what size longboard for a 12 year old?

[jellyfish365]

Hello,
My daughter has surfed a little and is pretty successful on a 7ft. board. She is getting interested in the style of
longboarding, (walking the nose etc.). My neighbor has a 9ft board for sale wondering if this would work for her?
The board has light glassing because it was owned by a pro who did performance longboarding. My daughter is
about 4ft 6in. The 7ft board she rides is more shortboard style. Anyone have experience with kids longboarding?
Wondering if a 7 or 8ft mini longboard would be more suitable or just go for the 9ft
Thanks!

[jaffa1949]

Hi jellyfish and daughter of jellyfish , some easy thoughts for you, the maximum I'd go,ATM would be an eight footer, but a seven footer genuine Malibu shape would be ok too, just to cover it get your daughter try the 9ft performance board too.
Depending on the outcome of that could give you some thoughts. If carrying a bigger board is a drag it is going to be wearing both literally and figuratively , losing fun as well as resin along the way.
I know in Hawaiinthey have menehune ( kids comps, lessons and social events , following an ideal women's role model ( The late Rell Sunn) it may be so in California too.
That would be a good thing to get involved with.
Try a few boards , get your daughter' s input bear in mind she's going to grow.

[waikikikichan]

the minimum length for longboard competitions is 9'0". So if she is not doing contest than you can get what ever. Some contest rarely use the 3 feet over your head rule. So if I am 5'3", I can use a 8'3" mini-mal. But most contest are minimum 9'0". I actually prefer 8'6" or 8'8" for noseriding becuase it matches my step/gait. With a 9'0" I have todo a half step more. at 4'6" tall i would say 8'0" would be plenty.

[dtc]

The only thing I might add is whether your daughter can handle a 9ft board in the surf - not when she is up and surfing, but getting out. there are plenty of us big fat guys who can struggle with the size and volume of a LB in white water, so a 12 year old will probably find it fairly hard.

Of course, this depends in part on skill level rather than pure strength, along with issues such as whether she has a channel to paddle out through and so forth.