Yes you will need to add a centre fin or there'll be too much sideways drift and use a small rear fin, be a good stable platform, centre fin is the key!!!!!!!!

Gday Brad,

A few people posted their experiences in this thread:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=56231&SearchTerms=centre

I think for kids the important thing is the boom height - may need to recut the boom cutout on an old wave sail.

cheers
james

i taught my 6yo daughter to windsurf recently. i looked around for second hand kids boards built to do the job and worried about centre fin versus width versus grip coat etc. having a windsurf teaching background i understand how important the centreboard is.

eventually i thought stuff it and put her on my 125lt 71cm wide freestyle board with a kids rig and 24cm freestyle fin with the idea to give her a go and if she liked it buy her some kit. i wouldn't go any narrower though.

3 lessons later (about 1.5hrs over 3 days) she's windsurfing. balance wasn't so much of an issue as it turned out and neither was the centre fin. she can steer off the wind and across the wind.

where the lack of width is noticable is with turning the board 180 deg. i am certian it would be easier on a wider board as she falls off and it gets a little tippy when the rig is facing the nose or tail.

where the lack of centre fin is noticable is that they can't sail upwind. to me this is a problem and a concern.

but at the end of the day, she now loves windsurfing and asks to go all the time. she can sail back and forth and is starting to learn to turn the board 360deg. if i hadn't just done it she may have got sick of asking to learn and just gone and done something else.

i think a light small kids rig is the most important thing. uphauling tires kids out. the other thing is not to help by holding the rig or board. it just makes it harder for them.

also, don't forget to teach the basics.
to keep their feet in the centeline of the board at all times.
as well as all of the items you would teach an adult.

the centreboard although important for learning becomes less of an issue with very small rigs. mainly because on wide adult boards the mast track doesn't go back far enough over the centreboard to balance the coe in the kids sail anyways. that's where kids boards are superior. they allow small rigs to work with centre fins.

the other reason why centreboards for kids are not as critical in my opinion is that they need to be taught in very light winds. 5 knots is ideal. in such light winds the board doesn't respond as much to steering.

in the end though. i figured it better to make it fun and get her out on the board regardles of centreboard or learners board. while she's having a break the other kids play on the board, paddle it around and jump off it. once they are tall enough to reach the boom they'll be sailing as well. (hopefully ) and the bottom line is it worked. she is sailing.

an old formula board is a big thumbs up from me or even a wide newschool 130+lt freeride board. if they take to it and you are handy at repairing boards then put a centre box in the board so they can learn sailing upwind and once they are proficient remove the fin and plug in the straps.

edit* brad a us box is fine. get the older long ones to allow some play and set it centred directly below the mast track.

with the beginners board I made recently I went to all the effort to make a centreboard case and swing blade. I shouldnt have bothered. somebody suggested cutting a fin box from an old board and having a short fixed centrboard. much better idea. Ive set the centreboard up 100mm behind the mast track, which was very close to the position on an F2 beginners board that we had lessons on. you only need a fin of 350mm and 150mm or even 120mm wide.
it has made all the difference in helping me and the kids understand how to steer. it works incredibly well upwind which is a neccessity on our tiny lake. Ive even gone to a similar sized rear fin.
the rig we are using is a 2.5m Aerotech trainer(bought off seabreeze) which works great, plus a little old dacron surf sail which weve cut right down to 2m on a cut down mast with the smallest, lightest boom I could find

Brad,
Here are some pics of the twins having a go today with the Ezzy kid's rig. They didn't do too badly considering they had to contend with some small waves and a fairly narrow board to balance.

landyacht said...

with the beginners board I made recently I went to all the effort to make a centreboard case and swing blade. I shouldnt have bothered. somebody suggested cutting a fin box from an old board and having a short fixed centrboard. much better idea.

That was me I think, as my Bic Nova has a us-box instead of a centre board so you can use a small fin when initially learning.

The idea of the US-box is that you don't need to run a screw through the deck. They also supply a blanking plate that covers the hole when not used (i.e. just a us-box base really).

If someone wants a free US-box for this use, please let me know and I can send you one for the cost of the postage. I have one or two taken from boards that went on to be powerbox and tuttle.