This is a great article by Paul Davis from NSW Central Coast in Free Sail in the early 90s.
I've always struggled with pumping short boards, while long boards have been fine. I wonder given my weight over 110kg whether it works better on a short board to set the boom high and concentrate on deweighting the board. Pumping seems to unsettle the board and stop me putting weight on the sail. Yes a few pumps but mostly concertrating on hanging out off the sail. (please dont tell me I wrong unless you too are over 110kg, and windsurfing in marginal conditions with big sails. I know very well it works for to 60 to 95kg range)
However with foils recently pumping really works for me, so I can now see what all the noise was about.

So I dragged this article out and then thought to share it.
I have some others more focused on short boards if there is interest, but this one is by far the most comprehensive.

Great article! thumps up

A pretty hard technique, takes ages to master. About 10 years in wsurf and still struggling to properly pump but it does make a difference.
I don't know if it's just me but it drains energy alot and on non racing conditions wonder if i should reserve energy or go for it.

Old ws bud was 275lbs.,used a 137 liter board and 6.3 when I was fully powered on 95 liter, 5.1, at 150lbs. We competed in over 7 speedtrials, and we planed at the same time.
His best pumping method was to keep the board dead flat, fan the back hand, while unweighting the feet with each pump while keeping the board DEAD FLAT.

Thanks for the tip Lee. I will definitely try that. There are of course stages. First get fast enough so that you can flatten the board without submarining. Being heavy at this stage there is a great deal of power to contend with and I think I often forget to flatten out. Also finding a pumping style that still allows to hang out off a high boom. The high boom seems to be the biggest factor for me. With as much lift below the boom as above the sail is more of a wing. A lower boom pushes down hard on the board through the mast foot. I think that having the sail really set low on the extension helps this as well. Even 3 cm at the downhaul tack unbalances the forces. If its adjusted right to the bottom its easier to get the boom further up the cut out. I will have to try the fanning move. Was "Old ws Bud" using the harness, or only once planning?

Thanks for posting this. A really well written and nicely illustrated article.

I can't get proper pumping to work for heavy me . If I can't get going in three pumps it's not going to happen .
my technique is to catch a little wind chop deep down wind and use the force If that doesn't work I've just lost another 5m downwind.

I find that having a higher boom helps me pump more efficiently and take the weight of my legs. I'm a lazy pumper, usually do it hooked in (waist harness) unless I'm feeling energetic.

Subject is sooo misleading...

High booms, set sail baggier than for little folkes, pump out of harness for bigger stroke, and windsurfing is suppose to be work..not like laying in bed daydreaming.

Pumping hooked in leads to getting launched and you should not easily be able to hook in while slogging. Harness line should be 6-12" away from hook when not planing.

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Hooksey said..
Subject is sooo misleading...

Hey Hooksey, sorry bout that. You might have got lost on the way to another forum.

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Imax1 said..
I can't get proper pumping to work for heavy me . If I can't get going in three pumps it's not going to happen .
my technique is to catch a little wind chop deep down wind and use the force If that doesn't work I've just lost another 5m downwind.

Hi Imax1. Fill me in on an approx weight and what board? Some boards surf great and really "feel" the wind chop. The Kona one for example I would say is one of the best for me, it just rips down any lump. BUT I also find sinky short boards really don't want to respond to surfing down wind chop for me. Are you in an area with really big chop?

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LeeD said..
Pumping hooked in leads to getting launched and you should not easily be able to hook in while slogging. Harness line should be 6-12" away from hook when not planing.

Hi LeeD. Are you also the wrong side of 110kg? I wish I could find the old articles but Ive also seen reputable articles discussing the issues of unweighting the board for the heavyweight. Its not about being lazy because for example with a foil, pumping like a lightweight on a regular board works super well. Also certainly works on a raceboard, especially with some CB. If my arms grew out of my hips it would be fine. I could hang my centre of gravity off the boom while pumping unhooked. Perhaps I can get the effect by hanging down low off the boom, swinging under the boom. Its just very difficult to keep the board trimmed like that.

Pumping is about bridging the speed between displacement speed and planning speed.
For a given board the planning speed is substantially higher for a heavy person as the hull lift needs to match the weight.
Also for a given board the power to achieve a given displacement speed is proportional to the weight (actually the cross section area but that is proportional to weight)

So the gap between displacement speed, specifically the power to achieve that displacement speed and a much higher planning speed, is substantially worse for the heavy person. I suspect that the much bigger gap between displacement speed at a reasonable power and the higher planning speed is just not bridgeable by using the same technique as for a light weight where the displacement speed is very close to the planning speed.

So a technique that would be less efficient for a light weight, might help a heavy weight. That is to try to fly off the rig to effectively deweight the board so planning speed is acheived at a lower speed, and displacement speed requires less force.

Can this weighting be done out of the harness. if not, can you pump in the harness, even if it is risky, anything if it works.

There is an article covering heavy weights in windsurfing and their answer is that heavy weights should just practice sub planing until the wind is consistently over 15 to 18 knots. They simply say its not possible. Being a NSW windsurfer, thats unacceptable!

My windsurfing friends include Dave Gould-275 lbs., Dave Megassey-265 lbs., Bob Bogdanovich-235lbs., Ferris Hamilton-235lbs. and at least a half dozen more heavyweights who competed in speed trials events.
I was no. 2 Nationally to Glen McKinley in the sub 185 lbs. class....lightweights, at 145 lbs.

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Heavy1 said..
This is a great article by Paul Davies from NSW Central Coast in Free Sail in the early 90s.
I've always struggled with pumping short boards, while long boards have been fine. I wonder given my weight over 110kg whether it works better on a short board to set the boom high and concentrate on deweighting the board. Pumping seems to unsettle the board and stop me putting weight on the sail. Yes a few pumps but mostly concertrating on hanging out off the sail. (please dont tell me I wrong unless you too are over 110kg, and windsurfing in marginal conditions with big sails. I know very well it works for to 60 to 95kg range)
However with foils recently pumping really works for me, so I can now see what all the noise was about.

So I dragged this article out and then thought to share it.
I have some others more focused on short boards if there is interest, but this one is by far the most comprehensive.

Select to expand quote

Heavy1 said..

Imax1 said..
I can't get proper pumping to work for heavy me . If I can't get going in three pumps it's not going to happen .
my technique is to catch a little wind chop deep down wind and use the force If that doesn't work I've just lost another 5m downwind.

Hi Imax1. Fill me in on an approx weight and what board? Some boards surf great and really "feel" the wind chop. The Kona one for example I would say is one of the best for me, it just rips down any lump. BUT I also find sinky short boards really don't want to respond to surfing down wind chop for me. Are you in an area with really big chop?

115 kg, , 120 in wetsuit , very big wind chop . On all my boards , even the smallest , still a floater ( just ) . Almost straight downwind , one or two big pumps and if I catch it , swing back in front of the wave and hope I got enough speed to push on the fin for half a second and get some lift out of the water then downwind again staying on the wave to get in the straps . And then I'm off...
So it's not really pumping as sutch .
On super flat water I have a much harder time trying to get going when it's marginal.

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LeeD said..
My windsurfing friends include Dave Gould-275 lbs., Dave Megassey-265 lbs., Bob Bogdanovich-235lbs., Ferris Hamilton-235lbs. and at least a half dozen more heavyweights who competed in speed trials events.
I was no. 2 Nationally to Glen McKinley in the sub 185 lbs. class....lightweights, at 145 lbs.

My issues are solved by 15knots plus, which is the usual domain of speed trials. Its that darn persistent east coast 10 to 12knots which is the challenge for me anyway. However true it also pays not to be lazy in stronger winds. Ill try all these tips thanks.

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Imax1 said..

Heavy1 said..

Imax1 said..
I can't get proper pumping to work for heavy me . If I can't get going in three pumps it's not going to happen .
my technique is to catch a little wind chop deep down wind and use the force If that doesn't work I've just lost another 5m downwind.

Hi Imax1. Fill me in on an approx weight and what board? Some boards surf great and really "feel" the wind chop. The Kona one for example I would say is one of the best for me, it just rips down any lump. BUT I also find sinky short boards really don't want to respond to surfing down wind chop for me. Are you in an area with really big chop?

115 kg, , 120 in wetsuit , very big wind chop . On all my boards , even the smallest , still a floater ( just ) . Almost straight downwind , one or two big pumps and if I catch it , swing back in front of the wave and hope I got enough speed to push on the fin for half a second and get some lift out of the water then downwind again staying on the wave to get in the straps . And then I'm off...
So it's not really pumping as sutch .
On super flat water I have a much harder time trying to get going when it's marginal.

Will definitely give it a go. Thanks.

Same thing applies to all windsurfing and even 105 lbs. sailors.
While you are befuddled by 13 mph breeze with 8 meter sail and SLW, those tiny tykes are facing the same 13 on a 4.2 and 55 liter, 52cm wide board.

For me there is no use pumping unless I'm going to get out of the hole and start planing.

I prefer to "flutter" the sail, and pump the fin.

Weight is in the rig, over the mast base. You are hooked in and almost catapulting, with front hand well forward, etc. Then you "flutter" the sail which seems to "loosen" up, er, something and gets the air flowing better.

Meanwhile I pump the fin, and the board a bit too, until it pops out of the hole.

If there is any chop or swell obviously catch that at the same time.

All-in-all it's a gentle, delicate, feely way to get onto the plane using more of a maximum efficiency approach over muscles.