Has anyone tried pumping on a wave using the same motion as on a shortboard, vs the usual up-and-down pumping we do on foil?
I experimented with pumping up the wave face today (up and towards out to sea on the upwards motion). I gained way more speed to outrun fast sections. Plus, it was an absolute blast! Anyone else had similar results or tips?
You mean actually riding the wave in the pocket?
Yeah, this seems to be something that gets missed by guys without a surf background. I really liked the short fuse Vypers for that back in the day, I get that same feel with the Sk8s on the shortest length fuse too.
No, going down the line on faster waves than your foil wants to naturally go, by pumping both vertically and horizontally as a shortboarder would pump to beat a section .
Like this :
You’re on a foil - no need to pump like that 
Ha! I guess it depends on the wave and foil
Yes!! Although I’m mainly on lake/river bumps downwinding or winging. But I absolutely try to pump like I’m surfing especially when I’m about to turn sharply. I feel like it taps into my surfing muscle memory and helps with form/balance.
It’s a gravity sport right? So anyway we can get free lift and have a longer downhill, the easier it will be right?
Pumping a surfboard, pumping a skateboard, pumping a foil- all the same general concept. Use your muscle to gain height and unload, then use control via edging, lift, steering, etc. to harness power of gravity and the wave’s power. Your video is a dude putting a lot of up and down energy to get extra lift from fins, load and unload the rail, and direct board quickly up the face into the pocket for wave energy. So on foil, redirect at top of wave from a bent leg carve, extend legs as you drop down the face, glide, slowly squat on a long bottom turn, repeat.
Erik talks about it on one of the podcasts at some point but it’s almost like a carving pump. Each time you exit a turn while carving you spring forward and create more speed.
That said, I just got back from Mister Bennetts’ foil camp in Fiji and one of the most consistent coaching points was that if you are pumping to stay on a wave, you aren’t riding it right.
Adam was trying to get us to stop pumping altogether unless we are leaving a wave to connect to another. The goal is to read the wave better and initiate turns at the right time/place to flow with the wave.
Highly recommend trying to ride a wave without a single pump - you’ll realize that pumping is a crutch holding you back from maximum enjoyment on the wave :).
Great info! Does this apply even if you need to generate more speed?
Yeah if you watch his clips or Jeremy Wilmotte (another coach there) they almost never pump. They are just constantly turning/carving to generate speed.
The first wave session with foil drive I turned on waves so much it really opened my eyes to the speed of repeated turns down the face, it’s like this:
Ok, this is silly. If your ever on a wave with this much face you are going very fast just sitting there. If you have to make a section and need a little extra speed just adding the gentle back foot tap is enough.
This isn’t a thing, not because it wouldn’t work but - because foils - we don’t need it to work.
This is the correct response 
totally agree that the ticket is to figure out how to work the turns to generate speed. Done right, the pump effect happens in each turn. Start high on the mast and weigh the foil hard going through the turn, then as you roll into the other turn you unweight the board and it comes up just like the upstroke of a pump to regain mast height going into the next turn. You can do s-turns with the very same weighting un-weighting action of a pump while generating speed and forward drive.
Isn’t the key to use a foil that is quite a bit faster than the wave you are riding, so it would give you the chance to make lots of turns, or to clear the section? Even the gutless waves of our little pond have plenty of energy, so everybody at ocean side should have absolutely no problem using a foil that would not need pumping. All the waves are different of course, so likely there are conditions that I know nothing about.
That foil for example would not work in such little waves if riding merely with the speed of the wave, but by doing lots of turns I keep the speed up, and keep the foil happy.
How was that camp? Was it all prone?