This is my son riding

This is a few weeks ago. My son is 5, his friend is 8. I was teaching his friend how to get up and he had it right away. They were ollieing (is that spelled correctly?) and learning to carve Saturday.

Anyone else who has young kids who wakeboard on the central florida east coast pm me if you would like to go out. My son loves going out with other kids!

My son is in the top 2, friend is the bottom 2.

Lisa

Congratulations for your son Lisa.I have a 4 years old kid and he loves going out riding with me. I want him to start riding too, help me with the bindings and the board you are using with your kid.

Great Pic´s.

Txs

I have a 5 yr. old nephew i'd love to teach. How fast do you pull your son?

Kids that size can ride at 12 mph.

That is pretty sweet.I have a 4 year old daughter and we have wake board lessons every time we go. (on the beach she lays down with a handle and yells HIT IT! It is real cool so soon she will get braver.(on her terms of course

His board is a 123 CWB I picked up for about $100. And the binding are LF Micro's. Honestly, the board didn't seem to be as big a deal (so long as it was small ) as good bindings. Both boys are really picky about how the bindings feel on their feet and will play with them a couple of minutes to make certain they feel right. I got the bindings fairly inexpensively off eBay (the prev year's model) because at the time our shop didn't carry the smaller ones in stock.

As for starting out kids, here's a couple of thoughts (I hope I'm not imposing here).

I am in the water with the child (with my son for his first couple of rides this year also), it makes them feel safer. They leave me, but it's OK.

Most kids (and adults I have taught for that matter) can only get up directly behind the boat (ideal) or on one side (if the current it pushing the boat around sometimes it's hard to keep them perfectly behind the boat), depending on which foot they ride. For instance, the boy above is goofy footed so he couldn't get up on the right side of the boat (looking off the swim platform), so you can try a different side if it doesn't happen right away.

We only use about 12 - 15' of rope from the swim platform to the child (25 - 30' total on my boat) so that they feel they are near the boat, plus it lifts them out of the water so much easier. It's OK to use a barefoot boom to start out too, that's what my son started on at 4. I don't think it helped much, my husband thought it worked wonders.

My hubby drives pretty slow, they are so light that they don't need the boat going very fast (12 - 14 mph). Once they are used to it, you can sort of "read their face" to see the right speed, I think my son could go as slow as 10 mph - he's only 40 lbs.

Make sure they don't stand up too fast or they will eat it. That's part of the reason I stay in the water, to remind them to take their time and relax. I usually have them put their head back, take a few relaxing breaths before giving the thumbs up to go.

Be prepared to help them flip the board if it gets turned over and tell them not to panick if it happens. If they know it might happen in advance, they are a lot less stressed when it really does happen.

For your piece of mind, you might want to remind them to use thumbs up and thumbs down right away. I feel much better when my little guy goes down and that thumb comes up if I ask if he is OK.

I hope that's not too much information and I hope something here helps!

The main thing to remember is they will go when they are ready. It really helps to have someone their age to go with. They get so much more excited!!

So if anyone comes to Florida for a visit (or lives her), we are available every weekend (and some week days if we have a little advance notice) to go out.

Lisa

For sure that´s not too much information Lisa.
It´s great sharing your experience with us, who want to start.
One more question: are there any specific boards and bindings for Kids. Is that the case of your set up?
Txs

Hi Nuno

His board is a regular CWB 123, his bindings are specifically for kids. They are the Liquid Force Micro's.

The Liquid Force Micro's fit up to a size 4 in men's - but the cool thing is the center piece comes down so if you had a kid with tiny feet, the bindings can be tightened to fit (it's kind of hard to explain). I know Hyperlite sells x-smalls in some styles for groms. At the time we purchased my son's bindings, the Liquid Force had been strongly recommended so I purchased them. We have been very happy with them.

Hyperlite makes a 121 and a Motive 119 for kids. Liquid Force sells a Nemesis 118 and a squirt 122. I have seen them sold with the boots as a package for about $300. There are a couple on eBay now and I'm sure local board shops can get them.

My son's board was the smallest board we could find in our area in stock at the time.

For my son, a 123 is fine. For reference, he weighed about 40 lbs when he started at 4 years old. He really hasn't gained any weight. I'm glad we bought the size we did board, I think the smaller boards would not have grown with him as much. Also, his friend who rides is about 75 lbs and he fits the board as well.

I know graphics aren't supposed to count, but when you are five they do. He loves the look of his board and the fact that his bindings are blue.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Lisa

My son has been riding for almost 3 years. He's 9 now. I used to baby him on the board at first. He got up right away then started carving back and forth, advancing to a few wake jumps advancing with all the right stuff, although we never filled the ballast tanks for him and also went very slow. A pro rider told us to fill the tanks, give him plenty of wake and pull the speed up to around 18mph. He said if he becomes too comfortable at a slow speed with very little wake, he will find it harder to advance up to a larger wake and faster speed. So he rides at 75'line, around 18-20mph and we fill the tanks and weight the boat as if the older guys are riding. He doesn't notice the difference and rides better. I know your son is alot younger.

My son started at 4 also, he is 8 now and this is the first year he is really jumping, He has always ridden with the ballast tanks full, its funny the wake is up to his chest. Must be scary
we pull him at about 16, just when the wake cleans up.