It's been a long road but the boy is finally riding and holding ground, as well as doing all the board and kite control himself while Dad watches from the beach.

Eleven and a half years old, 40kg and stoked off his brain as you can imagine!!

For anyone else teaching kids, I can't say enough about how important having a user friendly kite has been to the learning process. We got an Cab SB1 5m and added the 08 depower system upgrade, and he can control it really well. Board is an old Wipika Serum 120x38.

Would be interested to hear of any other parent's stories.

Andy.

whats in the water up there,
your sons skin is blue...

surfingboyo said...

whats in the water up there,
your sons skin is blue...

he's a kitesmurfer

Great work getting him into it so young, should keep him out of trouble for the next ten years at least.

Let him know, that whilst a life of polygyny may have its rewards the difficulties associated with managing a harem can very easily outweigh the benefits gained.

surfingboyo said...

whats in the water up there,
your sons skin is blue...

probably stingers, the lines look ridiculously long with the small kite and kid either end

meerkat said...

Boardies over his wetsuit? oh dear!

It's a stinger suit not a wet suit so I guess it's not so bad

Good stuff Andy!
How long has he been riding for?

Chocolate in one hand, banana in the other, more t&a than Bay Watch, and puberty just ahead... Ahhhhhh... what the fnck went wrong with my childhood.

neoniphon said...

Yes, I hope it keeps him out of trouble.

Turned my back at a local beach the other day and these were the mates he had found - at 11 yo I think there is plenty of trouble to come!

Parafin said...

Looks a cool spot ...where is it..

Looks like magnetic island is living up to its name. Go grommy!

Thanks for the kind words - Tai has been reading the post with interest!

We started him on the trainer about middle of 2005, and got him a 4m 5 line C-kite in November 05. Unfortunately this kite was almost impossible to relaunch in less than 18 knots so the initial learning was pretty slow through 2006.

We tried an Airush pilot 6m (5 line C) in early 2007 and that was a bit better although relaunch was still a problem, given that he wasn't strong enough to pull the 5th and get the kite onto its back.

We went to the current kite (Switchblade 1 bow kite, 5m) in the middle of 2007 and the improvement was immediate, both because the kite was easier to use and control, and also because he knew he could drop the bar to depower it and so his confidence increased (as his fear decreased!).

Since then it has been a case of trying to get in a session as often as possible to keep the skills improving. We have been doing a lot of skurfing behind the dinghy on the no-wind days, and he is a pretty keen surfer too so his board skills have been developing.

We live on Magnetic Island, off the NQ coast near Townsville. More info here:

http://www.tevenei.com/tvm/nellybay_kite_map.htm

Andy

Hi Walsh,

its an SB1 5m from 2006. It has Switchblade written on the side, so I'm pretty sure.....



At the moment his power to weight ratio seems pretty close to mine on my SB3 12m and 135x40, I'm 73kg. In 12 knots he is just holding ground, flying a lot of S-patterns to keep moving. In 14-16knots he has the kite parked and is going upwind, and above 16 we have a bit of depower pulled on. Haven't really had him out in 16-20 yet.

Getting bucket loads of 12-15 knot shiite so far this winter on the island, it's driving the local crew nuts. Townsville seems to be getting a few more 17 knot days with a little seabreeze behind the SE trade. Have a new 8m that's been waiting to taste the water for over a month..........

Lizard next week for 3 weeks should fix that particular problem!

Board is a wipika Serum 120x38. Not much rocker and very wide for its length. It was Maricio's wakestyle board from about 2004 I think.

It's not the best, but it does get him going early.

Hey mate, if you want to increase his top-end confidence get him a narrower board. I'm a lightweight at 63kg and one of my problems with wider boards over 38cm is that i can't get the edge down hard enough when i'm lit. so i use a narrow 125x33 board which helps a LOT. this would be a much more prominent problem with such a lightweight rider on a wide board.

Mate, I got into sailing when I was 11, got my first boat for $500 when I was 12 and it was the best thing my parents ever bought for me, kept me out of trouble all summer, (not much else to do in Napier NZ) all I could think about was jumping on my bike and heading down to the yacht club.

You are always going to have a kiting buddy, so I reckon it might be worth the investment just for that!