It's been a long road but the boy is finally riding and holding ground, as well as doing all the board and kite control himself while Dad watches from the beach.
Eleven and a half years old, 40kg and stoked off his brain as you can imagine!!
For anyone else teaching kids, I can't say enough about how important having a user friendly kite has been to the learning process. We got an Cab SB1 5m and added the 08 depower system upgrade, and he can control it really well. Board is an old Wipika Serum 120x38.
Would be interested to hear of any other parent's stories.
Andy.
that's awesome! but if you want to make life easier get him a 1:1 bar so that his little arms don't give up after 5 mins
although i guess the bar pressure on a 5m kite would be pretty light even on a pulley bar. good stuff!
great stuff for a kid his age i just wish these contraptions where invented 1974
Great work getting him into it so young, should keep him out of trouble for the next ten years at least.
Yes, I hope it keeps him out of trouble.
Turned my back at a local beach the other day and these were the mates he had found - at 11 yo I think there is plenty of trouble to come!
Let him know, that whilst a life of polygyny may have its rewards the difficulties associated with managing a harem can very easily outweigh the benefits gained.
Looks a cool spot ...where is it..
Congrats to you and the lil' fella. (what a chick magnet)
Chocolate in one hand, banana in the other, more t&a than Bay Watch, and puberty just ahead... Ahhhhhh... what the fnck went wrong with my childhood.
Thanks for the kind words - Tai has been reading the post with interest!
We started him on the trainer about middle of 2005, and got him a 4m 5 line C-kite in November 05. Unfortunately this kite was almost impossible to relaunch in less than 18 knots so the initial learning was pretty slow through 2006.
We tried an Airush pilot 6m (5 line C) in early 2007 and that was a bit better although relaunch was still a problem, given that he wasn't strong enough to pull the 5th and get the kite onto its back.
We went to the current kite (Switchblade 1 bow kite, 5m) in the middle of 2007 and the improvement was immediate, both because the kite was easier to use and control, and also because he knew he could drop the bar to depower it and so his confidence increased (as his fear decreased!).
Since then it has been a case of trying to get in a session as often as possible to keep the skills improving. We have been doing a lot of skurfing behind the dinghy on the no-wind days, and he is a pretty keen surfer too so his board skills have been developing.
We live on Magnetic Island, off the NQ coast near Townsville. More info here:http://www.tevenei.com/tvm/nellybay_kite_map.htm
Andy
Sorry to be picky, but isnt that a CrossBow1?
How does the little tacker go in light 12knt winds? can he get up on the 5m?
Hi Walsh,
its an SB1 5m from 2006. It has Switchblade written on the side, so I'm pretty sure.....
At the moment his power to weight ratio seems pretty close to mine on my SB3 12m and 135x40, I'm 73kg. In 12 knots he is just holding ground, flying a lot of S-patterns to keep moving. In 14-16knots he has the kite parked and is going upwind, and above 16 we have a bit of depower pulled on. Haven't really had him out in 16-20 yet.
Getting bucket loads of 12-15 knot shiite so far this winter on the island, it's driving the local crew nuts. Townsville seems to be getting a few more 17 knot days with a little seabreeze behind the SE trade. Have a new 8m that's been waiting to taste the water for over a month..........
Lizard next week for 3 weeks should fix that particular problem!
Ok then, I havent taken much notice of the 06 cabrinha kites. I just assumed they were similar to the 07 kites. Thereyago eh, I had no idea the SB1 was so similar to the CB1.
What sized board is he on?
Board is a wipika Serum 120x38. Not much rocker and very wide for its length. It was Maricio's wakestyle board from about 2004 I think.
It's not the best, but it does get him going early.
Nice to see you're a kiting family, Dr Andy!
Please send my warmest regards to the Lizards.
Hey mate, if you want to increase his top-end confidence get him a narrower board. I'm a lightweight at 63kg and one of my problems with wider boards over 38cm is that i can't get the edge down hard enough when i'm lit. so i use a narrow 125x33 board which helps a LOT. this would be a much more prominent problem with such a lightweight rider on a wide board.
thanks for those tips Neill. The 2:1 bar doesn't have much pressure, but the board could definitely be optimised.
A 6m SB3 and a custom cardboard about 118x32 are being held up as the carrots for the lad, should be worth about 2 years worth of washing dishes and taking the rubbish out, what do ya reckon??
Mate, I got into sailing when I was 11, got my first boat for $500 when I was 12 and it was the best thing my parents ever bought for me, kept me out of trouble all summer, (not much else to do in Napier NZ) all I could think about was jumping on my bike and heading down to the yacht club.
You are always going to have a kiting buddy, so I reckon it might be worth the investment just for that!
If there are any kite-parents out there interested in a great first kite for kids - the 5m SB1 you see in the pics is for sale at a bargain price (see the buy and sell section).
We have found a good 6m SB2 so we are going to move him up to that.
Andy
