Early in my cycling voyage in Lisbon, I encountered trolley tracks.  If you’re not familiar with these, beside each track is a groove slightly wider than a bicycle tire.  Naturally, my front tire locked into a groove, I sprawled onto the street, and my belongings spewed over the tracks.  To make matters worse, I’d crashed in front of a trolley stop, where stood about twenty, stony-faced Portuguese.

An elderly gentleman ambled over, bent down, and said, "Pardon señor, but Americans should keep off tracks, because the trolley she come."

Ring, Ring!

Sure enough, down a hill came the biggest trolley I’d ever seen, and strewn in its path was me, my bike, and my belongings:   sleeping bag, frying pan, shoes, socks, jocks. . . .

Which brings us to the carved gybe.  Early in your carving voyage, you might think that you feel like I felt on that Lisbon street, after the trolley blew through.  Don’t believe it!  Carving gybes will be as much fun as you’ve ever had.  Carving your first gybe is worth . . . strewing your body, board, and belongings over trolley tracks.

In other words, all your hours of strain, pain, and eventual gain have been leading to this:  the carved gybe—the technique that’s amazing and crazing.

Crazing? Definitely!  There’s a frenzy, a "craze to carve," that seems to overcome some people.  So if you’re feeling slightly frenzied, then this is probably the first book you’re reading, and the carved gybe is the first technique you’re trying, which is fine and dandy—if your present ability is up to it.  But, if you aren’t comfortable sailing in the footstraps, let alone in the harness, then you’re a little ahead of yourself.

However, if you have followed the natural progression of books and have acquired the necessary skills, then you’re right on course for your first carved gybe.  So, let’s de-frenzy ourselves and discover that this maneuver isn’t so amazing, when broken down into the usual six steps.

The six steps of the carved gybe are grouped into three parts: the Setup, the Carve, and the Finish.  During the Setup (steps 1 and 2) the board turns downwind from 3 o’clock to 4:30, then you move your back foot forward and unhook.  In the Carve (step 3) you lean your body forward and into the turn (front-leeward) to carve from 4:30, through 6 o’clock, to 6:30.  During the Finish (steps 4, 5 and 6) you move your feet and flip the sail as the board turns to 7:30.

The Setup is three familiar movements covered in Book Nine:   half an S-turn, unhooking, and moving your back foot forward just as you do when getting out of the back footstrap.  The Finish is familiar too:  it’s basically the same as steps 4, 5, and 6 of the flare gybe (Book 8).  The Carve, however, is something you haven’t tried, and because of this, it’s the key step to mastering this maneuver.  To carve, you must find the courage to lean your body into the turn (front-leeward) and until you muster that courage, carved gybes will remain elusive.

Carved gybes will remain even more elusive if you are uncomfortable sailing fast. This returns us to the concept that the faster you sail, the easier everything is;  the slower you sail, the harder everything is.

There are two reasons why achieving speed, and maintaining it, is critical to your carved gybe.  First, entering the turn sailing fast creates centrifugal force, which allows you to lean forward and into the turn.  On the other hand, sailing too slowly into the turn does not create this force, so you fall.  It’s like turning a corner on a bicycle; with enough speed, you can lean into the turn and coast through it, but without speed you splat onto the pavement.