This guide explains the Heineken jibe.
Let’s walkthrough the technique.
Ride with plenty of speed, specifically slightly faster than the true wind is blowing.
Power the wing (pulling the back hand) and let it pull your
forwards, so the board rolls into a toeside roll.
This will start the carving turn of the jibe.
Keep the wing powered as you start heading downwind.
When you’re moving downwind enough you should feel the wind
disappear and your hand wing should go limp.
As soon as you feel this start to manoeuvrer the wing.
Your front hand moves up and back, then out to the side, then forwards – in a large, fast arc.
Your back hand moves inwards, to help the wing spin, before being released.
The wing should be moving around to your downwind side
just as you turn the board towards the new direction.
You can then swap hands like a standard wing-foil jibe.
Let’s review that riding the other way.
Ride slightly faster than the true wind.
Power the wing to help you lean forwards.
Shift to a toeside roll.
While you feel power in the wing keep pulling with the back hand to keep the wing powered.
When you feel the wind disappear begin raising the wing over your head.
The front hand follows a large circular whip motion.
Heading up, and back, then down to the side, then forwards towards the nose of the board.
The back hand only briefly helps the wing spin and then is released.
The nose of the board should be carving around towards your new riding direction
as the wing comes around onto your downwind side.
You can then continue like a standard jibe.
Let’s take a closer look at that wing control.
As the apparent wind disappears, the wing is raised overhead,
rotated and whipped around towards the nose of the board.
Apparent wind is the key to a Heineken jibe.
You can see at this moment the wing’s leading edge
is pointing the wrong way - the leading edge is aiming the same way as the true wind is blowing.
Normally this would make the wing unstable.
We can only do this with the wing because the apparent wind is reversed.
As you turn downwind you feel less and less apparent wind.
If you ride downwind faster than the true wind you’ll feel
the apparent wind reversed, blowing back into you.
This is what allows you to fully rotate the wing like this.
Also the motion of your front hand helps with reversing the apparent wind.
If you make the whip motion large and fast, then you will be moving the wing
forward quite quickly, which helps to reverse the apparent wind over it.
If you don’t get moving downwind quickly enough,
then the apparent wind will still be pushing from the same direction.
You may struggle to spin the wing.
The wing may blow into your back.
The wing may become unstable or unpredictable when rotated.
So only start the Heineken jibe if you feel that the wind is completely gone,
or starting to blow backwards.
If you can still feel the wind pushing from the same direction,
then abandon the Heineken jibe and just depower the wing.
Because you must beat the wind, it can be very risky to first practice this in strong wind.
If the wind is 25 knots then you have to ride in faster than that,
then there’s a high chance of a severe crash or injury.
It’s much safer to learn this in light wind.
If the wind is 10 knots, then you only need to ride in at 12 or 13 knots.
When learning or in light wind you’re more likely to hit the wing into the board.
This can easily happen with a larger beginner board or a light-wind wing, like 6 or 7m2.
There are several ways to avoid hitting the wing tip into the board.
Firstly, complete more of the wing’s rotation while the wing is overhead.
Aim to complete about 90 degrees of the rotation while the wing’s overhead.
Also, it can help to whip your front hand around at a higher angle.
Finally, a tighter jibe helps as you bring the nose around sooner, and get it out of the way.
With a wide-radius jibe the nose stays aiming downwind for longer
and gets in the way of the wing tip.
The Heineken jibe can also be done
as a toeside-to-heelside jibe, using the same basic technique.
Thanks for watching, and I hope this helps you get started with Heineken jibes.