Riding with kids

A few people here have made comments about riding with their kids on the wakeboard. I was wondering how they do it? I have a little nephew (4 yr old) who wants to try wakeboarding and I was wondering if he could ride on the board with me? Do they just stand in between your legs and then hold on to you? I really want to try it but don't want to take a bad fall and scare him so he doesn't want to try again.
Any help?

yes -- have him lay down on you and wrap his arms around your legs... pretty simple as long he is not real heavy

I was just out with a friend of ours and both his daughters (ages 3 and 4) rode with him on his board (separately of course). Basically, while in the water he sat her between his legs with her feet on the board and her hands on the handle. Once up, he was squatted down to allow her to continue to hold the handle with him. At one point a big roller came by and he wrapped his back arm around her waist and held her until the wake went by.

You gotta have some pretty good balance to stay crouched down like that. I recall him saying afterwards that his thighs were SCREAMIN afterwards.

I'll see if I can get them to post pics so you can see how they did it.

It is easier for you to stand tall and have them wrap there arms around your legs if they will fit from your crotch down. Depending on how big they are it will be easier for you to get up if you hold them with one arm on your chest rather than having them place their feet on your board,once you are up just slide them down to the board. I rode with my son like this for about 2 years and this year I bought him his own board and he rides by himself now, he is 4 years old.

I think that I will give it a try this weekend. I kind of thought to do it like Renee suggested but maybe I will get too tired, so hopefully he can hang on to my legs and I'll try it that way.

Do the kids wear shoes/sandels to keep their feet from sliding on the board or hitting the binding hardware?

never seen anyone wear shoes -- however, you will not want to ride quite as fast as you normally would.....

You are going to be sore enough standing straight up, your hamstrings and your lower back will feel it. We usually did it with no shoes on my son but if you want to do it with something like those water shoes it should work ok too. You will want to go just fast enough to keep you up on top of the water without submarining the nose.

Hey, If two grown men can wake surf together, I dont see why you can't get a little kid on their with you.....

I found that the easiest way to get up with a small child is to have them right in front of you with your arms going under their armpits on the way to the handle. They'll mostly be held in place by gravity and you squeezing them with your arms, but you should also tell them to hold on to your arms.

NEVER LET THEM HOLD ONTO THE HANDLE. If you crash or something else goes wrong, they usually don't know to let go and they can get hurt.

Once you're up, there are two ways to go about riding. If the child is really light, you can leave them hanging on your arms and they have a blast. It's safer for them to be "held" by you and you have more control over what they're doing.

Once they get a little weight on them, it will really start hurting your arms if they continue to hang on them. At this point, you crouch down until their feet are on the board. Then tell them to grab your leg and hold on for dear life. This is even more fun for them because they are so close to the water. However, it's potentially more dangerous as well because they're more likely to either let go or have their feet knocked off the board by the water. Make sure you talk to them about crashing before you try this one so that they aren't scared when it happens.

Always be sure that you are a solid rider before taking your child out. The last thing you want is to fall with or on your child because you're not ready to be riding with that much extra weight on your board.

As you can see, he didn't wear shoes, but it couldn't hurt to do so.

I think it goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway: ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOUR CHILD HAS A PROPERLY STRAPPED (yes, that means the crotch strap too) USCGA VEST ON.

Cool pics Dave!

That's exactly how I do it Dave. Thanks for writing that up!

Thanks a lot for the pictures, that explains it perfectly. How old is the little guy - he is having a blast out there.

Here are a few from last summer. We did the opposite. Cody was 7. He put his feet in the bindings, and my friend, Danny, straddled the board and helped him get up. He wasn't all that fond of it. We had to find a place in the Delta that fish weren't "allowed". Well, when he was sitting there, one jumped a few feet away, and blew our cover, so he wouldnt go again. Sorry about the crappy pictures. Old camera.

I've done this several times wakesurfing. This past weekend a 5 year old was out. I put him over my shoulder and was still able to surf without the handle, he weighed maybe 50 pounds. He loved it

Just make sure that the kid is the same as you (goofy or regular). It is really awkward for them to ride the opposite way. Start the same way as if you are alone. Have them stand on the board between your legs(have the wear some sort of water shoes so they dont slip). Have the kid hold onto the handle just like they are going to do it themselves. It will be better for them when they go on their own. They will be used to how it feels getting pulled up by the boat! Makke sure it is good water, you don't want to have the kid faceplant on their first run, they will never want to get in the water again.

Thanks for the tips guys. Dave, PRICELESS pictures of you and Blake!

He was barely four in those pics (or maybe even 3 still), but he just turned five.

Dave, how fast did you get up to?

We pretty much go a little slower than my normal speed of 23, but I don't do anything too crazy with him on there. He likes to do butterslides, so we have to go fast enough for those.

Here are a couple of pics of my 4yr old at Bullards Bar. I like to get both my 4 and 5 year olds up by having them place their feet on the board between mine with their hands on my wrists. On the way up they leaning on me, once up I have them put their hands on the handle. Slower boat speed while riding, seems to work great and they love it. The most important factor for us is that when they want to stop I have the boat slow down then we let go. This leads to a slow sink and stop without dunking them. Good luck!

I know someone that has his kids pigy back... no pics though sorry

here are some pics of my son along with his uncle sammcenturion24. this was about 2 months ago. Like he said, have him hold onto the handle to get the feel of it. You are the one taking most of the tension anyway. You do have to get a little lower so your thighs will be screamin. Just let them go at their speed. my boy wants to go outside the wake now and i have to tell him we are done because I get tired. When u let go or fall just pick them up by the waist so they dont get dunked and get scared

great pics, can't wait to get our kids up. We have a 2 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. I think our boy will be up first though.

What, no inverts?