Learn the clew-first gybe: hold the clew leading after the foot change, switch the sail late and avoid typical errors like rounding up and pushing back.
What is a clew-first gybe? A gybe in which you exit clew leading and switch the sail late or not at all [3][1]. You know clew-first sailing from the clew-first drill and from every power gybe after the foot change [1].
The honest answer on difficulty: clew-first sailing is a fidgety business. The sail is not stabilised at the leech by a mast and starts to flap quickly [2]. This gybe separates the wheat from the chaff in sail control but is learnable. You manage it when you master clew-first sailing in light wind in your sleep.
About the sources, honestly: there are hardly any detailed guides for the clew-first gybe as a separate move. The steps here assemble the well-documented clew-first phase of the standard gybe [3] and the clew-first control from the Carving 360 tutorial [2]; where something is practical experience it appears without a number.
Where the skill sits in your learning chain: the clew-first gybe is the gybe variation for everyone who wants to train sail control. It shows you honestly how well you hold the rig in backwind and prepares freestyle gybes such as the duck jibe and clew-first carving moves. If you like polishing technique, it is a rewarding project.
The way there is through many small light-wind drills. Simply sail clew-first briefly, without a gybe, and then expand in stages. If you break the gybe into parts you get there faster than with constant attempts while planing.
A note on the rating: the skill catalogue lists it as intermediate because it builds on the power gybe. With planing and wind it is at the latest more advanced.
Build the gybe in stages: first the basic gybe with a longer clew-first phase, then the fast gybe with a clew-first exit, then with planing. Each stage has its own criterion: hold the course, calm sail, no rounding up. If one is missing you stay a stage behind. That saves nerves and equipment, because clew-first while planing punishes mistakes quickly with a fall.
You should sail the gybe securely up to the foot change on the run. After that comes the clew-first phase, which can be practised 1:1 in light wind [1].
Milestone: 10 gybes in a row up to the foot change without a fall.
On the run place the front foot, turned out, directly in front of the back foot so the feet form a "V", and the back foot to the mast [4]. Your rig is in the clew-first position: the clew points forward.
Keep the mast arm almost straight to hold the clew-first position briefly, and the rig a little away from your body to keep balance [3]. Keep the sail calm: do not push back, keep it open and move it back [2]. Typical for beginners: they round up into the wind now because they have not yet mastered clew-first sailing [3].
Only when you stand stably do you push the clew away with the clew hand and pull decisively with the mast hand so the sail swings around the mast [3]. In the clew-first gybe you stay in this phase longer than you are used to; the switch comes late. If you leave it out completely, the exit stays clew-first.
With the free hand grab the mast right under the boom head, a good grip because it stabilises the rig, and the other hand the boom [3]. Bring the rig forward to catch wind and counterbalance the pull by shifting weight back, then trim and sail away [3].
Milestone: 6 out of 10 clew-first gybes with a controlled sail and without rounding up.
Practise clew-first sailing as an endurance drill in light wind with a foot change: first 3 seconds, then 10, then 30. If you can hold clew-first for a short time, every gybe gets extra safety margin because you no longer have to rush the switch.
A gybe in which the clew points in the direction of travel after you change feet, and in which the switch happens late or not at all [3][1].
Usually because clew-first sailing is not solid yet [3]. Practise it in light wind and keep the mast arm almost straight.
Rather little wind and a turn-happy board. surf recommends practising clew-first moves slightly underpowered [2].
The leech is not stabilised by the mast [2]. Set less loose leech and keep the sail open.
The Laydown Gybe in Windsurfing: Lay the Rig Flat and Keep Your Speed