Chicken gybe for the smart sailor

by Grant Headifen on 14 May 2010 Remember in the movie back to the Future when Michael J. Fox hated being called 'Chicken'?

... but eventually he smartened up – didn’t take the dare and changed his future for the good.

Well … sometimes in sailing it’s equally as smart to NOT take the dare.

The safe manoeuvre is called the chicken gybe.

The chicken gybe replaces the conventional gybe in high winds, particularly if you have a rookie crew.

It’s mostly done when the skipper is uncomfortable about the conditions for the gybe for some reason, and most likely this will occur if the winds are high.

High winds in a gybing maneouvre can cause damage to the vessel rigging by the boom SLAMMING across too fast.

In a normal gybe the boom slam effect can be reduced by pulling in the main sheet and letting it out as the boom comes over to the other side. However, in high winds – 15 knots plus, if the boom is not let out fast enough, the wind on the main sail will round the boat up in to the wind and heel the boat way way over. This is a very uncomfortable situation.

Worse, the main could sustain damage.

So many choose the chicken gybe. The end result is the same. You are merely tacking the boat from a broad reach on one side over to a broad reach on the other side.

Simple, easy, effective and safe. The only thing to watch out for is that the jib sheets will whip back and around quite violently. So it’s a good idea not to have anyone near the jib sheets i.e. on foredeck, while you carry out the manoeuvre.

You can learn to sail or hone your sailing skills by going to the www.nauticed.org!Nauticed online sailing site now. You can even get a sailing certificate, or play free educational sailing games.
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Interesting comment from reader:

Sender: hugh howard

Message: Why invent a new term for a basic technique taught by many over the years. It is called 'wending' - the opposite of 'wearing ship' used by square riggers (and others) to avoid the problems of tacking.
Regards

Hugh
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