I learned to foil ~ 7 months ago. I have thoroughly enjoyed the learning curve and have successfully ridden waves from 1.5 ft to 14 ft.

I have caught more than 1,200 waves and foiled over 100 miles. My longest rides have been over a minute with the record at 550 yards. I have also suffered a bruised shin that shows scars 5 months later, sliced my chin on the tailwing, took a 12 footer on the head and blew out my entire tuttle box and had my leash snap in front of rocks only to watch my board hurtle into the rocks smashing the nose of the board . . . . .

I can NOT pump back out to sea and connect 2 waves (Yet).

All of this has been on an 8' 2" X 32" X 139 Liter X 20 lbs L41 Simmons style SUP: GoFoil Kai, Iwa and Maliko 200 Wings.

I was foiling with Jeff Clark (age 61) and Chris Bertish (age 43) yesterday. Jeff can catch waves steep and flies great but CANNOT pump back out to sea. Chris was on a IWA wing and a 6'6" Jimmy Lewis modern Hover Craft. He was pumping back out through the white water. While he didn't connect 2 waves, that I saw, he was more successfully flying all over the place.

I have a 6' 6" Easy Foiler on order. Are the Shorter Foil boards the secret to pumping back out to sea? Or do we have to be lighter and younger???

PS: There is a video of Dave Kalama pumping around. Yes he too is a professional but every video of someone pumping AGAINST THE GRAIN has been on smaller boards.

I would post this question on the StandUpZone.com but there are only ~ 3 people with enough experience to comment. One of them is Piros. Followed by Robert Stehlick and then DailyBread.

It appears as though SeaBreeze is ~ 1 year ahead of the StandUpZone with regards to foil experience.

Hi Beasho,
I've been foiling since mid last year & am only just starting to pump back out onto my next wave.... I ride the 7'3 Jimmy Lewis Hover Craft & 5'10 Marlon Prone Foilboard with either the GoFoil IWA or Kai wings.... The bigger wing of the IWA has helped me learn the technique of pumping back out to the next wave but the other key to it is getting off your first wave sooner with speed instead of waiting until the end of your wave... Now I'm starting to connect my second wave on my Kai because my technique has improved both on my Sup & Prone boards...

There is no doubt shorter is better . It's just physics . I've been at this a long time and the guys on the prone boards are leaving me for dead, So much so I am getting a prone board. Wind force plays such a big part you can't argue less is best. Mast position now is set so far back to avoid tail tap. Now it's just not pumping but pushing and driving the foil through turns. I'm trying to replicate that on my Sup foil but the groms on the prone foils are just charging. That's the best part of this new sport pushing it to the top of the ladder and just keeps raising it. I might not get there on my Sup Foil but enjoying the challenge. The Froth is on.

I will try to give my opinion with my limited experience (45 sessions), which should not be blindly trusted, as I didn't manage yet to get back to the peak pumping: This is what I can extrapolate from my limited experience, rather than direct advice from a master pumper.

- Pumping is much more precision-based than force-based. When you feel it work is when you manage to keep a laminar flow while going down, and you must then "milk" as much as possible, driving, gliding the wing as forwards as possible, and as "Jimmy Lewis Boards" said keep always a minimal speed. Thus I guess that pumping will need both a lot of practice, and being attentive to what is going on. I can imagine that somebody who tries to pump without trying to understand what is happening may never manage to get it right.

This is what naysayers do not understand: foil pumping is highly technical, and an art form in itself, far from a brute force hungtington hop. It is more akin to birds making use of air currents.

- However, pumping will be exhausting till your technique is near perfect, but force seems always be involved. A bit like pumping on a skate. sailboard or surfboard...

- You must never enter near stalling mode: you must always keep enough speed for your wing to lift you efficiently, without much drag. It seems thus immensely easier with huge wings, especially for heavier riders. From what I saw in video, David Kalama pumps on the flats only since he is on the 2nd generation big wings. Basically, with the new wings, you see people being able to go straight towards the beach without stalling on the flats before the waves. This was not possible before, unless for featherlight riders.Once your speed drops it's dead. "Jimmy Lewis Boards" advice is paramount.

- Reducing the swing weight of the board is important, because heavier boards numbs your feedback on what is happening, and makes the transition between the up and down phases less efficient. This said, getting on a 6'10" board after my 8'9" didn't magically enhance my pumping. The most important thing is to get the timing right, decreasing the board size will not make it happen for you.

- I have not yet tried different stabilizers. Maybe smaller stabilizers help the foil to be more nimble and help pumping? I don't know, Xavier Leroy seemed to have tried and said so.

- Paddling while pumping is quite efficient, especially for me that is not a good pumper. It helps keeping the mandatory speed, and acts as a timing aid to get a proper rhythm.

I have not mastered it but I have got back out a few times and almost made the turn however most the time I'm surfing in 20-30knots on shore and in a river mouth with incoming tide so I think most things are against me. Going shorter on the board helps a little but its defiantly 85-90% technique. I'm no were near giving any sort of advice but if its anything like pumping a traditional style skateboard then its a very fine line on getting it perfect.

Been foiling A LOT...these past 9 months, mainly sup but also - wind, kite and prone.
Jimmy Lewis and Piros are spot on IMHO, pointing out that shorter is better for pumping AND keeping enough speed and rhythm through the flats when connecting sections / waves is KEY! Am currently trying to put all the above tips into practise especially coming off the first wave with enough speed to connect x 2 or more...
Am also planing 2nd generation prone foil board which will be shorter, ( currently riding a 5'10"), probably with a concave deck for comfort and foot placement and two small deck pads, again for getting feet straight onto the right spot, and not having to deal with wax...

Such a fun and addictive extension of surfing... , really opens up whole new way of looking a waves.

The shorter boards make pumping a lot easier for sure but you also need to have a foil that is big enough for your weight. On our boards, the shorter it is, the closer to the tail the foil is mounted, so there is less tail that can touch the water when pumping. I'm still working on my pumping skills and have recently been able to connect a couple of waves that were close together. I can't go very far though on the 1440 sqcm foil. I'm getting a sample of our bigger 1750 cmsq wing soon and I think the bigger wing will make it easier.
Sam Pa'e was not able to pump on the original Maliko but pumps all over the place now on the Maliko 200. One thing to watch out for: I have been banging the paddle blade on my foil a bunch when I try to paddle too hard while pumping.
This video I recently posted shows how I'm kicking out and trying to pump back out a couple of times though I did not get very far (at 1:35). It's hard work!

Great video Robert and how good was that opening shot with the flying fish. Know what you mean by hitting the foil with your paddle you can see the shattered glass on my paddle from hitting the front wing whilst pumping and paddling and it throws you straight over the front.

Yea I'll third that I keep on hitting the wing, you have to take a really stupid looking wide stroke to avoid it. It's amazing how fast you stop when it happens it's like hitting a stone on a skateboard, I can see getting through a few blades from this!

Amazing how far we have come , this video is now 2 years old gaffa tapping a small kite foil wing onto my 8-6 Sup. We had absolutely no idea what works and look where we are at now. Talking about paddle strikes on XOS Sup foil wings.

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blueplanetsurf said..
One thing to watch out for: I have been banging the paddle blade on my foil a bunch when I try to paddle too hard while pumping.

Oh yes. I cracked my paddle pumping the Maliko 200. Quickly learned to swing wide when deep stroking (W-T did he say?)

I haven't hit with the IWA wing yet. Have only performed a Jerry Rig repair with aluminum tape so far.

Its worth trying to release your front hand if your not paddling and use your arms more to give your pump a little more momentum, some time I find It uses way less energy than trying to paddle.

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charlieuk said..
Its worth trying to release your front hand if your not paddling and use your arms more to give your pump a little more momentum, some time I find It uses way less energy than trying to paddle.

Great Tip.

Apparently everyone has come to the same conclusion about Whacking your paddle when paddling. Here is Dave Kalama's take:

Nice find Beasho , good little video.

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colas said..
- You must never enter near stalling mode: you must always keep enough speed for your wing to lift you efficiently, without much drag.

Here is an example: you can see how fast the foil stops at 0:35, the huge drag being I guess that the speed was not enough for an efficient lift/drag ratio. It says a lot of the technical level and physical strength of the rider, Cyril Coste, founder of Takuma (and Lokahi), to be able to paddle on the flat.

www.facebook.com/TakumaConcept/videos/776979865828814/

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Beasho said..

charlieuk said..
Its worth trying to release your front hand if your not paddling and use your arms more to give your pump a little more momentum, some time I find It uses way less energy than trying to paddle.

Great Tip.

Apparently everyone has come to the same conclusion about Whacking your paddle when paddling. Here is Dave Kalama's take:

I think this is were going a little longer with the mast is going to be a big benefit giving you a little more clearance when you need it most and your flying low. I have been planning it for a while but I think I'm going to get at least a 700mm or maybe 800mm to try

The pumping of the board is JUST PHYSICS as Piros suggested.

There is a combination of Conservation of Angular Momentum and Moment of Inertia.

This GIF clicked for me. To get the board pumping requires REVERSING the Angular Rotation of the board. Reversing the rotation (wiggling) is a function of Rotational Inertia. Rotational Inertia is a function Mass and of Length^2. Either the board is infinitely LIGHTWEIGHT or every Inch is exponentially more painful when it comes to pumping.

Watch which shapes win when it comes to rolling.

GIF apparently NOT working go here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia --> Motion in a fixed plane