First time poster to the SUP forum, but long time reader....

My 9year old recently had her first go on a SUP paddling without me and is now hooked!!! She wants her own one so she can come out with me.

I currently have an 11'2" Naish 'dinosaur' - it must be 6 or 7 years old and is still going strong even after 3 major nose jobs and a myriad of bumps and scrapes. This is the one she has been using.

Is it possible to kill two birds at once by getting myself a smaller wave style board and one she can use??

I was thinking a Fanatic Fly or AllWave around 9'6" or similar as i could use either of these as a light-wind waveboard for windsurfing as well as a SUP.

My concern is the width for her - is it going to be too wide for her? I dont want to get a dedicated kids board just in case she changes her mind after 6 months or out grows it as I wont be able to use it.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

My first SUP was a Starboard Hero that I bought because it had an insert for a windsurf rig and was big enough for the family to use. It is 146 litres, 33" and 9 ft long. It ticked all the boxes except was too big for me in the surf after getting through the learning stage. So I picked up a Quatro 8'6" wave SUP while in Maui last year. It's great for me but even better for my daughter. She loves coming for a paddle with me and now when she windsurfs on the Starboard I can chuck a rig on the Quatro too. She's a few years older than your daughter but she's a light weight. Last summer at Gerroa we would paddle up crooked river to the beach and she got the hang of catching the tiny waves that break into the river mouth.
So yes I would say get the small board you want, the smaller the better, and she'll adapt to it. I wouldn't consider buying her a kid specific board because like you say they grow out of things pretty quickly.

Get a mini mal

my 6yr old rides a 5'10 fish surfboard as a SUP

http://www.sunjampaddleboards.com.au/surfboards-c36/

he loves it.

think about if your 6ft and ride a 10' x 32

so your boards is 44% of your height

and 160% of your height,

now apply that to your 9 yr old and you have some where to start

also ECS on the central coast do a kids soft SUP
and Sunny king does a hard board kids SUP

There are 3 rules to choosing a board:
1. Dem
2. Dem
3. Dem

The fly and the Allwave are both great boards. I have dem'd the 10'6 fly and the 9'6 Allwave at the same time and the difference huge. Same volume but the fly is way more stable but still surfs well, easy to turn and resists nose diving. You could also go the 10' or the 9'2

Don't know where you live but try and dem these wherever you can or you can hire them at sup hire Australia they have a few locations around the place.

The temptation will be to by a cheap brand on line but you have to dem first as these can look great but not surf so well. Better to pick up a good brand 2nd hand. You can check the Seabreeze buy and sell.

Cheers
Rory

My kids paddle my windsurf boards they love it and there cheap

Ecs kids board. Based off a shortboard shape. Soft top hard bottom 6kg 7'10 x 28 perfect board

Check this out.. www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Interesting-new-boards-from-GSI/

Thanks for all the feedback - I think I'll demo a couple of boards for her (and me!!!).

Select to expand quote

pohaku said...
Ecs kids board. Based off a shortboard shape. Soft top hard bottom 6kg 7'10 x 28 perfect board

What price do these boards go for?

Select to expand quote

Coastie said...

pohaku said...
Ecs kids board. Based off a shortboard shape. Soft top hard bottom 6kg 7'10 x 28 perfect board

What price do these boards go for?

I sell them $850 including fins leggy and adjustable paddle