timbertson forum posts in last 60 days

> What kind of and how small swell you have, that you need to pump?

Port Phillip bay, so only windswell and smaller compared to ocean like you've got in the video there. People do downwinders here, but they're usually pumping a fair bit.

> Honestly its hard to say which is the better pumper, not knowing what type or length of board you're opting for

I'm looking for something that's still quite easy to get up on at 80KG, right now the main options I'm looking at are the smik breeze 6' and the duotone skybrid 5'8 (both 85L). Maybe there's not much in it between those two options, both are fairly well-balanced and similar overall size. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what can make a difference.

I'm looking at getting a new board, currently using the 95L Sky Wing I learnt on. Looking into a midlength because that seems to be good for what I like (swell riding, maybe parawing one day), and I want something more compact than a full DW board.

I understand the advantages of a longer + narrower board for pumping at takeoff, so I'm not asking about that.

What I want to understand is what effect (if any) a different board has on being able to pump better/further when I'm riding swell.

Naively, it seems like there should be barely any effect. The wing isn't touching the water, and it doesn't seem like there's a huge amount of wind resistance (compared to e.g. racing upwind). But I do see claims of "better glide" for midlengths, and I don't understand why that would be true.

But I tried a Smik Breeze (85L) and it did genuinely seem like I could glide and pump further on swell, so why is that?

If I'm only trying to optimise how well/long I can pump on swell, and I'm only looking at changing boards (happy with my 900cm^ glide 2.0 foil) what are the board variables I would focus on? weight? shape? stiffness (construction material)?