How to teach kids..what we learnt at VIC kids club

For the Perth guys who are setting up kids club.

This is no means authoritative and other people will have different views but this is what we learnt from teaching kids over three ish seasons... (we run a weekly/fortnightly session all through summer and we've been doing it three years - credit to Jerzy for being the guy who runs it - I just turn up and teach)

This worked for kids from 6 up to 12

Very light winds (think only just making ripples)
Board with some resistance in the middle (centre fin on windsup) or daggerboard - ideally a board that they paddle about on so they know where to stand etc
Tiny fin at back (boom is very short and they can't sink tail - therefore they can't turn upwind by raking sail if fin stops board from sliding)
Sail somewhere where you can walk upwind - and get used to the idea that you will be walking upwind
Obviously aim for somewhere where they are in their depth

Teaching

Explain all the words that you're going to use on the water before you are on the water
Explain the wind direction every time, on the beach before you launch
Don't talk too much
Don't talk in sentences (see below)
Don't worry about bad habits - kids seem to form and reform habits all the time. It's only dumb adults that get entrenched
Don't worry about the little bits between the main techniques eg how they climb the uphaul to get their hands on the mast is irrelevant.
Talk them into a sailing position and moving but then get them to relax afterwards (because they often end up tense after being set up moving)
Teach them to gybe first (little sails don't exert much leverage so a gybe where you swing it around the front is faster because of leverage). Don't call it a gybe - they don't care - this is boring.
Point out which end of the board is the front

Physically - never support a child upright or hold onto a board. If they need to be put in the right position, then give them a shove. The reason is that kids are smart and you are stronger. If you offer a solid thing to lean against, then they commit all their weight to it and you realise that you have an eight year old hanging off your arm and a board drifting down wind.
Loads of encouragement
For the first run a kid does - do not follow them walking, if anything WALK BACKWARDS because it gives them a better sense of achievement of how far they have sailed...
Aim to point them at a beach (it's safer and you can ask them to aim at landmarks)
Encourage them to lean back and use their body weight by having mini tugs of war

Use ten commands (get everyone to agree to these if there are more adults around - because otherwise it is confusing for the kids)
Practice all of these on the beach before you go out with the rig.

DROP IT - most important command. It means let go of the sail.
SECURE - two hands on mast
BOSS HAND - the front hand. (Shouting boss hand means focus on the front hand. From SECURE it means put it on the boom. During a gust it means let go of the back hand - you don't need to explain all this. They won't listen.)
SHEET IN - pull in gently with the back hand (done after BOSS HAND)
STEP AWAY - move away from the mast foot
RAKE - tilt the rig back (to head upwind)
STRETCH - tilt the rig forward (to go downwind)
OTHER SIDE - move your hands to the other side of the boom (often used to stop them when they grab the wrong side with the BOSS HAND but also this will initiate a gybe - basically, they reach around the boom and pull in and the board comes around)
SWING - swing the rig around the front or the back of the board (front will be faster)
LOOK COOL - smile and look forward at the horizon
DROP IT - just re-iterating this one....

The main thing is that kids will learn to windsurf in spite of your teaching so just give them really light pointers and make sure the conditions are right.

Great stuff!

Who are the Perth guys setting up a kids club? Count me in with my 6yo.

One more observation - kids love to learn with a bunch of other kids!

WWA is looking at ways to rebuild a junior fleet and we all now have family's who want to sail. If you are interesting in getting involved and helping out with a junior program, please email Info@windsurfingWA.org.au and we will keep you posted on what we have planned.

The Victorian programe and the T15 in the UK are leading lights for junior development so the benchmark has been set high. We have the conditions, just need to get kids AND people in general on the water.

The program would be nothing if not for the stores and volunteers that have given up their Sunday mornings to get out on the water.

We have learnt a lot over the last 3 years and constantly working on developing the program further, making it more fun and inclusive.

Kids love windsurfing around other kids, so its never a chore to get them to kids club Sundays.
Dont make them go out in poor conditions, they will just end up dissapointed.
KEEP THEM WARM! Get them a steamer, becuase they will be cold after 2 hours in the water, unless the water is over 24 degrees.
Get them a rig and set it up in your yard. Let them play with it. make it there an accessable. Dry land practice excellent for their confidence in rig handling.
Try not to teach you own kids if you have a choice. They are more likely to listen to the instructions of another adult authority other than their parents.
Dont force them to do anything they dont want to. They will hat you for it, and as a result they will hate windsurfing too.
Try to keep the negative experiences to a minimum while they are still starting out. When they build up resilence and confidence thats when you can throw some challenges at them.
Spend heaps of time in the water, not just windsurfing, but having fun.
Let them see you do it as much as possible. Keep them included in your windsurfing life.

Just some more points to add to the to-do register.

Just to be clear - ManOverBoard your thread was initiated and now WWA is on it also? Not separate things? WWA I offered him, do I need to email you also?