little kid trainer board suggestions

My 16 month old son is obsessed with wakeboarding. He likes to wear a helmet, jacket and board in the house and pretend he's behind the boat! He even falls over and pretends he fell. He's got a couple years before he can actually ride of course, but in the mean time I'm trying to find a trainer board of some type. Something stable enough for him to stand on that I can pull him around on at the beach, and stable enough to stay flat at 10-12 mph behind the boat for when he's a bit older. Does anyone have suggestions?

CORRECTION: My son is 28 months old, don't know what I was thinking!

I would recommend the horseshoe shaped ski/boards. Those have a great ease of balance, and the kids are not locked into the board...

if you use the horseshoe shaped trainer, it is recommended to not attach the rope directly to the boat since the other end is attached directly to the board. if the child did get hung in the rope, he would be drug along. it is recommended that an adult hold the rope from the back of the rope so he could let go of it if he needed to.

I just bought a ski trainer like your talking about but not sure how to instruct my boy or girl (ages 5 & 9) on how to get up. Any tips??

most of those big horshoe type trainers are too big to do a deep water start. we taught a 5 yr old girl how to do it this weekend and it worked out fine. make sure there is no ballast filled (of course) we did it with a malibu...we put the handle of the rope around the ski pole and attached the other end to the trainer. let the kid get ready in the trainer standing on the platform facing the boat someone will need to stand on the platform holding the trainer down by stepping on it. drive the boat slow at around 13 -15 mph and push the board out while holding onto the rope and letting it run through your hands until its all the way out. sounds complicated but its really easy. that board is so fat it won't tilt from side to side that bad.

Ski Skimmer - $100. You can't go wrong.

If you want to invest in something that will work very well, try getting a barefoot boom and use it to train next to the boat. I started my son when he was 4 next to the boat- he did that an entire summer and the following year, got up the first try behind the boat. I can say (honestly) I have gotten MANY 1st timers to boarding or skiing, up within a couple of trys - every time- using the boom. You only go about 5-7 mph, and you can talk to the rider very easily. when they're ready for the next step, just tie the handle to the end of the boom and the rider gets the feeling of the pull with a lot more stability. I have tried all of the other methods, and this by far is the best.

I agree the boom is one of the best things for teaching and great for barefooting for those that get that glass from time to time.

The Obrien Jimmy Jam (fun board) is bar none the best invention for kids. It holds a plane at 7-8mph, they can start on thier bellies, graduate to knees, stand up, pick up the rope and practice edging. Best of all it requires no physical strenght when starting to get up and they are successfull every time! My daughter used it at the age of 6, my 4 year old will use it this summer, and my friends 4 year old used it last summer.

There was this old orange thing that I used to rock as a little kid. It had its own handle and everything. Kinda looked like a snow sled. We found one in my buddies garage this weekend. Unfortunately it was too windy to take it out. But it would have been a blast!!! You can start sitting on it, laying on it or standing. Back in the day you were a stud if you could stand.