Wing foil
Pump
Driving the foil up and down with your legs to generate forward speed — used to take off and to keep flying in a lull.
Also known as: pumping
Pumping is rhythmic loading and unloading of the foil. You weight the front foot to push the foil down, then unweight to let it rise; that oscillation converts vertical motion into forward thrust, similar to how a dolphin swims.
Two main uses:
- Take-off pump — before the wing or wind has enough power, you pump to get the board onto the foil
- Connection / link pump — between bumps or in a wind lull, pumping keeps you on the foil instead of settling back into the water
Downwind SUP foilers use pumping as their entire propulsion: paddle into a swell, pop onto the foil, then pump from one ocean bump to the next for kilometres at a time. It’s punishingly fitness-dependent but lets you ride foils with no wind and no wave power at all.