This summer I have had the joy of teaching my 13yo son to windsurf to the point he is regularly checking to see if we are heading out every weekend. I've had him learning with kids 3.0 rig on my old Bombora. He is getting to stage he could do with a larger sail, I'm thinking 4.5 - 4.8. We predominately sail at Applecross/Lucky Bay when it's 10-15kn.
Most of the sails in the size I'm chasing are wave sails and there's a few second hand ones around that suit the budget and skill level. A secondary consideration will be getting him into a harness soon and him landing on the sail. My query is, if I get him a wave sail is that going to be too challenging and completely unsuitable for the river?
cheers
Leigh
Hi
I'm in the same boat, not chasing a bigger sail yet, my son is sailing 2.5m2, but the biggest change was the board. He is on an 84l wave board, granted he weighs less than a bag of cement, but he is going faster, getting into the harness, not all the time but trying.
The smallest sail I have is a 3.5m wave, which once I'm confident he can up-haul then sandbar here he comes, we also sail Lucky Bay, but been a bit slack lately.
Check out the free stuff thread for a board, there's a Starboard kode 87, he'll be stoked, unless your too scared that he'll sail past you.
Cheers
Get a little wave sail as its won't be delicate or have too much draft (need to be able to power off at his stage)
Old bombora could be more the issue, come see me I'll give him a 94L Kode.
Good on you, well done. Got to be patient but it's super satisfying for them when it comes together and they nail little milestones.+1 what Mark said on the wave sail, works well once they get to a certain level. Light and easy to handle if rigged well.
We started my son on 2.5 to 3.5 Neil Pryde Dragonfly's which were pretty good although a bit too floppy in the end, didn't react that well to lots of downhaul the way an adult sail does. Mast is quite soft. He used Duotone Hero sails around 3m and a 69L board here. Had fun, learned quickly.
This was taken over about 10 days the wind in the second half of the vid, 2:30, on was fantastic.
Leigh, I've seen him down there with a huge grin on his face. Not sail but have a look on the free thread, there were some boards there a month ago and I suggested under the post that if anyone knows the young fella on the old Bombora to put him in touch and get him onto one of them.
If they are not water starting yet, get a +90L freestyle wave board and add some SUP grip deck around the mast track. Saves arms getting torn up as they climb back onto board. My kids all use small wave sails at applecross.
Kids rigs are better as they have more depths and a bit longer boom which makes light wind steering easier. Adult wave sails in small size are designed for high wind so very flat. Kids rigs can be hard to find if not buying new.
Thanks Mark for your very kind offer, I've PM'd you.
And thanks to the other responses and suggestions, all greatly appreciated.
cheers
Leigh
I started my son on Ezzy kids rigs(7yo) & then to Unifibre beginner sails. But seeing he was pretty keen I got him severne XS-3 sails, and they made a massive difference, so light & easy to use. Whereas he avoided using the 3.5m Unifibre because so hard to waterstart for him, he found the 4.1m XS-3 was no problems (he would have been about 11 or 12yo) In hindsight, I would have gone straight for the Severnes, had I realised how much easier & enjoyable it made it all. They were also very easy to sell.
Hi Leigh,
if you're still searching for sails, I have a 4.7m Pryde Combat Wave that might fit the bill ?
Next season get in with the juniors the WWA organise. We just had our end of season clean up today i with the SWJWS. 20+ boards sails booms masts etc all provided to the kids for less $ than a coffee a week. No brainer. Kids progress from board to board throughout the season. Brilliant!!
Select to expand quoteBSN101 said..
Next season get in with the juniors the WWA organise. We just had our end of season clean up today i with the SWJWS. 20+ boards sails booms masts etc all provided to the kids for less $ than a coffee a week. No brainer. Kids progress from board to board throughout the season. Brilliant!!
@scratch sorry for the late reply, something has gone wrong with the alerting notification.
thanks for the offer but I think I'm set. I was just gifted two sails from a neighbour to a family member. sEason cranks up again I'll pay back the favour and offer up some gear that is not going to be used.
cheers
Leigh
