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Originally posted by Hellemam

I wonder though how some of you went with this scenario. Tips for success and what not to do.
I will start them off with proper windsurfing lessons. That should be a good start.

Cheers,

Michael

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3 stories, kid 1 when R was 10 picked it up in a couple of hours, loved it for about a year, then all of his mates got into surfing, left it for 10 years, is now thinking about it again.

kid 2, tried to teach him, he hated it.

kid 3, Always left it up to her, she is a 9 year old girl, she likes it, and asks us about learning and buying her equipment.

Tips: they have to feel it's fun for them, (has to be some mastery and pleasure in it for them) lot's of praise, and positive reinforcement, avoid criticising and negative statements, disappointment shows in your body language, so do be too invested in whether they get into it or not.

Kids learn to windsurf very quickly, my 3 girls started when they turned 6, most important is correct equipment. You will need a dedicated kids setup. Don't let someone tell you to cut an old sail down. There's plenty of quality gear for kids in Aus now,we started with a Mini Bic it had a 1.7m sail, we also have a JP 114L Young Gun wich I highly recomend, it has a 2 fin setup the centre fin acts as a dagger board which is a must to get forward motion out of small kids rigs. My oldest girl has just progressed onto a Starboard Prokids S type,

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Originally posted by hardie

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Tips: they have to feel it's fun for them, (has to be some mastery and pleasure in it for them) lot's of praise, and positive reinforcement, avoid criticising and negative statements, disappointment shows in your body language, so do be too invested in whether they get into it or not.

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This is great advice, I've seen a few kids turned off because their parents were pushing too hard, encourage them gently, they've got to want to do it, and get enjoyment from it.
Also some kids are turned off by not wanting to look an idiot in front of their peers, they need to appreciate that every body falls of learning this sport, and looking a bit of a kook now will be well and truly made up for when they can do it.
No matter how funny they look try not to laugh!!!

Jaeger Stone was a very good technical swimmer when he started at 11 yrs old. This gave him the tools to develop his sailing skills so quickly and he was always confident about the water. He became passionate very quickly and it was made easier by the gear we were developing. The development of the Severne Microwaves with him was incredible, l watched him pull up the rig with one hand out of the water by the mast. He found it hard to accept advice from me though at first, verbally abusing me but l would see he would take it on board later. l remember him floating around and blaming me for the lack of wind. l am afraid we are soft targets for their frustation, but the rewards from sailing and learning so quickly made it fun.
Hendrix my other son was not interested till he was 12 yrs old, it was like pulling teeth. But one day he decided and with Jaegers old gear he was away. l can recall him spending 3 hours constantly trying to waterstart, such perseverenvce. One year later he was doing duckgybes, back loops, crappy wave riding. Now 18 months on he was charging in 30 knots crossoff Coronation in a solid swell on a 42 litre board with a 3m sail.
Sabre my 8 yr old daughter has just started, l have used an old surf rod for the mast,(incredibly light and flexy) cut the top off an old sail, taped it into position,and a cut down skinny boom. Its maybe 0.8m in size but Sabre can lift it effortlessly out of the water. This will give Sabre a good start, l praise her , stop when she has had enough, encourage her for one more try and buy an ice cream on the way home and talk it up.
l pick my kids up from school in summer and head to the beach and we wind surf till dark. We then cop it from Mum for being home late and blame each other for who was the last one out sailing till the sun sets .
Any tips on keeping your wife happy?

That all sounds great. My girls will be 11.5 and 10 by the time I am organising the lessons. They are enthousiastic to do it so fingers crossed. I talked to a few shops about some kids gear and it doesn't seem too much of a bank breaking investment (yet).

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Originally posted by stonesurf

Any tips on keeping your wife happy?

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Well... if I gave my secrets away, people would say I was bragging

But If I can be serious for a moment the secret is, I haven't got a clue

hi guys
i have taught 2 of my sons to windsurf and there is a couple of things that will help fast track them
1 good gear wide modern board i use a sboard 155
2 kids rig easy to uphaul and light
3 be sure they are confident in the water not afraid to fall off
4do not push them too hard but be encouraging and patient as it will happen at their own pace
5 sail around with them
6 get a mate or instructor to give advice as this is not always listened to if it comes from dad
7 offer incentives ie better gear if they get going well so they know there is no limit to how far they can progress
8 and most importantly be very patient as frustration can be seen as failure
also dont try to start them too early i think 9 or ten is a good age
it is working for me any way
cheers ian

Seen a lot of people at Corros learning.

Watch out for the ocean floor ,,,,
Clear clean water ,no weed , sandy bottom ,no swell.

WITH OUT FREEKING THE YOUNGSTERS, IF THERES WEED AND YOUR WALKING THE GEAR AROAND IN THE WATER DRAG YOUR FEET.

Cobbler or a sting ray will slow them up.

HEAPS OF PEOPLE GOT HIT BY COBBLERS AT CORROS IN THE SHALLOWS

1 DO NOT USE HOT WATER watch even warm water --- ALTHOUGH IT RELIEVES THE PAIN , THE HOT WATER REACTS WITH THE SKIN AND POISON CAUSEING MAJOR BLISTERS.
ICE ICE ICE DOCT DOCT DOCTER

Had 2x doctors MALE FEMALE at corros MALE stept on one ,and begged to be injected into the wound but was shaking so much the other Female doctor couldnt get it do it (wasnt funny OK IT WAS ****EN FUNNY )

AWARNESS OF THE LOCAL CONDITIONS can make or break confiedence

Those pictures show your daughter with a helmet. That was one thing I was thinking about. Probably best to provide them with helmets?

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Originally posted by easty

remember that ad for starboard with little blond boy riding at the front of the starboard go hanging onto a ski rope and handle off the bow? has anyone tried that, looks a good way for junior to get the "stoke" before they're capable of doing it themselves.

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I did the try and teach the kids on my gear for a bit. I thought their small so the board is relatively big. not good.

picked up a Hot Kids rig in Maui 2.1m. Next thing my then 9yo daughter is cruising and then starts wanting to bring her friends along and teach them herself.

Got a Kailua and thats when she really started enjoying it.
But the real fun for her was getting on the front of the Kailua with me.
start with her sitting on nose, get going and then she can stand up.
she could literally walk around, and get back standing next to me with hands on boom. All the sudden it all makes sense to her.

now she's 14 and netball and friends and sleepovers are more important than what dad does, but I know she will end up a windsurfer.

Nice work Guys!!!!!
Your daughter looks like A NATURAL Hardie! You should be very proud!!!!!!!
Mmy 3yo boy may be a bit short of those big steps, but I'm inspired to look for a 2nd hand wide 150L board this season...

hi Mackay,

Peter aka NXS at caloundra wind and surf makes formula style wide boards covered in rubber for beginners and they have a centre board. some of the WindWnaderers members got a lesson on one and said it was excellent.

could be what you are after. he may even have a secondhand one. check out http://www.windwanderers.com/website/060708%20Caloundra.html

now to keep this on topic. the advice i was given to get my daughter into the sport was to stick her on the front of the board and go for a sail. it has worked with friends kids previously. that way they get a taste of the thrill. only another year or 2 and i'll be doing the same.

my old man taught me to windsurf, 5 years later and after instructing for 2 and a half years, im teaching him, haha still good fun, cause on the one hand you have and experience and on the other you got a newbie.
anyone heard of neil, from safetybay, yep the young guy is ripping now, haha was good fun sailing with him,
at safetybay Go Windsurfing use to run a 'kids club', on satday afternoon for a couple of hours, in that time we teach the kids and have a 'race' or something like that, yea was good fun, some kids really enjoyed others were either a little too scared or just plain didnt like it.
but hey start em young AND KEEP THE SUPPORT UP they'll end thrashing you i n a couple of years, oh and keeping gear updated is a brilliant idea,

Just an update on this:
I had my daughters do the course at Pelican point last week and they were both enthousiastic about the whole thing. As my youngest said: "I don't like it, I love it."
Now I'll try to keep them interested in the sport so they can act as my excuse to go windsurfing.

BOARDING SCHOOL!!