Hi folks,

My son has just turned 8 and has been surfing since Xmas on a 7ft softboard.
He's picked it up quickly and can paddle into small crumbly waves and stand up.

How soon should he have a crack at a fibreglass short board?
I expected he would be on the softboard until next summer, but kind of curious to see if he can click with the proper board. I don't want to dent his confidence, but I see young grommies on glass boards all the time that look the same age.

My biggest board is a 6'3" fish.

thoughts?

Cheers

Can he turn on it? That's a big indicator I think. If he can turn on the board it means he's confident on it and can probably graduate to a fibreglass board of similar length.

I don't think there needs to be a specific period on a soft board before moving to a fibreglass board... I learnt on a fibreglass board...

I would however teach him about the dangers of the board pinging back and tell him to cover his head when he comes up from falling off...

I don't see the harm in picking up a short board now for him, if he doesn't pick it up or isn't having as much fun he can always very easily go back to his softboard. Nothing wrong with going between the 2 boards and slowly him getting used to the short board over time rather than throwing him straight on to it, loosing confidence and loosing his like for the sport.

the sign for me was when he wanted to be able to duck dive and expressed a desire to get out the back. The soft board has its limitations and it sounds like your grom may have reached that stage, my youngest has spent the summer on one of my kneeboards but is still happy to be pushed in and dragged out by Dad so i'll wait until wants to have a go on the 5'0 his brother got as his first "real" board.

I was advised to skip the softboard from the beginning. I didn't see too many problems. They seem keen to want to duck dive pretty early too I reckon.
Depends on the kid, how keen and in my mind,, the sort of surf you get them into.

I found when my kids surfed with there friends they tended to keep congregating together and even running into each other.

Both kids now ride glass boards and they are lazy and still make me push them often..For my daughter i just picked up a glass board for the right price and for my son it was more about turning up and down the face. The softy just was to slow to react for him..

He (9) actually now rides an old knee board and loves it..Also he can really scamper out the back on in when a big set comes so that is a bonus..

Great answers guys.
i guess I will give him a go on it sooner rather than later.
suppose the next question is, should I go with the bigger of my boards for stability, or smaller to align with what someone of his size should be riding?
i have 5'11, 6'2 and 6'3

Yep a least they come in handy for something bakesy my young fella rides my old island board reckons its like being on pops boat

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qwerty said..

Great answers guys.
i guess I will give him a go on it sooner rather than later.
suppose the next question is, should I go with the bigger of my boards for stability, or smaller to align with what someone of his size should be riding?
i have 5'11, 6'2 and 6'3

Let him ride all three and see which one he likes best /is easiest to ride or more importantly he enjoys the most!
at 8 there shouldn't be a huge difference in the paddle power of those boards if they are similar shapes it will be turning and feel!
If he is up and running in such a short time your issue won't what type of board he rides ,although if he is asking to ride your boards i would be making the tradeoff between letting him ride them, versus practicing some basic surf survival skills,(ie making him swim in occasionally /teaching him that he can hold his breath much longer than any wave can hold him down/ floating around outside the break without touching his board for five or 10 mins)installing some confidence.... and more importantly " the mowing "!! If i couldn't sneak away early enough before my mum would catch me ,it was amazing how quickly i could run the victa around or put the bins out if it was offshore and there was swell

Don't have much choice when your dads a shaper My little guy on his 7th birthday Definitely a mini Dave

Keep riding both