I have 8 and 6 year old boys who have started taking an interest in sailing, they already skate well and the 8 y/o is handy on a surfboard. Besides a kid friendly rig would you go woth an old long board or a short/wide starboard "go" type board... leaning toward a go but hard to find...

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cald said..
I have 8 and 6 year old boys who have started taking an interest in sailing, they already skate well and the 8 y/o is handy on a surfboard. Besides a kid friendly rig would you go woth an old long board or a short/wide starboard "go" type board... leaning toward a go but hard to find...

They should be able to go directly 105-145L because of their super light weight!

My experience is that a long board is hard for the small sails to have an effect on. Tried on a Starboard inflatable first, but ended up with a 120l board for my son.
Mine is a Kode with full eva deck and slot for a centre fin.
Plenty of volume for him and he was able to steer it using 1.5 and 2.5 he was 8 and up to a 3m now he is 10.
Bonus is that it is a pretty good high wind board for me, so saves one board when we go camping.

Cheers, i didn't realise you could get kodes with a center fin? What year roughly is that?

What I have found when teaching light people is , boards tend to float on top of the water , ( cork ) . No forward drive apposed to drifting in the water is the first thing a sailer starts to understand .The ideal small , short board with a CB doesn't exist . The big floaty wide GO is really like a cork and won't work . A older longboard works but won't turn around well . The best I found for teaching , light and heavy , is a 1 m wide formula board . Super wide and stable , with the sharp rails go upwind great without a CB and turn on a dime . Only problem is that they are slow . (We're talking non planing learning ) . The joy of going out and returning to the starting point is ace .As soon as they are wanting to go faster , they are at next stage and hooked .

Goya Surf.
Get on the board with them and teach them as you go.

Have used a variety of board teaching small kids. Old school longboard and big wide boards eg go. The trick with kids is to make sure the fin is not too big as their sails are so small at that age. I cut down fins to freestyle size. I got that tip from a local shop.

Generally the board length of a longer board helps learning as it gives directional stability, unless there is chop and then go with the big wide boards

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thedoor said..
Have used a variety of board teaching small kids. Old school longboard and big wide boards eg go. The trick with kids is to make sure the fin is not too big as their sails are so small at that age. I cut down fins to freestyle size. I got that tip from a local shop.

Generally the board length of a longer board helps learning as it gives directional stability, unless there is chop and then go with the big wide boards

Yep, it's true out of any board and sail. Small sail small fin and vice versa. Formulas are great, a bit fragile though, my wife learned on one. And so did I!

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cald said..
Cheers, i didn't realise you could get kodes with a center fin? What year roughly is that?

I think mine is 2012 or 2014ish.
The AtomIQ Duo has one now. There was one for sale here in Brisbane on Gumtree, but it just sold.

Thanks for the info guys, I will keep my eye on the used pages for something along these lines rather than the old longboard or superwide go style...

you might be able to add your own center fin to an old board with one of these

forcekiteandwake.com/products/slingshot-sup-winder?variant=32667721891894&gclid=CjwKCAjwqIiFBhAHEiwANg9szmk1roch2JPCuVWiUzxUNER0YroCRWJIx3OcZEdLnEzrc13YbWXU9xoCiBcQAvD_BwE

Another tip is to make sure the mast base is as close as possible to the centreboard or centre fin, otherwise it won't steer with a tiny sail.

our daughter had her first few goes at 10yrs on an old SB formula 186, it was good with the small Ezzy kids rigs; so wide she never fell off it.
with just a single cut-down fin it was a struggle to stay upwind and we had to play the big wind shifts to get back to where we started.

next we used an old windsurfer one design. with the mast all the way back in the track she learnt how to steer the board, the board glides really well and we were able to cruise the lake; upwind/downwind, however the wally is heavy to lug around.

we now have a Fanatic viper. it fits in the van, is wide and comfortable to sail, tho not made to glide fast or head upwind like a longer board.

i just bought an old f2 phoenix 320, we now have a second setup so her friends can have a go, a bit longer and narrower than the viper, should work well.

Starboard 180 Go. 2.5m sail. Around 2005. Girls like doing things together. Here they are about 9 and 11Yo.
They would play like this for hours.



And on an actual Tandem a couple of years later. 2.5m and 3.5m sails:

^^ Do they still sail?

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AUS1111 said..
^^ Do they still sail?

very rarely.

U could start ur own skool!
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1565173650355902&id=269984899874790

Looking for a rig set for my friends small boy at 17kg, his teacher says he needs a 0.5m sail and a 120lt board.
I could only find duotone inflatable xs size, it doesn't mention area, but they are unavailable.
Smallest school sails start from 2-2.5m.
Any suggestions?

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Sea Lotus said..
Looking for a rig set for my friends small boy at 17kg, his teacher says he needs a 0.5m sail and a 120lt board.
I could only find duotone inflatable xs size, it doesn't mention area, but they are unavailable.
Smallest school sails start from 2-2.5m.
Any suggestions?

check hot sails maui kids rig. They have down to 0.8m

www.hotsailsmaui.com/tech/microfreak/

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Sea Lotus said..
Looking for a rig set for my friends small boy at 17kg, his teacher says he needs a 0.5m sail and a 120lt board.
I could only find duotone inflatable xs size, it doesn't mention area, but they are unavailable.
Smallest school sails start from 2-2.5m.
Any suggestions?

One of my kids is that weight, he's doing great on a 112ltt board and 1.5m fanatic rig

Thanks for info.

Hotsails website gives idea about size depending on weight and wind strength, for 10-15kts 0.8m is suggested for his size. Unfortunately they are not available here.

My sail repair shop agreed to make a 0.7m rig, so seems like problem will be solved.

In which wind strengths does your kid use 1.5m sail Cald?

I had a broken top half mast section which fitted perfectly into a mast cup, rather than the mast cup fitting into the mast.

I then made a little sail, got a kids boom cheap online, it was great for a while. I have seen some kids rigs online, they usually pack up small so would be cheap to post.

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Sea Lotus said..
Thanks for info.

Hotsails website gives idea about size depending on weight and wind strength, for 10-15kts 0.8m is suggested for his size. Unfortunately they are not available here.

My sail repair shop agreed to make a 0.7m rig, so seems like problem will be solved.

In which wind strengths does your kid use 1.5m sail Cald?

Only up to about 10 knots, after that it gets too choppy for his skill at the moment and frustration sets in