My new year resolution is to try and learn to pump ALOT better. Having used Foil drive to surf for 2 1/2 yrs I've been super lazy and cruised back to the take off zone. The carrot hasnt been there to learn to pump but I'm feeling the call. I can probably do around 10 good pumps on my daily surf foil 920cm3 8.5ar (75kg) foil and have connected the odd wave. My question for pump gods..

To crack connecting waves via pumping and not FD motor which do you think is the best/easiest/quickest method to learn this elusive skill?
A) Use my current surf setup with foil drive and just try harder(tbf I haven't tried that hard)

B) Buy a large pump foil and get really efficient with it (use FD as I don't have a dock) and then transfer to smaller foils the same as you would when learning any foil discipline.

Thanks and Happy NY all.

It is harder to pump with the weight of a FoilDrive on your board. Larger foil will help to a degree. If you can get a tow and learn on lighter gear it may help.

U can pump with foil drive. Would suggest you get good enough to connect 2-3 waves without turning on the foil drive before going pure prone foil. The foil is the most important. I learned to pump on waves with fd gen 1 with axis 1300 and 1201. Then moved down to the 1099/999. If I had to do it all over again I would have used code 1300 or 1540 as they are way better than axis in terms of pump and ease of control

Watch a video of a pro and try to emulate! In terms of gear, a down wind board winging made the biggest improvement for me as it taught me to bring my feet closer together to minimize the fore and aft movement for efficiency (and slow down the pump and glide more.) When I get back on my prone setup, I try to keep the same lower frequency pump combined with moving my back foot forward. Sometimes it just clicks and you can feel the board accelerate during the back foot push, other times it just feels like a heart attack jumping up and down trying to get the foil to rise! -Just get the motor out of the water and practise pumping exiting a wave while you still have a lot of speed.

What's your foil?

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Hwy1North said..
Watch a video of a pro and try to emulate! In terms of gear, a down wind board winging made the biggest improvement for me as it taught me to bring my feet closer together to minimize the fore and aft movement for efficiency (and slow down the pump and glide more.) When I get back on my prone setup, I try to keep the same lower frequency pump combined with moving my back foot forward. Sometimes it just clicks and you can feel the board accelerate during the back foot push, other times it just feels like a heart attack jumping up and down trying to get the foil to rise! -Just get the motor out of the water and practise pumping exiting a wave while you still have a lot of speed.

What's your foil?

Gong V3 Curve H Medium 920cm2. I'm a bit caught in a catch 22. I have used my gen 1 foil drive for 2 1/2 yrs and would say I'm pretty proficient on a wave but I've never gone after the pumping. I'm now keen to see if I can add this skill. I could probably find it easier on a bigger foil but this is the biggest I own. The others are smaller for winging.

Not familiar with that foil, put I don't see any reason that you would be held back by it at your weight of 75kg as long as you start pumping as I said, with speed and motor out of water.

Some foils like a tap tap glide, others a more rise and fall... lots of ways to describe technique, but the goal is to not loose any speed while gliding crouch down a little, then as the board is dropping down; stand quickly by appying pressure to feet front then back such that you bounce off the push of the foil being redirected up; on tip toes back foot, absorb the board by sitting; stand as the foil levels off and starts gliding again, repeat at a fequency appropriate for your speed/foil.

If you find when you push down the foil drops and your board crashes to the surface, you are going too slow for your foil, or are pushing too hard for the size, and probably pushing when the foil is still climbing. A larger foil, or one designed for pumping will give a broader sweet spot such that you can slow the pump and really push off. Really concentrate on not breaking the lift by angling the foil up too fast and/or applying weight when the foil isn't in the nose down phase.

Select to expand quote

Hwy1North said..
Not familiar with that foil, put I don't see any reason that you would be held back by it at your weight of 75kg as long as you start pumping as I said, with speed and motor out of water.

Some foils like a tap tap glide, others a more rise and fall... lots of ways to describe technique, but the goal is to not loose any speed while gliding crouch down a little, then as the board is dropping down; stand quickly by appying pressure to feet front then back such that you bounce off the push of the foil being redirected up; on tip toes back foot, absorb the board by sitting; stand as the foil levels off and starts gliding again, repeat at a fequency appropriate for your speed/foil.

If you find when you push down the foil drops and your board crashes to the surface, you are going too slow for your foil, or are pushing too hard for the size, and probably pushing when the foil is still climbing. A larger foil, or one designed for pumping will give a broader sweet spot such that you can slow the pump and really push off. Really concentrate on not breaking the lift by angling the foil up too fast and/or applying weight when the foil isn't in the nose down phase.

Awesome great advice! Thanks