Yeah I’ll share what I have and let you crack at it, it’s quite entertaining.
honestly, I’ve been amazed by Modal (.com), I’ve used $9 of the $30 free credits running it on A100. Worth getting your GPU running though.
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Has anyone played the game “Baby Steps”? This stick figure learning to pump reminds me of that 
Do you think he means the force required to jump up to the steps vertical height - or standing looking upstairs, then jumping up and forwards to land on the next one? Maybe I’m just over thinking it…
I think just the general idea of a jump with 2 feet vs 1 foot at a time, and jumping vs pushing down
Stand in a surf stance. (Sideways to steps) jump up steps. (Or a box jump) That’s the same as pumping. The more effort you use to jump the better.
I think this video makes it pretty clear, watch the second half and you can imagine someone neatly launching up stairs (imagine them jumping towards you, ie out the screen)
and then watch this which is probably the whackiest technique I came across, and you get the idea (respect for doing it in 2017 on the gear at the time)
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The second one very clearly shows … It’s not an ollie, it was never an ollie, stop referring to anything in foiling as an ollie!
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Can’t wait to check it! It can finally be the moment I get hands on with reinforcement learning hahaha
I revisited Yvon vite’s video that you linked, Matt, and found a huge unlock for me. It’s the forward hip thrust that he’s exaggerating in the thumbnail. I’m now easily generating speed and glide, and have also easily dropped down to my smallest KT Atlas 145 rear, whereas with the various hopping techniques I had to be extremely delicate when going smaller than the Nomad 190 rear. I’m now feeling the foil slide forward under my feet as my feet catch up with my hips, rather than hopping up to unweight it. There’s still an element of unweighting but nothing like beforehand. The cardio is also nothing like beforehand.
66 years old, 90kg plus a 4-3 wetsuit, Amos 55 litre 5’x18” Sultan Prone and 34 litre Nano 4’1”x19”. Testing has been on flat water with a homemade paddle assist, using KT Nomad 980, Atlas 1340 and 1130. Tails used were Nomad 190 and 155 and Atlas 145, using medium and short fuselages.
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that’s cool, for a long time I’ve been thinking that the hip movement from surfing applies to foiling with the arms going forward instead of back, but the idea translates. I wonder how you’d recreate this cardboard slide drill for foiling
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Straps: this is super interesting. Pumping in straps always looks really awkward and inefficient.
In this clip, Kai Lenny is pumping pretty well in straps, but the front knee is completely static. Look at 2:41 on slowmo, super weird where the front leg is basically not doing any work
I see it differently then you, i see him pushing and pulling on his front leg more. I have use front strap only for about a year and i found it easier to pump and my turns are more lock in.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but is it the bigger foil, the slower the pump cadence? And the smaller, the faster cadence you need?
I was wondering if people find a specific foil size they like to pump based on its cadence.
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yes, you’re right. but the fuse legnth and the tail size makes a huge difference for cadence, basically the longer fuse/bigger the tail, lower the cadence, but also you go way slower, so it pumps less efficient which is bad for distance. the savings you get from going bigger tail or longer fuse isnt worth the tradeoff usually for lower cadence. youre better off going with the smallest possible fuse and tail, and upsizing the front wing if you want to lower cadence. my setup for pumping around in waves is the code 1250r xs, 120r, and now the f4 1250 orca xs100. its cadence is not super slow, so i cant really pump for more than a minute, but i cover alot of distance as its pretty fast.
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I’m a year into proneing and have been on uni gear. I have solely been using a medium fuse and their 14.5 prog tail for stability. Also been riding mostly an 1130 Evo 175. Ive jus been noticing that I sometimes over pump the 175 and it ruins the ride. Ive been jumping onto the 1000 Evo 155 and find that it accepts the cadence I like to pump at much better. I know I just have to control the 175 better and need to trust its glide it more. But I guess what I’m trying to get at with being my goal is to learn how to pump better, I feel like I want to stick w the 155 unless its really flat and need the glide of the 175.
I do what to start experimenting w a shorter fuse and different tails but I kinda want to feel the difference w the front wings first before I start messing w the other gear.
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Yeah definitely. I learned to prone & pump on the bigger wings with medium fuse, felt like I was really rushing & “choking” the wing with the cadence. Now I ride 740x & 810x with short fuse, and don’t get me wrong I can still only get maybe 3-1, but the cadence feels more comfortable.
(ps, not saying that immediately downsizing will help your pumping - I just downsized as a natural progression, and the pumping just felt more comfortable as nice little bonus).
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I’ll definitely try again the small stab I have as the last time I tried it was months ago and I think my pumping has improved since. Thanks!
First impressions are pretty nice for pumping, it does feel way more pitch unstable everywhere else and I’m sure I’ll have to get used to it. But overall I felt it could improve my pumping on the long run, I think the small stab will be my go to for prone foiling, let’s see if that’'s the key to 1min+ rides.
How to pump over a wave
Broken waves
I think if they are broken then just gliding / jumping them, as the back side is really turbulent and you need to wait way longer than you think before it’s “safe” to pump. Limited by mast height, you will struggle to get over a waver much taller than your mast height because then the foil needs to go through the turbulence, which is not impossible, but with more wave energy it gets harder
Big and unbroken
If they are big and unbroken, then try get a bit of height with a pump, but you can’t be too aggressive because you breach through the back, so just a bit. In this case also there is the most “negative lift” where you need to anticipate the drop that occurs, and get ready to backfoot pressure to keep the nose up. The same for kicking off an unbroken wave, if you nosedive or can’t pump it’s because you didn’t anticipate this energy downdraft or whatever. This to me is the most interesting thing about waves. Lift on front, drop on back.
here is a nice video showing how critical the process is, the wave drops away rapidly, so you need to get it just right:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYG8Ia7MRq1/
In this clip, notice how you go from almost breaching, to almost sinking the nose. I aim to just clear the wave with the board, and glide down the back without too much front foot
Choppy mess
For both above situations, it is for wide spaced waves, with a few metres at least between where you can safely pump and gain speed.
When the bumps/chop is at the same period as your pump, or messier and less predictable, that is where it gets way trickier, then there is less risk of breaching, but much higher risk of pumping on a down draft, or gliding when you should be pumping, I described that here, but basically, pump the face, glide until the next face as per above above
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