gybe in Dutch

A sudden shift of a sail's angle, or a sudden change in the direction that a vessel is sailing in.

(transitive, nautical) To shift a fore-and-aft sail from one side of a sailing vessel to the other, while sailing before the wind.

(transitive, nautical) To shift a fore-and-aft sail from one side of a sailing vessel to the other, while sailing before the wind.

(intransitive, nautical) Of a fore-and-aft sail or its boom: to shift, often forcefully and suddenly, from one side of a sailing vessel to the other.