Select to expand quoteCarboneutral said..
That would have to be every water loving dads dream, to have his son join him surfing, kiting, diving etc, we all know what the feeling is no matter how we engage with the ocean, to introduce our kids to it and have them love it just as much is awesome, not only does it get them to connect with the environment, they also become the crusaders to protect our oceans in the future.
I beg everyone not to respond any further to the negative comments, its the only thing these people live for and adds to their enjoyment when we reply.
Thanks for sharing, great video/photos from both kids.
Man you are spot on, well said. 
It is out of this world having your sibling/s follow ya to the beach and start ranting when they see the conditions and hurry to get out there. Then have them pull the trigger in front of you or snap a reo of the face of a wave and give you a smile as you pass. Or simply in the early learning days they work out how to go and come back, all a good stoke for all.
Nice vid Drum.
Select to expand quoteSTELLA01 said..
Go hard Drum! See you on the weekend, Nate
Awesome footage, Nate. I'll have to try and jump higher than you on the weekend!
Drum
Latest version Drum is turning :) and you get lots of turns(repetitive vid warning), poo stance and harness up under armpits. Yes working on this. Smile is the winner for me, I wish he had the time on the water the others get.
Select to expand quotehilly said..
Latest version Drum is turning :) and you get lots of turns(repetitive vid warning), poo stance and harness up under armpits. Yes working on this. Smile is the winner for me, I wish he had the time on the water the others get.
Good stuff Hilly (and Drum), looks like he has good kite control, they will be jump transitions before long.
Select to expand quoteSTELLA01 said..
Just a Proud DAD
rightly so!!! epic shots, the second one down shows style and control better than some of my many years kiting mates! yewwwww
Great shots and videos.
STELLA, let them know they're inspiring the older lads out there.
(must...kite....more!)
Cool topic! Here is my Boy in early training...
As you can see he already has the bug
The look of stoke already, that's where it all started for Nate as well, from there he moved to a foil with a bar. Keep them away from the playstation & xbox and start experiencing the real joy life has to offer.
Very cool . My son is really cruising now and yes is better than me and nothing can compare to be out together . We have a blast together and try and do some big trips as many times as we can but dad is old and wants to stop for a break all the time . He started at 12 and is now 15 and boosting all over the place . A simple hand sign of thumb up is all I need to see during a session , keeps me smiling for a week .
GROMS RULE
All this makes me jelly. Can't wait till my girl is out kiting wit me. I'm going to wait till she's 30 kg. What do you guys think?
30 kg is talked about as being the minimum weight, personally I think its a matter of how competent they are with a kite and the conditions you let them out in.
One thing I will always remember is that I was terrified when I finally let Nate go.
Ensure that it is instinctive for them to release if they sense that anything is wrong, Nate has released on a couple of occasions and those two occasions have been my proudest moments as it tells me that he is mature enough to kite.
With above . It is not easy teaching them as they say they know stuff but really they don't . My son used trainer kite for at least 150 hours and actually use a boogy board behind that kite for some really cool down wind runs in the shallow lagoons was cool to watch but also was frustrating for him when he stuffed up and it went into the drink and took ages to dry and get it flying again . Kite selection is hard as small kites are built for high winds more so then small people . Epic do a great kite for junior riders with smaller handel , smaller chicken loop (kids have smaller arms and cant reach stuff) and throws . He is now 30 kgs and rides a sligshot rpm 8 meter in 10 to 18 kn range . After being on this and learning for a while I did send him off to another instructor (they seem to listen to another people better) . The best thing he learnt was if in doubt let it go and hit the quick realese , after he had done a couple of release and realised you can easily reconnect he was gone . But more important I felt better that he knew it was there when ever it all gose to crap .
They must be confident with both what is around and in swimming and stuff .
Release first then think is the key to a very worrying dad . Not think then release
Just want to say.... Epic thread
great to read so much positivity and support for the young guys. I can't wait till I have a mini me wanting to come out and kite...
Select to expand quoteSTELLA01 said..
Cheers Hilly,
Merry Christmas, have a great time in Margs.
I'm in the same boat I have a ten year old on an Ozone C4 5m and he's a little fella only 25kgs the issue we have is the amount of strength needed to operate the safety. It's way too heavy for him to quickly flick away when loaded. I've been looking at doing some mods and maybe changing the bungy cord to make it easier. Luca finds he sometimes needs both hands to flick the thing away, which I'm not real happy about.
Any Ozone afficionados advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also I have a couple of other questions do you have the MUST DO rules, HELMET ALWAYS, Impact/Life Vest.
Helmet is easy, but for the vest we use an old Quiksilver PFD but I think there's a few too many snag points and was wondering if anyone has used any good PFD's or similar. Luca's a strong swimmer but we want him wearing a PFD just in case.
Any feedback would be great.
Cheers and Merry Christmas
Select to expand quoteDeefer said..STELLA01 said..
Cheers Hilly,
Merry Christmas, have a great time in Margs.
I'm in the same boat I have a ten year old on an Ozone C4 5m and he's a little fella only 25kgs the issue we have is the amount of strength needed to operate the safety. It's way too heavy for him to quickly flick away when loaded. I've been looking at doing some mods and maybe changing the bungy cord to make it easier. Luca finds he sometimes needs both hands to flick the thing away, which I'm not real happy about.
Any Ozone afficionados advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also I have a couple of other questions do you have the MUST DO rules, HELMET ALWAYS, Impact/Life Vest.
Helmet is easy, but for the vest we use an old Quiksilver PFD but I think there's a few too many snag points and was wondering if anyone has used any good PFD's or similar. Luca's a strong swimmer but we want him wearing a PFD just in case.
Any feedback would be great.
Cheers and Merry Christmas
Cheers Deefer,
We had a few problems with operating bar release systems but have finally decided to use an unmodified Ozone Bar, with the exception of to far a throw this bar operates perfectly and the kids have no trouble releasing when necessary, we are lucky with our location due to the fact that the kids are within reach of an adult at all times in reasonably shallow water, everyone in the Pond knows and looks after the kids. on several occasions Nate has lost his board and within seconds someone is there beside him, thanks guys. Can't help you with a PFD suggestion.
Another vid if your interested.
Select to expand quoteSTELLA01 said..Deefer said..STELLA01 said..
Cheers Hilly,
Merry Christmas, have a great time in Margs.
I'm in the same boat I have a ten year old on an Ozone C4 5m and he's a little fella only 25kgs the issue we have is the amount of strength needed to operate the safety. It's way too heavy for him to quickly flick away when loaded. I've been looking at doing some mods and maybe changing the bungy cord to make it easier. Luca finds he sometimes needs both hands to flick the thing away, which I'm not real happy about.
Any Ozone afficionados advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also I have a couple of other questions do you have the MUST DO rules, HELMET ALWAYS, Impact/Life Vest.
Helmet is easy, but for the vest we use an old Quiksilver PFD but I think there's a few too many snag points and was wondering if anyone has used any good PFD's or similar. Luca's a strong swimmer but we want him wearing a PFD just in case.
Any feedback would be great.
Cheers and Merry Christmas
Cheers Deefer,
We had a few problems with operating bar release systems but have finally decided to use an unmodified Ozone Bar, with the exception of to far a throw this bar operates perfectly and the kids have no trouble releasing when necessary, we are lucky with our location due to the fact that the kids are within reach of an adult at all times in reasonably shallow water, everyone in the Pond knows and looks after the kids. on several occasions Nate has lost his board and within seconds someone is there beside him, thanks guys. Can't help you with a PFD suggestion.
Another vid if your interested.
Thanks for the info never been to the pond but it looks like the perfect place for the kids I think I'll be doing the runs to Inverloch for us. I'll have to look into that newer ozone bar it looks a lot more more user friendly that the couple of versions ago.
Thanks!
Answer to pfd is get to your local water ski place and get the wet suit with floatation already built in . Don't have to worry about the vest going up over there head ( which I have seen ) and not as in ya face all the time safer then a jacket type .
How quickly they grow up, Nate at 7.5 years, thanks AdrenalineBoardSports for the awesome pic.
Thats awsome Drum, thanks Hilly for Pic of Nate and keeping this great thread going I thought it had died out.
