestyle, and also had a 7.5. What gives? Can you duck it, Steve?
“Duck it? I’m gosh darn donkey jibing it!”
So I returned to the 7.5 fold. While I’ve never made anything but the ugliest donkey jibes with it, I’m pretty good at ducking the thing. The trick I’ve figured out is to break the rule (guideline, really) that you must throw the boom so that your “new” front hand catches the boom in front of the harness line. Break the “no shuffling your hands down the boom” advice. I love the pure duck jibe with the single elegant throw, but with the big sail it disrupts the mast base pressure too much, and keeping the board planing becomes a challenge.
So I walk my hands for the 7.5 duck. And I plane out, happy.
End of screed.
(Please excuse the “Ha Ha!” after the jibe. I’m basically an eight year old.)
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