There are tones of instruction videos on the topic. For some reason, this one got me to realize what I'm doing wrong. In particular my foot work and my stance.

Good video indeed! I’m also subscribed to this channel and the guys are doing a great job . I learned a bunch from the wave riding series and now waiting with anticipation for the next freemove episodes.
Just want to warn you against being too pedantic about precise foot placement. You can dry-practice that or even better on a Windsup, but in the heat of action there is no time to think or , God forbid, look after that. Time it right and just be very, very quick and light footed about it and it will take care of itself.

I actually like this 3 part instruction more /and not because it’s on Starboards/ . You may argue that’s a bit overwhelming, but in any of the videos they make clear the main takeaways for the carve jibe-stay low, hang of the boom and keep the rig away from you-something I don’t do enough and pay for it way too often unfortunately.
A funny example of the consequences when not doing this things which leads to delaying the flip too long because of lack of control /courtesy of Peter Hart/:



A critical mistake that I’m doing over and over again when I’m stacked like this /among others/ is leaning with my upper body continuously into the turn instead of doing it with my hips while leaning my upper body and the rig leeward for counterbalance. Sometimes if I’m not in a lull or the chop doesn’t slow me down I get away with it, but more often then not the conditions are far from perfect and I crash it.

The proper way:

I suspect these tips specifically might be of utmost importance to you having in mind the knee issue :

Yesterday’s session on Clinton gave me a good opportunity to check on my carve jibes. Wide radius, not to fast paced turns in mostly flat water were giving me enough time to assess what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. As I posted above the foot work is not something you should worry about except the initial placement of the back foot-as close to the leeward rail and the back foot strap as possible to ensure there will be enough space for the other foot during the transition later. On the wide ,flat deck of the Atom there is enough real estate so I don’t think even this will be critical, but on the cramped, heavily domed deck of a high wind board it may be.
In fact focusing on foot work in the hectic transition phase will be actually counter productive because it will take your mind away from way more important steps like sliding your front hand close to the mast and shifting/ turning your hips and head inside the turn. This actions happen so fast and close together with the foot change that I hardly ever registered when and how I’m switching feet. Im glad you posted this and made me take a closer look at the quality of mine own jibes so I was able to realize with a great displeasure that I’ve developed a bad habit of looking after the sail during the flip, instead of turning my head and looking inside the turn which may have been the cause of not one or two failed jibes without me realizing the reason behind. You know how easily the board can be redirected and loose the carve in heavy chop if you not putting your weight over the carving rail! I’m sure I have practiced this before but somehow it has faded away and the bad habit has taken root to the extent that turning my head in that critical moment felt unnatural and required an effort. I hope I don’t forget this lesson again by the time I sail again.
I’ve found a perfect picture to demonstrate my wrong habits-just before flipping, my head is turned forward eyes following the rig and my hips are far from leaning into the turn either, not to mention that the rig is not leaning in the opposite direction ay ay ay

It’s obvious in the next picture what the consequences are: loosing the carve and stalling which will be fatal in heavy conditions on a small board

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
I know one thing for sure: if I overthink it, i screw up. I do a much better job at this when I'm chasing someone else I front of me and want to catch-up: It feels more natural and fluid.
I looked at a few raw footage and my foot switch is quite alright actually. What is not is that I'm not transferring enough weight and energy via the mast foot. I adopt too much of a defensive stance: a bit too straight up, the rig a bit to close which kills my speed and makes the sail flip a cumbersome moment where my lack of momentum makes me reach for the boom rather than the boom reaching me! See here:



What's clear is that when things don't go well for me, it is often due to a lack of commitment in the action.
I learned a few things this summer that got me to build muscle memory while there are still a few things that don't come naturally yet:
- Build speed, broad reach and plan ahead the move: check
- Front hand, palm facing down on the boom: check
- Back hand way back on the boom: check
- Push down on the boom: almost always
- Lay down the sail to de-power: almost always
- Keep a nice clean arc and avoid shortcut the carve towards the end of the curve: check
- Stay low and flex on the knees: not always
- Keep the sail at arms length: not always
- Look where I want to go: not always
- Flick the sail back to me during the flip and not reaching for the sail: rarely

Heavy chop is certainly not helping compared to flat water-Bonaire! But I was blessed by a few handful of planning carved jibes this year. Most happened as I was not thinking of the technique while doing them. But what's for sure, having a clear mental picture of what "good" looks like, helps tremendously anyway. I've been watching those vids over and over to make sure the move is printed in my brain for good! By summer 2018, hopefully things will have improved!

BTW, I love the energy and commitment the folks from Get Windsurfing are putting into their jibes. So smooth, clean and powerful.

Gregory, I also like the video you shared. I like how he explains his foot position and how your weight should be distributed and body positioned as you carve through the turn. He doesn't put a lot of emphasis on the hips n head leaning inside the turn as the mast leans outside, When he executes it on water it's very smooth looking where some of the other windsurfers body positions look somewhat awkward or unnatural in their stance. This is one of many things I have to work on next year.

I also want to make reference to a jibe that was executed in the video Bob Mechtly aired this year "Bird Island Texas in April". At about the 9:50 mark in the video there's what "I" think is a great carving jibe with a quick flip of the sail and no real loss of speed. But the impressive part is that he doesn't change his feet and sails...... not sure what to call it, maybe "goofy footed" back out to attempt a duck tack. Well the duck tack didn't go so well but he popped up like a cork and continued on his way. Would've been pretty cool if he could've made it full circle without moving his feet. Check it out.

Garry Zack wrote: No head and no hips-no points for style then, too bad. And besides style there is a pragmatic point behind it too! Speaking of wich here is a little presentation from Mr. Style himself. Listen carefully to his wise words at 3:20! And a little tip from me : forget hips, just turning the head towards the clew helps with oversheeting a lot, a habit that helps also with Duck jibe and Spin loop to name a few.

I can no longer tell you how many times I watched all these videos! Despite the technique, feet, hands, head, body placement and so on, one thing that's not often addressed but that I think is critical to successful jibes, is the TEMPO - or the correct timing in the successive execution of all the correct moves in the right order. The reason why it's so important to get the tempo right is that doing the right move at the wrong time in space, will either kill the speed, or overpower the sail, or ends up placing the nose of the board way upwind once the turn is completed, or worse!
Yeah, I know, what I'm saying is not really helping... just writing as I'm thinking.

However, back to the timing-thing, having it right is something that one has to "feel". I haven't done it right many times but when it happens and I'm in sync with the sequence of actions in the space, I definitely know it!

The unfortunate part is that doing it right a few times doesn't garantie it can be done right every time thereafter! This is like playing golf: you know - or "feel" - when you hit the ball right and square, but you also know that it'll never be like riding a bicycle: mastery cannot be taken for granted it seems. I guess a good way to summarize : practice muscle memory in relationship to timing. Ultimately, it has to "feel" fluid and effortless...Might be an obvious observation to some but it never felt this obvious to me initially.

Tempo is important Gregory, no question about that, but it not supposed to be critical! Two elements that are responsible and can strongly diminish the importance of tempo are : 1. SPEED and 2. LOW stance . By having both of them at the same time you can get away with clumsy technique and a lot of small! mistakes will be forgiven. The video you’ve posted is as clear evidence as it can be. Colin is doing the things that I’m complaining about doing myself-no body and sail leaning, looking at the sail during the flip instead of turning the head in the opposite way and he gets zero penalty for that-going rock solid all the way with a planing exit. Why? Because he enters with SPEED, lots of it! Now check the video of Peter Hart and Dave White that Ive posted last. Dave is a huge guy, very heavy, but he manages to do all this expert freestyle tricks and he was one of the best wave riders in UK /before he got a stroke this summer while sailing in Mauritius/ mostly because he sails fast , always using a much bigger kit then every body else and being able to control it with his strength.
Both of those elements are emphasized in almost every instructional material and by every coach. One good habit I just realized I have lost because of my ever increasing confidence with my big kit is a funny rhyme I picked up from the articles of Jem Hall : “ Get down James Brown!” and another one of his :” How low can you go ?!”. I used to tell myself: Get down James Brown! every time I started a jibe. It kinda helps you to take your mind away from reading the conditions and getting overwhelmed with information and triggers instead the right sequence of actions you are supposed to take from that moment on: get LOW and bear off to accelerate.
Most of the issues that I’ve posted about, I have when jibing my small 94L board and the root of the problem I realize is exactly that: low speed and tall stance. I blow jibes on my big kit only occasionally, mostly because I usually do the right things. Because I sail it in lighter winds and flatter water I am not afraid to seek speed and jibe in the gusts. I can feel the sail going light, the board gliding and giving me solid platform to switch feet and flip the rig and it takes me around many times planing even if I do some mistakes like those I’ve described before. On the small board on the other hand I do exactly the opposite. Because I sail it in stronger winds the conditions usually are a lot heavier, especially on the Big Lake, I get easily scared unfortunately /scared even to attempt the Loop , damn it!/ and I do exactly the opposite of what Im doing on my big kit-I wait for lulls to jibe in, I start the jibe right away from upwind direction instead of bearing off and accelerating first and on top of that I keep the same stance that I keep on my big kit which is way too tall for rough conditions. Anyway I’ve made a lot of progress on my small board this year and increased the rate of success of my jibes and tacks on it substantially-I was barely able to do any of it last fall when I bought it and had my first sessions on it. The fact that I’m realizing what’s still ailing me gives me hope that I’ll do a lot better next season.
Meanwhile there’s a new video from TWS-the Laydown Jibe-awesome! In it Colin talks about the problem that I also have when laying the rig too low-being unable to lift it back up and ending in something like a unsuccessful 360-and explains the right way to lift it -swinging with both hands simultaneously while also turning his HEAD towards the clew which btw helps you to engage the core muscles of the upper body and increase your leverage. Both the head turn and the hips swing work miracles in overpowered conditions, but it’s good to do them every time to some extent to develop a strong habit IMO.

All true. Speed, low stance and fearlessness is good. Hopefully next year I'll try to outpace your progress, ha! 2018: the year of consistent planning exit Jibes! I have to say, if I was sailing with other windsurfers more frequently, that would certainly be a big motivating factor!
Colin's vids are really good. Love his layed back approach to his demo. Now, on his very last jibe, isn't he almost stalling his exit?!