It looks like the Progression 200 is all there is in the Uni lineup. Will it work for learning dockstarts? (I’m 190lbs / 86kg) with a Katana 750mm mast and Progression 13.5" & 14.5" tails.
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Are you a good pumper already?
Probably the 250 is a better bet for learning
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Beginner to intermediate. Not efficient yet.
What do you think?
I like the idea of the Prog 200 over the Hyper 250 because I can still surf it well on small days.
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Although patrick is close to the same size as you, he is no longer …learning dock starting. he is an accomplished foiler.
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The reason I asked… I’m shocked what good foilers can dock start. I saw someone beach start a takuma 980 in the dock start group on FB. So impressive.
This is how I see it for my weight group 190-200lbs.
Beginner pumper 2000-1700 sqcm
Intermediate pumper 1600-1200 sqcm
Advanced (with a good dock) 1199 and below
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Dock starting is hard. You have a half of a split second to transition between your feet hitting the board unbalanced to pumping away cleanly.
Get the biggest foil you can.
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Great summary. That makes sense. I would say I’m a low-intermediate. We have been pumping a fair bit letting go of the seadoo rope and in the surf, I’m starting to regularly connect waves. When I exit the wave with speed I am able ot often pump 50m off the back. However, generating my own speed or carrying speed when I lose balance momentarily is still stuff I need to work on (hence the dock starts). To be honest my technique needs work. My arms still often end up above my head when I lose balance or make adjustments. 
I ended up ordering the Progression 200 and long fuse to go with the 14.5" tail. I figure that setup will give me the best chance for dock starting while still being able to use it for surf. I looked at the Hyper 250 because it seems like it pumps slightly better, but it can’t surf nearly as well.
Perhaps someone who knows more than me can chime in but I’m not a huge fan of longer fuses for pumping. I find that the longer fuses are harder to pump out of a hole and the slower cadence throws me off for some reason. My $0.02 (worth significantly less with inflation).
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How experienced/efficient of a pumper are you? Thanks!
The 200 is totally dock start-able once you dial in your pumping a bit. It’s got great low end for its size. Just gotta find a dock that you can get a good quick moving start on.
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I’m good but not insane or anything. I’ve only had it a couple weeks but on my PP170 (Med fuse) I can go well over a mile on shore runners. I’d expect to be able to go a lot further once I dial it in. I could link 3-4 waves on a Cab800 before that.
Part of my dislike for the longer fuses might be that I’m in the surf which means a lot bigger speed range as opposed to consistent speed/cadence. I have very little experience dock starting.
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Please let us know how it turns out!
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For pumping - Think of fuse length like gears on a car. Short is low and long is high. Short fuses let you get out of the hole and have torque. Long fuses cruise and are easy to keep at speed. Big foils like shorter fuses as long fuses feel like you’re pushing super hard to move the foil through the water. Smaller foils I like longer fuses for pumping if you have good exit speed from a wave. You can also change tail sizes as you go short to long. Short bigger and long smaller.
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I recently picked up a hyper250 to learn dock starting/practice pumping and ultimately improve my prone sessions on the progression 170. The goal is to dock start the 170, but not there yet. 250 going great, can consistently get back to the dock. I run both wings on the med fuse, prog 14 tail, katana 75, but actually have a short fuse also. Sounds like you are suggesting I should run the hyper250 with the short fuse? Any separate tips for dock starting the 170, compared to the 250? 145lbs, North Carolina coast. Thanks!
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Maybe just run a bit faster