how young

[Farno]

When my wife had our first little boy i was stoked, i had to sell my board to afford a few items and was gutted. Now hes 18 months and i have been putting money away to buy a new board for all of us. Its going to be a long board so my wife and little boy can get started.
I'm hoping to go tandem with him, but how old does he really need to be? I was thinking something like 5-7 before he had the strength to hold on in the North sea

[northswell]

Started my boys surfng at three. Its a bit of a pain at that age cos you have to stay with them.

Get them swimming early and teach them the dangers of the sea.

Started leavng them on there own on the inside from the age of 6 ish

[parrysurf]

I have 3.....11,8,& 5...we have a rule in our house.
You have to be able to swim to the bottom of the deep end of the pool and bring up an object. This graduates them to surf lessons.

My little one is practicing hard this summer, she wants to get some surf lessons before summer is over.

For me it is about peace of mind and water safety. Let alone the fact that if ya scare em of surfing when they are young they might get turned off for a long time.

Good luck....Keep the stoke

[Farno]

What size boards are you using? I'm think along the lines of 9'6 or even 10' so we can tandem to start with

[parrysurf]

yup....10'0 is what I have been using, tandem was cool, now they are into solo push ins....we are gonna try some paddle ins b4 the summer is up.

Hey, you could always use a life jacket if you don't want to wait for the swimming skills.

Good luck.

[Farno]

Sorry for talking so long to get back into this thread. After talking to a few lads at my local break about this i was given some funny looks when i mentioned 10'
Is this too big? I thought it would be an ideal size, i'm 5'11 and 77kg the nippa is a skinny rake, i was hoping to keep the board for lazy days after he gets his own.

[parrysurf]

Funny looks?? Not sure why.....ya gonna tandem a shortie??? Maybe they think you are gonna surf with him while he is still 18 mos.
Just keep your surfing in top shape, so you will be in the best position to pass it on.