We are on holidays in Bonaire (freestyle windsurfing paradise and the best location for teaching children to windsurf). My daughter is 5 years old and has always known she will be learning to windsurf. We have spent some time in the last year, talking to her about windsurfing and started teaching her on the water here in Bonaire. We thought she might be a bit young to start as her older brother was about 7 years old when we started to teach him properly. Since we are at such an ideal location (shallow, warm water so no need for a life jacket) we thought we would give it a go and hired an RRD 360 Evolution. We brought her 1 metre Ezzy rig with us just in case and it was perfect. Elli is a small girl and weighs about 18 kg. There's no chance she would be able to uphaul any non-dedicated kids' rig (cut down adult's sails would never have worked). In just 10 short sessions on the water (averaging less than half an hour each), she has given us enough footage for this short movie. She is tacking, gybing and even performing some freestyle! We are really impressed with how little effort yielded such great results. This is a wonderful foundation for her windsurfing future.

Parents - the younger they are, the better. Consistency and regular time on the water and the RIGHT equipment (dedicated kid's gear that is light, easy and friendly to use) are the keys to helping them learn to windsurf. Also, don't forget that much windsurfing is learnt at home - simulation (developing muscle memory), understanding how the wind works, psyching them up and teaching the terms you will use on the water.

We have started to teach Elli, two years before Alex. We are very interested to see when she will plane, given that she is smaller and may need to wait until she grows into the sails and boards that Alex used to achieve this. Alex planned 3 months after starting to learn and carve gybed in under 12 months. He will be competing in the Prokids Junior Freestyle World Championship here in Bonaire in 2 weeks time. He may come home the youngest Australian windsurfing world champion. He's really looking forward to having a go and has been practicing hard.

If you are interested, we have been writing a blog of our holiday in Bonaire and the address is: aus2001.wordpress.com/

good luck alex hope you go well !!

Great. My son turns five in a few months and I recall your posts and movies (and magazine articles) about your son at around seven. Watching my son on a scooter and the like I could not see why I couldn't start Mark this summer.

Question: He weighs around 20kgs. For a beginner board would a 110litre Freeride be alright? When he's ready for straps I'll gladly get him a kid's board but not sure if really required until then. Surely just a big floaty platform and a proper kid's rig until ready for the straps?

Also: Anybody have thoughts on starting out on a big land board and kid's rig at the park?

Looking good, 2 World Champs on your hands there Akim....Hope you guys had your GPS on today as I've clocked up some OK runs at SP. I've been following the blog everyday and it looks awesome over there and sure looks like you guys are enjoying it. Keep up the good work the pics and vids are cool, I've picked up a GO PRO HD and hope to test it out tomorrow but the forecast is a bit ordinary...but you never know.

See you guys soon...

Am I the only person that works?

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evlPanda said...

Am I the only person that works?

I feel the same

Inspired stuff!

Keep up the good work!

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evlPanda said...


Question: He weighs around 20kgs. For a beginner board would a 110litre Freeride be alright? When he's ready for straps I'll gladly get him a kid's board but not sure if really required until then. Surely just a big floaty platform and a proper kid's rig until ready for the straps?

Also: Anybody have thoughts on starting out on a big land board and kid's rig at the park?

If you want success, using the right equipment is crucial. It is really easy to put kids off.

Heaps of people have tried to teach their kids with their old gear (fearing that they will spend a heap of money for nothing because the kid will not be interested). Usually, they validate their prediction.

If you use your board, Mark might find the grip too scratchy and the board too tippy. I tried Elli on my freestyle board and even though she could manage, she was noticeably more cooperative when I used a bigger board that made the experience pleasant and easy.

I would hire or borrow an 160 - 180 litre adult beginner's board for his first 5-10 sessions. It will be great for building confidence and learning some skills easily. After that, you could use a Starboard Starsurfer or Young Gun or even a SUP - whatever you use MUST have a soft foam deck for kids that age though. It will get a lot of use later (if he enjoys freestyle) because he can use it to practice in light-wind.

When he's ready for the straps, you can try your freeride rather than a kid's board. I like the freestyle boards even better because they plane even earlier than the freeride. An adult's pro freestyle is perfect. He won't easily plane for the first time on a kid's board but once he has planned he can go to a kid's board then.

Anyway, the most important component is the kids rig as you know. I know a lot of people try to make a rig by cutting down adult's gear but I haven't heard a lot of success stories. They will do the job but I don't believe they are light enough and friendly enough to use. I wonder if any of the people who have used them, can claim that their kid ended up sticking with the sport in the end.

The Ezzy kid's rigs in a 1 and 1.5 are excellent. Elli could uphaul it easily (see movie). I would get the rig asap. I reckon there's heaps to do before going on the water and you need the rigs for that. Since it's winter, the time is perfect to start now and he will be ready to start on the water in summer. Teach him all the terms you are going to use on the water when you are giving him instruction so he is familiar with:

uphaul
reach over and across
sheet in and sheet out
move your back hand (or front hand)
mast forward and mast back
bend your knees
step back etc

make sure he knows the equipment terminology and how to tell where the wind is coming from (eg by holding the sail with the rope, feeling the wind on his face, seeing how a leaf is blown).

Rig up at home and let him play with the sail everyday. Make sure he can swim and has learnt to like the water. When it gets warmer, get the board and let him play on it without the sail at first to see how he balances and walks on it.

He will need to progress to using a 2 and 2.5 metre sail before he planes and these are also needed for steering (the 1.0 metre sail really doesn't provide enough mast foot pressure for tacking). By the way, regardless of which board you use, you must use a 10 cm rear fin. And, don't worry overly about a centre fin - they go down wind anyway! Good luck with it - it can be very frustrating at times but also hugely rewarding if you stick with it. It's OK to just have 15 minute sessions (or whatever) at first and really good if you can do it every day for a few weeks to make it routine! I'll look forward to seeing some photos etc around Christmas time!

PS I reckon you should steer clear of the land board - sounds easy to get hurt - the park is a lot harder than water...

hey Akim,

Best of luck to Alex for the championships, whatever the outcome I'm sure he'll relish the experience and come home a better sailor. And he was already looking good when I saw him out last summer. It frightened me so much I left the state! :)

Cheers,
S

Thanks KA360, that answers all my questions, even ones I didn't even know I had.

Hmm, I wonder if a local shop would do a rental or buy back deal with a big floaty board, if I buy kid's rig now and probably/hopefully kid's board in future? Long term they'll have another customer, and then his friends. The answer my friends, is blowing in the wind, the answer is blowing in the wind.

how lucky is alex.

going through this process with my own kidlets i was wondering why the fin should be 10cm max? i have a hack saw at the ready.

The fin size needs to be right for the sail size. So, in the beginning, when they use a very small sail, it does not provide much mast foot pressure. If the fin is too big, they won't be able to tack. Also, kids don't put sideways pressure on the fin when they are going in a straight line because they are not leaning out and pushing on the side of the board but are standing above. The small fin will still allow them to track along forwards. If they use a small fin (appropriate to the sail size), they will be able to steer the board using mast foot pressure and their feet - the little mast foot pressure from the sail will allow the board to slide sideways.

In any case, it is very hard to steer a board with a 1 metre sail but as the child progresses to a 2 metre, it becomes easier. I therefore tend not to worry about steering too much and just let them go downwind at this stage of their learning (5 and 6 year olds particularly using 1 and 1.5 metre sails). For the same reason, I think the centre fin is not necessary. If they steer upwind (because having a centre fin allows this), they tend to get overpowered in the gusts and the sail gets ripped out of their hands. If they go downwind, this will be avoided and they can be taught to let go with their back hand and then grab hold again. It is good practice for kids to learn to lean the rig forwards to go downwind to get going.

So, in summary, what you do depends on the stage of learning, the sail size and the size and ability of the windsurfer.

PS I don't think you will want to sell your kid's learner's board in the end - even when the kids become advanced shortboarders, they will need this board as a tool to help them learn other skills before they try them on the smaller boards. Alex is looking forward to going home to use his Starsurfer again (although he hadn't used it for a year) because now that he has been inspired by Caesar Finnies and the other Bonaire freestylers, he wants to use it to practice duck tacks, pirouettes etc since everything mush be learnt in light wind on a stable board before learning it in higher wind with smaller boards.

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KA360 said...

Alex is looking forward to going home to use his Starsurfer again (although he hadn't used it for a year) because now that he has been inspired by Caesar Finnies and the other Bonaire freestylers, he wants to use it to practice duck tacks, pirouettes etc since everything mush be learnt in light wind on a stable board before learning it in higher wind with smaller boards.

the way i see it arky AUS doesnt have heeps of freestyle'rs so it allso helps to have a dad that can pull most of those moves off im looking forward to see both you guys for some entertainment this summer

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jh2703 said...

Looking good, 2 World Champs on your hands there Akim....

Funny you should say that Jase. We decided to enter 5-year-old Elli into the Prokids Freestyle World Championship here in Bonaire (if for nothing else, to get the rashie, T-shirt, free lunch and to make her feel a part of the proceedings) but as it turned out, she competed today and ended up coming 1st in the Baby Girls (under 7s division) and 2nd overall (beaten by one boy). She was absolutely thrilled and we reckon hooked for life! She was just amazing today and pulled out a string of freestyle moves we could all be proud of. Not a bad achievement after only starting to windsurf 3 weeks ago...

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KA360 said...

jh2703 said...

Looking good, 2 World Champs on your hands there Akim....

Funny you should say that Jase. We decided to enter 5-year-old Elli into the Prokids Freestyle World Championship here in Bonaire (if for nothing else, to get the rashie, T-shirt, free lunch and to make her feel a part of the proceedings) but as it turned out, she competed today and ended up coming 1st in the Baby Girls (under 7s division) and 2nd overall (beaten by one boy). She was absolutely thrilled and we reckon hooked for life! She was just amazing today and pulled out a string of freestyle moves we could all be proud of. Not a bad achievement after only starting to windsurf 3 weeks ago...

that is pure gold! congrats to the whole family.

She sails upwind better than your average adult kitesurfer

Thanks!

Here are a few photos of Elli during the competition.

KA360,

That is just awesome.

Based on your thread late last year or early this year I went and purchased a second hand starboard Go.... 180L and very stable and fully soft covered deck. I have been on the lookout for a second hand kids sail but no luck, so I will have to bite the bullet and buy the Ezzy setup new. On the upside the Starboard GO is a fantastic board and I have had several sessions in light wind on it and had a blast... even got it to 28 knots once!! :)

I have got a 7 year old boy and 5 year old girl, and hoping to start teaching them this summer. My main issue is that I cannot get them down to any suitable shallow water very often, but we are spending a week in Forster, so hopefully that will be a good oportunity.

Cheers,

Adrian

gold

- got a 2 YO old and 4wk old- 2yo practices windsurfing everynight after bath- she holds my hands and leans back (was her idea)- has got an awesome stance

am gonna go thru shots/vids with her tonite - thanks ka360.

If anyone interested in SA am going to do some kids get togethers with SUPs, windsurf etc this spring/summer

Penny did a ladies day 2 years ago- fifty girls out, great success but nothing since (Penny moved to WA) - how about another ladies/kids day windsurfing SA? i'll help (unless swells up and its cranking! then i may have to leave early)