Little Man making me proud!

Crash · Posted: Nov 08, 2003 8:04 pm Post subject: Little Man making me proud!

This is a picture of my little man out boarding this summer. He was 5 years old when this was taken. After 5 pulls to get him out of the water, he just shot out and stayed up! We were all astounded. It took them 5 minutes to come back and get me! We quickly changed to teaching him with a jet ski so I would not be left bobbing around alone for too long! He managed to get outside of the wake before there even was one. He loves it now. Of course, having obsessed boarders (albeit beginners) for parents helps. No doubt about it. He will be boarding circles around us within two years. It is good family fun!

wzen animal · Criminal Joined: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 98 City: wiltshire

good on him tell him 2 keep up the boarding hes doin fine, wish i had the chance when i was that age..... Colorful

wzen animal · Criminal Joined: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 98 City: wiltshire

wzen animal,

leslisa · Posted: Nov 10, 2003 8:48 am Post subject:

Congratulations!! What a feeling Surprised

).

My little guy started just before turning 5. He rides every weekend with a coach in a private lake. He doesn't ride on our lake due to alligators. He turned 5 end of August.

Lisa

~*HyPeRlItE*~*HuNNiE*~ · Criminal Joined: 07 Jul 2003 Posts: 77 City: Maui, Hawaii

That is awesome that he has enough motivation to get out and rip, for such a young age! I have a little one on the way, and I sure hope that I can get them out there so soon!

Crash · Posted: Nov 11, 2003 5:36 pm Post subject:

Wow,it sure would be nice to have a private lake!!!!! It's a little cold for my guy to be boarding now. We'll have to wait until the summer next year.

leslisa · Posted: Nov 12, 2003 1:10 pm Post subject:

Unfortunately, I pay dearly for the private lake lessons (I ride on a public lake), but I think that we may be moving soon and if we do, I am looking for a lake we can actually ride on. I'm about to post and find out what people know about Lakeland Florida. It seems that my darling hubby has a tentative job offer there, but I don't know yet. Sounds interesting though lake - land. There has to be a lot of lakes there Surprised

).

Lisa

SouthernStyle607 · Guest

That makes me happy, givento the fact that im still a teen and i live in ohio i dont have the option of a huge riding season and i wasnt able to start boarding really early either, we just got a cottage on the Sandusky river though, i ve been boarding for a year now and seeing people whos kids are 5 and 6 and are getting up and ripping makes me jealous! lol

dogbeater · Criminal Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 53

dogbeater · Criminal Joined: 22 Jan 2003 Posts: 53

sorry it says my pic is too big.

silver girl · Soul Rider Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 496 City: England

aw bless, thats so sweet

wish i had a chance wen i was that age, he will rip Laughing

Boardbrat · Posted: Mar 23, 2004 11:35 am Post subject:

2 words........absolutly adorable

Crash · Posted: Mar 25, 2004 12:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks, he's so cute. We have gone boarding the last two weekends and he actually said he wanted to go. We are in drysuits. I told him he would be a popsicle!!!! Too bad they don't make kid sized drysuits for when he gets a little bit older.

key · Posted: Mar 25, 2004 2:21 pm Post subject:

man im loving it!!!!!! im trying to talk my 5 year old into it. some days he says he is going to try it, others he says he doesnt want to. im not going to force him but im really anxious to get him up. he was riding a bicycle at 1, and a JR50 dirt bike at 2. so i know he is like me and picks up on things rather quickly. any suggestions???

Crash · Posted: Mar 25, 2004 7:53 pm Post subject:

Ryan was kind of hesitant at first. He wanted to try and then got displeased when he did not get up right away.

I found the following with teaching a number of other younger boys:

They are more relaxed when the water is warm.
They feel less intimidated when the water is smooth.
Pull them around on the carpet at home with the board and wakeboarding rope so they get the feel of what the pull is going to be like prior to getting on the lake. We did this with a grown up board but it gave him the feel nonetheless.
Stay in the water with them.
Tell them never to look at their feet.
Get them to look at the sky when pulling out of the water.
Once on the water get them to look at the boat.
Figure out whether they are goofy or regular. When you are helping them get started, hold them and stay on the side opposite to where they will be going and kind of hold the board in that direction. Once up, they will gravitate to outside of the wake, likely before there is much of a wake to get over. The water will be smoother and it will be easier for them to stay up.
Tell the boat driver to go slow! They are almost up and out of the water on drag. They don't need to go 18 miles an hour.
Put some heavy people in the boat to help get it up on plane with less speed once they get more comfortable and you feel they can handle more speed.

Best of all lots of oohs and aahs and wow you did greats. My son loved watching himself on video after and he still loves to watch how great he did, and loved hearing everyone's reaction to how well he did.

Hope you have as much fun teaching as I did. Wakeboarding is fun and they will soon surpass us!!!!