Looking for foil pumping advice

[Wbrussow]

Hi all,
Today was my first time foiling. No access to wind or a boat right now, so I started with pumping from a dock. It feels like balancing a pogo stick on a mechanical bull. I would really like some advice. I think my rear foot is too far forward.
I am the guy in the white helmet.



Regards,
Wbrussow

[tomtom]

I think unless you are superman is impossible to pump without knowing how to foil first. Also not all foils are equally pumpable. Yours looks quite small for "free pumping"

[norcom]

If this is your first time foiling, you're doing pretty good! But tomtom is right, learn how to foil before learning how to pump. Though a few hundred/thousand? more attempts and you'll probably get it. It just takes a lot of practice to FEEL where the foil is and how it's reacting. Right now you're just jumping on it.

The easiest solution is a boat or a kite but since you don't have access to those, you need something with power to give constant pull. I've seen videos of people using a bike on the beach to get towed in. You can use a long bungee cord or a wakeboarding winch. You need something to pull you up and get going so you learn where to place your feet and how to FEEL the lift the foil gives you. It's not just jumping up and down on it.

As an observation from the video, you seem to be digging the front foot in; a lot. Unweigh it, let the foil come back up by itself. I used to swing my arms up and down violently to accomplish that but now learned how to do that with just my body. The one thing that helped me tremendously while learning to pump is a front foot strap but I didn't learn to foil with dock starts; I did that with a kite and learned to pump behind a jetski. Getting towed in and using the strap to lift the board up helps.

Other than power and watching all the videos, what size foil are you using? How much do you weigh? My old fat ass can only pump with the GoFoil M280 and the Maliko tail, preferably on the 4'2 Dwarfcraft board. Shorter/smaller boards with bigger wings are much easier.

[Peter_Frank]

I think you ARE superman, being able to pump like that a bit, till you explode away from the board, when out for the very first time on a foil

Dont think more about it, it will come superfast to you, with such talent - many kitefoilers having ridden for years, can not pump at all

Peter

[dave1986]

It's worth mentioning that it is a common misconception that pumping indefinitely or for long distances on flat water without any external propulsion is possible on most large foils.

The reality is that even the largest, highest aspect ratio foils can only be pumped long distances by the most experienced and fit riders... and even then 1 or 2 minutes of pumping would be exceptional.

So I think for long distance pumping you need 3 things:
1) The correct type of foil (typically approx 2000cm² and very high aspect).
2) Lots of practice and talent
3) High fitness level (being lighter is a big advantage too)

[slowboat]

If that is truly your first time ever on a foil, you are doing amazingly well. The vast majority of experienced foilers cannot get that far off a dock

[jaros]

If that is truly your first time ever on a foil, you are doing amazingly well. The vast majority of experienced foilers cannot get that far off a dock

My thoughts exactly! Congrats!!!

[tomtom]

I also agree - especialy on such small foil

[Wbrussow]

Thank you very much for the compliments, though I don’t feel like I deserved them. It is difficult!! But I had a blast!

The foil is a 1900cm^2 LP foil, and I weigh 165 before breakfast The board is a piece of plywood, 3/4inch thick, unfinished. It is a 20 minute project which is working as a temporary stand i while my other board is repaired.

This was technically my second time on a foil. The first was two days ago, where after 15 minutes of the above, the rails ripped out of the board. I think there was a lack of proper surface prep before bonding them in, as the just did not stick to the epoxy at all.

Board size and type is not an issue, in my opinion. I definitely pick up quite a bit of speed as I go. We kept at it for about 40 minutes after this video, and I was able to get at least a couple more pumps in. My problem is balance, which is why I think being towed would be good. But... I want to be able to tell my kids that when I learnt foiling, I didn’t have a boat!

[Wbrussow]

Hi all, thank you for the advice. Below is me after 5 sessions. What I realized, and it was said before many times is proper foot placement off the bat makes a huge difference. One thing I haven’t heard people say though, which made things “click” for me, was to not try and keep looking at the board. Once I started looking at the horizon, everything became easier.