Taming the Gybe

A An accidental gybe can be very dangerous—an old friend of mine was killed by the boom slamming across. The whole crew must therefore be warned about the possibilities of being hit by flying lines or a rogue traveller whizzing across the track. A bad gybe can also damage the sail, track ends or gooseneck. It can even bring down the entire mast.

B There are several designs of boom brake that add friction and slow the boom crossing the boat.

C A preventer is a line led forward to stop the main gybing. Rigging it via a snatch block means it can be adjusted from the cockpit. Using a nylon line means it stretches if you dip the boom in the water. Beware: moving a kicking strap to the rail can cause the boom to break.

D When a boat gybes, the offset force of the sail and the heeled underwater shape of the hull can turn the boat. In extremis, it can go sideways or even broach.

E Be careful steering downwind: watch the wind indicators or, better still, feel the breeze on the back of your neck. If the end of the boom starts to lift, steer to windward. An aide-memoire is “tiller toward or wheel away” from the boom. A controlled gybe can be done in different ways, but a common approach is to...

F Secure the mainsheet traveller so that it doesn’t slam across, then pull in the kicking strap to keep the boom down.

G Haul in the mainsheet. When the boom end is roughly on the quarter, start to steer through the gybe.

H When the boom is amidships, some skippers release the mainsheet and let the friction in the blocks slow the boom down as the sheet runs free. Others prefer to pull the main amidships, so that the sail stalls, and then let it out under more control. To prevent a broach (as in D) it might be necessary to “catch” the turn by steering the other way slightly.

Dick Everitt has sailed thousands of miles in various parts of the world. He has been an illustrator, journalist and engineer for more than 40 years