I found the true secret to pumping. Bigger wingspan. That’s it.
I could barely get a couple of waves with either my old ass 1350 cm^2/77 cm WS/4.8 AR foil, or my fast and carvy but barely pumpable 785 cm^2/80 cm WS/8 AR, and I just got a 1100cm^2/91cm/7.5 AR, and let me tell you, it’s a WORLD of difference.
I’ve only gotten one session with it yet, and still make lots of mistakes but oh boy! I’m suddenly pumping out the back and getting maybe one minute on foil total. I’ve really understood how this becomes a cardio game, and some of the nuances that have been talked about here.
Moving your back foot for pumping vs surfing, controlling the cadence, getting out of the “hole”. Suddently everything became more obvious. I’m sure a 100cm or bigger wingspan makes a huge difference too.
I did find that the bigger the foil, the slower it’s “natural cadence” seems to be. I feel that my small foil needs really fast pumps when approaching the stall speed, which is barely recoverable for me right now. And it NEEDS to go fast. You cannot pump if you don’t exit the wave with a lot of speed, meanwhile, the bigger new foil is “acceleratable” through pumping, so seem to be easier to correct.