Chinese gybe

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A Chinese Gybe is a particular type of accidental gybe, where the boom is trapped by a line (Running backstay, checkstay, preventer, etc.) and prevented from swinging fully across the boat, resulting in the mainsail being trapped near the centerline of the boat while full of wind, usually violently rounding the boat up and knocking it over onto its side. The boom must be untrapped in order to bring the boat back under control.

An accidental gybe is a situation on a sailboat where, when running downwind, the boom is able to lift to such an extent that the head of the mainsail is allowed to "twist off" and becomes "backwinded". That is to say that the mainsail "feels" the wind on its leeward side. This results in the mainsail and the boom being blown across the boat in an uncontrolled fashion. It is extremely hard on yacht hardware and is potentially extremely dangerous for crew.

It can be brought about by particularly shifty winds or by a sea state moving the boat in a manner that markedly changes the angle of the apparent wind.

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