trying to teach my 6 yr old

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

i just purchased a board for my son. the board: hyperlite motive 119 my son 6yrs about 50 lbs. board is a little big but at least he can use it for a couple of years.
what is the best way to get him up? read in another post (that i can't find now) that the guy got in a tube and let his 5 yr old learn that way.
we went out last night and tried just regular deep water starts and had very little success. most of the time he never even got his butt out of the water. i was in the water with him and trying to hold him up a little on the start. he had maybe one attempt where the board and him actually got out of the water. he went about 10 feet and never stood up on the board.
i then tried to use the tube and hold him up out of the water but everytime we took of it would throw me off balance in the tube and i couldn't hang on to him.
any advice would be much appreciated.
poor kid. we bought his board on sat. it rained all day sat and sunday, wind blowing 20-30 mph on mon and tues. he was driving me crazy about going out. kinda of made me feel good because when i bought my first board last year that was all i thought about was getting on the water.

chaz28o · Posted: Aug 23, 2007 4:49 am Post subject:

I started my son at 4 years old - What I did was I went to bikini beach (in the delta) and put him in his board

I floated him in the water and then I went back to the beach

I pulled him towards the beach (running / pulling) and that's how I got him up

Then when we moved to behind the boat, he go up the first time because he knew what was going to happen from doing it at the beach

Remember - you barely have to hit it, to get kids up

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

Here are a few that I used. (oh and I am probably the tube man you mentioned)

1. "pull ups on the carpet" no board just handle. make sure the motion is to compress the body so the butt is on the heels and then roll up

2. "board ups on the carpet" straped into board, start slow, then speed up

3. "pull by hand" throw him in with the board on and pull him toward the boat by hand, he needs to keep the board in front

4. "idle boat" as slow as possible idle forward. Again the goal is to keep the board in front of him and not shoot right or left.

5. "get on tube" about 5' short of him and hold the rope. (i'll post a photo) and give it a try.

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

Here are the photos...

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

so when i am pulling him through the water is the front of the board facing the boat?

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

EDITED

To get up you should be sitting, like in a chair, with the board sideways. The long toeside edge facing the boat until you get up on plane.

After on plane, he should turn sideways, by putting the handle on his lead hip and really twisting his upper body. At this point the tip should be facing the boat.

(BUT as seen in the photo I posted, they tend to not twist enough and will slash out on the HS edge)

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

so are you pulling him out of the water or is the boat?

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

The boat is pulling both of us.

I am just holding on to the rope to stop him from getting too far outside away from me.

If they do not twist enough, they will stay open to the boat and go out across the wake.

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

forgot to ask. about how fast are you driving the boat?

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

To start him, he is out of the water by 7-8 MPH.

After the 1st year, he rode at 12 - 15 MPH.
After the 2nd year, he rode at 18-19 MPH.

The only reason for speeding up is to firm up the wake so he can jump.

About 5-6 topics below this is his video in the post "Evaluate My Little Ripper" check it out.

Would you like to see the entire tube pull video? Would that help? I will post it if you like.

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

the video would be really nice.
thanks for your advice so far.
i'm not sure who is more excited about getting him up. me or him.

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

http://www.wakepics.com/view_single.php/Tube-Pull_wakeboarding-photos.html?medid=21520

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

can't get the video to work. it might be the filters here at work. will try when i get home today. thanks again.

flixmaster · Site Owner Joined: 30 Oct 2003 Posts: 7488

I have done the pull from the back of the boat platform but I never thought of the tube method. That is a pretty good idea.

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

The boat platform is not a safe option on an I/O. I did see a video a few years ago of a 3 year old girl riding, launched and retrieved from the deck with the boat moving. It was my motivation to believe he was old enough to start (at 4).

The tube was a very good place to be. I could easily jump in if he fell, be there to set him up, be sure the rope was clear, signal speed to the driver, flip him over if he got stuck, and cheer him on when he was riding.

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

we went out yesterday.
we had been working in the living room with pulling him up. i think it helped quite a bit. he can get up on plane but he is letting himself get pulled to far forward and then crashes. once he learns to lean back he will be good to go.
the tube is a nice idea because you can "coach" a lot better plus like you said you can help him get his line and turn him back over.
man its cool to see us both so excited about it. we drive my wife nuts.
gonna try to get him out mid week so he can keep the learning curve going.

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

2 things you can do to help the "pull over"

1. Have him stay low. Knees bent, butt almost on the board. This will lower the center of gravity considerably.

2. Have him keep the rope low. Rope to the front hip as soon as possible.

sooner dud · Newbie Joined: 02 Aug 2007 Posts: 47

i think he just gets too excited and forgets what i've told him.

--cresko-- · Soul Rider Joined: 03 Dec 2006 Posts: 496

Ah not bragging, my 6 year old cousin got up first try. Perhaps the board he was using was a fish, and the bindings were size large sphinx's. Maybe try him on a bigger board?

barelfly · Outlaw Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 153 City: alb

I tried to get my daughter up earlier in the month, but she didn't really understand the whole push the board against the water sort of thing. so to help, I kept her strapped in the boots and I got behind and went bootless. I was able to show her how to keep the board against the water and where it should be while idling and then plaining.

She can ride her ski trainer though Smile

and has tried to jump on that!

howabouttheiris · Addict Joined: 16 Jun 2005 Posts: 677 City: Austin, TX

barelfly, I found using the wakeboard and doing that was a pain.

I used a wakeskate and got us both up with him (and I) holding the handle. It is not safe, but it is safer. You never need to worry about room to stand or, the worst case, falling and getting yourself between him and the board.

Once again... I have video if it is helpful.

msimpson · Posted: Aug 29, 2007 7:03 am Post subject:

Barefoot boom is what I used with my daughters......From the boom to a 5" rope off the boom to the back of the boat. It worked really well. Both got up the first try behind the boat. (7year old Twins)

barelfly · Outlaw Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 153 City: alb

it was actually easy for us, I just put the boots in close for her and so that I had room to stand. We both held the rope and went really slow, so slow at times I thought we were going to go down. But no tricks, no outside the wake. just stayed behind and let her see what it was like. My buddy put his son on his back which I thought was crazy - then mid-ride he pulled him around and let him stand on the board and hold his leg.

hopefully next year she'll get it and I won't have to worry about it until my son (almost 3) wants to ride!

SeaLyon · Posted: Aug 31, 2007 8:57 am Post subject:

Man these are great ideas ! We tried last week with our 5 yr old behind the sea doo
and he just screamed even before the rope was tight.

WakeUpDead · Newbie Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 29 City: Yakima

I was helping a young man try wakeboaring for the first time the other weekend. I sat him on the edge of my Banzai tube. It worked very well.