Rider: evlPanda jnr
Weight: 20kgs??? (better ask his mum)

Board: 155l Starboard Go (interestingly this is the 3rd starboard in my garage now, purely coincidental)

Rig: Ezzy kids 1.5 and 2m

Hmm, there's no centreboard. Issue? I read you can get side pods or similar.
What fin for this setup?

HELP!

try and find a fin panda and cut it down to 10-12cm. no point getting something new as it will be run aground more time then you'd like.

personally i think the lack of centreboard is an issue but i hasn't stopped others. i found that my kids had no chance of sailing back and forth without a centreboard.

they just keep sailing off the wind. oyu might have a different outcome though.

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Gestalt said...
they just keep sailing off the wind.

must be gps freaks... those weird bastards are always sailing downwind

do you really have to ask ? Haven't you read the latest brochure ?

YOU NEED A QUAD

I cannot believe that you are trying to teach somebody on a single fin.

Get a quad, and your kids will be sprayin' the lip in less than 2 hours 12 minutes.

Whooooaaa wait a minute -

Quads are now out. You can't expect to learn on a quad, what are you trying to do ?

You need a thruster. Got to be a thruster, definetly a thruster.

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Gestalt said...

try and find a fin panda and cut it down to 10-12cm. no point getting something new as it will be run aground more time then you'd like.

personally i think the lack of centreboard is an issue but i hasn't stopped others. i found that my kids had no chance of sailing back and forth without a centreboard.

they just keep sailing off the wind. oyu might have a different outcome though.

Yes, now I'm thinking about the centreboard, or lack of. There are some sidepods for low wind you can get for the Go. Anyone familiar with?

Also the footstrap positions are wrong on the GO for a kid, but I don't expect him to be getting into those in the next 12 months.

I'd get a genuine kids' board if I could find one. I tend to be frugal and buy 2nd hand.

Gday Panda,

Have a go at building your own centreboard for the Go - see this thread for details:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Gear-for-Kids/

They work really well - i have taught lots of adults on my old formula board using this "super-sucker" centreboard that i made out of a plastic cutting board and a glass carrier suction cups.

Good luck with Junior Panda - let us know how you go.

Cheers
James

Excellent. Thanks. I figured there was some way to easily stick something on the bottom. Not perfect, but this isn't Formula 1.

Hey Gesty, perhaps WindWanderers could entertain the idea of a Kid's day? We wouldn't need much wind!

Otherwise I'll be down at KFC (near the Train) most of Summer.

Or rout a slot in the bottom, bung in a fin box with exoxy and q-cell

$50 to do it right and you can fit smaller "centreboards" as they progress

I really think that it is too soon to be thinking about tacking and going upwind. These very small rigs don't provide enough mast foot pressure anyway. Tacking is a chore. Little kids need to get time on the water and enjoyment to persist with windsurfing. I would make life easy for them. I have now taught two young kids and feel that a centre fin is just not necessary. When they first start, they should always learn to point off the wind to get going and so avoid getting pulled forward or the sail getting pulled out of their hands. Centre fins will make the board round up into wind making the sail much harder to hold onto. As they develop stronger sail control, and they graduate to a sail that actually has some mast foot pressure they can then start learning to tack and upwind sailing. I have a video of my 5 year old daughter learning to windsurf in Bonaire. The kids there are all taught to gybe only. You can see some great gybing from her on her first few days. There is also a tack in the video but you can see how difficult it is for her to achieve a turn this way with her 1 metre rig. The board took a long time to turn and then she had to push it around with her feet. The gybes were fast and effortless and allowed her to get a feel for what she was doing. I have definitely changed my ideas about teaching kids and now honestly think that it would be the wrong way to go using a centre fin. It does of course mean a lot of walking of the board upwind. It is worth it though because if they don't get a feeling of accomplishment they won't want to keep going. It's all over then!



For evlPanda jnr: The board will be perfect - I agree with the fin size as Gestalt advised (10-12 cm). You won't need 110 kids board for a while (maybe next year). Teach him to uphaul, reach over and across, step back behind the mast and then sheet in. When in trouble let go with the back hand. Practice this drill at home to get it into muscle memory before going on the water. Make sure he knows all the terms and instructions that you are going to use on the water: Sheet in/sheet out, mast forward/back, step back, front/back hand, front of the board/back of the board. To do a gybe get him to hold the uphaul and lean the mast forward and help turn the board with his feet. Do lots on the board at home before going out on the water. This increases his chances of instant success!