Pumping Technique Help

I’ve been progressing my pumping to where I can connect 2-3 waves together but I feel like my technique still needs some work. I’m pretty exhausted after a few waves linked together. My thoughts after watching this video were I need to compress a little more and have a smoother pump less twitchy. Any help is appreciated.

I actually think your pumping looks totally fine. This might be one of those rare times when you just need better gear? Is that board super heavy? I dont know much about Naish wings but another foil could be better.

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Looks to me like you are riding too low on your mast while pumping. The closer your wing gets to the surface of the water the easier it is to pump.

Test the limits to learn how high you can ride on your mast before breaching.

Also don’t forget to breathe. I try to make sure that I take a breath with each pump.

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IMO pump under a minute is 90% tech & 10% endurance. Above a minute becomes mostly endurance I’m finding. Adding 10-15 seconds of time to a wing takes several months of consistent water time.

I was stuck at 2-3 waves. Then got to 5-6. I added dock starting to get through the next plateau. Now 6-8. I was messing around recently and to my giant dock start wing (axis 1150) out in tiny waves and did 29 minutes. Not sure how many waves that was. I’m 43 and 200lbs. I’m a few years in, results may vary.

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Yes board is a touch on the heavy side at 15lbs it’s 8’ long but makes flat water pop ups easy. Maybe time for new gear

Thanks for the info. Looks like I just gotta keep at it with some more training

Thanks I’ll try riding as high as I can get. Feels a little scary up high but way more efficient. Also good point, I may not be breathing right as I’m 100% focused on staying up.

your board is fine. The foil looks a bit slow though. For sure the main issue is not gear - you need to be higher on the mast. Really work on that, it will make all the difference to ride up high as much as possible.

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As my pumping technique has improved (exit the wave with speed, stay high on the mast, etc.) my current issue it not paying attention to my breathing. I can pump a lot longer when I focus on breathing while pumping.

Anyone have any recommendations on breathing patterns while pumping?

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Thank you for all the advice. I have been out every day trying my hardest and today I broke the 2min mark!

I think the biggest changes I made were to stay higher on the mast and breathing, which in turn helped me slow my pumping rhythm down and save energy. The other adjustments I made were to not ride the wave as far in (Exit with speed) and to not go too far out (Stay in the surf zone). A final thing was that I became really determined. Before if I hit a weird chop or had a bad pump I would just give up. This time I would power through it and just do a few power pumps to recover or give myself a boost with my paddle if I lost too much speed.

Here is a dawn patrol clip of the ride. I connected 5 waves together! Thanks again.

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One final update. New Record 4 min 50 secs. I am keeping at it.
Today I put on a little larger tail wing which seemed to even out my big front wing better. Went from a 160cm to a 200cm tail wing. Made it less twitchy and let me be able to pump through some choppy/uneven water better.
There was also a SE wind blowing about 5-8mph which helped give me a little push. Almost like a mini down winder. Thanks again for all the tips!

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One more update if anyone ever finds this thread. Made a new record today 14 min 55 secs on foil in small waves. 1800 HA naish front wing with a 160 tail. Biggest things I’ve been working on.

  1. Recovery pumps. You make a mistake and get low on the mast, learning how to recover with a few power pumps
  2. Riding high - when exiting the wave get up high and stay up high is a true energy saver
  3. Rest on a wave - if I have to pump a while to get back out I just let the wave do the work to rest and recover
  4. Rhythm - Keeping a good pace and feeling that sweet spot for your wing saves energy
  5. Hop - I watched a video that said focus more on the hop of the pump than the push down, that helped.

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Great job. I am working on a similar goal. I have been experimenting and am finding that going longer fuse or larger tail isn’t helping me. The shortest possible fuse and smallest possible tail at least makes the pump less effortless. Maybe it’s different with brands, I’m on code 1300 but I will get the 1540. Probably around 3-4 minutes right now

Thanks! Yes I agree I also noticed a shorter fuse and smaller tail make a huge difference. The larger tail made it so much harder to pump. It just wanted to keep the wing level. 3-4 minutes is great! I’ve also noticed significant changes in my times based on the conditions. My perfect conditions on the east coast of FL are small swell 1-2’ and light offshore wind 5-8 knots to help with the pump back out. We rarely get that so I usually foil in 5-15 knots onshore and chop! haha. I think going up a wing size is a good idea for you. I notice a big difference between my 1400 and 1800. Keep at it!

From your original video it looks like you just needed more energy in the water so you can take a break now and then. Nobody can flat water pump an 8’ 15# board for very long :nerd_face: