In marginal winds and flatter water, higher volume, wide-tailed, flat-rockered boards (freerace/freeride) will maintain speed and stability gybing. Yet when over-powered or on rougher water, the sharper rails and straighter plan shapes that tend to go along with these style of boards make the board harder to turn. So, if you’re looking to learn to gybe, are not too worried about blasting top speed or you’re really struggling on your current board, demo a more forgiving board with softer rails, curvy plan shape and a touch more tail rocker. These styles of boards (freewave /freestylewave/wave) grip the water much better and hold in through the turn, which makes gybing much easier. For many people, it can make the difference between being gybing or not. Equally, make sure your fin’s not too big and set the footstraps up as ‘inboard’ and ‘open’ as you can without sacrificing blasting control and comfort. This makes moving the back foot easier setting up for the turn and switching the front foot mid turn. As for the rig, if you’re overpowered forget it and, without a doubt, use rotational sails rather than camber induced ones; rotational sails are much lighter and easier to rotate during the turn.