RealSurf Surfers' Forum

I'm guessing, even tho you've set your sight on a shorty, that a small mini mal would give her a leg up.

My son started on one of those corky matting covered things with a huge square tail and a dinky rubber fin. I picked it up off the street on throw out day. He used to try and stand up on the whitewater on the shoreline on a body board before that. On a friends recommendation I bought a microlite pro which wasn't that expensive. Went pretty well. He went through two of them before he got a fibreglass board. I think thyre still around.

I bought one of those cheap softlite ones for my daughter but it didn't have the rocker like you said and she wasn't that into it really. Lost that one off the top of the car plus my son's first fibreglass board. He'd had two surfs on it :?

Now because there is often a wave up the north end between the flags I managed to snare an old 8' Mac T softboard. I've still got the old beast but it fills up with water now so fast that its pretty useless. It actually had really good rocker though and you could put fcs fins on it.
It inspired me to get a carver which has been great for the kids to ride plus it actually hangs in surprisingly well when the surf is overhead. I've had some great surfs on it. If you can find a Mac T in good nick somewhere grab it.

I bought one of those expensive softops a couple of years ago and tried different fins on it but it still went like a dog. Okay for beginners though I guess. They are expensive learners boards.

The big change with softboards is the move to fish and quads. This makes the flat wide designs work heaps better than they used to.
Anyway thats my 2 cents worth. I'm sure other people have far more experience on those things than me.

7ft or even 8ft foamy to start em off

When my son was 7 he learned to stand up on an early 1970's model 5'6" Shane single fin with a round nose. I pushed him onto the broken waves at The Pass.
Although I would suggest if yours is paddling onto her own waves that a larger board such as a mini mal, is more appropriate at her stage.
As for soft boards I'll leave it to the others who are more knowledgeable.

My boys have both used a 6'0" El Nino to learn on (my older is now 9, younger is 6).

Its floaty enough for them to catch waves easily, but also has pretty good rails and isnt too thick so they can do a bottom turn and ride a wave sideways. In my opinion little 35kg kiddies just cant turn those big ones properly, they are good for standing and riding straight, but not much else.

Those TC boards look OK, but stuffed if I was going to pay $400 for a beginner softie!

From some testing experience, I'd go with a 6'0" El Nino, they perform a bit better than what you're describing, it won't be too small for her, going to 7'0" or whatever will be a major wrestling match for her.

Also the 6'0" Land and sea Quick Stick is pretty good, you can surf it almost like a normal board but it's still safe and easy to handle.

I'm sure the TC is good, I've seen 'em but haven't surfed one. (Maybe they only work if you're a goofyfoot.)

I went looking for the land and sea 6' quick stick and found it as a red back 6' quick stick which is distributed by land and sea it seems by the contact info...
Heres a link to the board to save others hunting.
http://www.tracksmag.com/board-guide/25 ... ick-1.html

As Nick has already pointed out, going a board that is too big is going to cause issues in itself.

In fact you see this with adults on fiberglass boards too. Boards that are too big to handle, move and get under a wave.foam is your friend up until a point, but a board with too much foam will cause issues too.

6'0 should be about right as already suggested.

I'll second the el nino range.

6'0'' or 6'4'' is good. Bigger is pointless. Too much board for a young fella to handle.

Much closer to an actual fibreglass board shape, foamy so less problems about them killing themselves, and extra length adds no value but does make it harder to handle.

Don't look any further. I did and settled on this. Best idea for sure until they are really ready to go fibreglass, and as they are similar the transition should be pretty straightforward.

Flow and fluid are the preferred model for my young fella and his mates.

wingnut2443 wrote:

Nick Carroll wrote: ... I'm sure the TC is good, I've seen 'em but haven't surfed one. (Maybe they only work if you're a goofyfoot.)

We've dodged that bullet, she's NOT a goofy footer ... PHEW.

After talks with our obstetrician, we had them do the new test for goofy-footedness at the 20 week scan. That way if it comes up positive you can take the humane option.

I bought a TC quad softy for myself to use in the flags. I think its a 5'8 or something. Loved the feel of it, have followed up with a fibreglass quad and my surfing has gone to a new level.
My kids however are using a TC 6 foot trifin (18), a 7 foot softlite (8) and my 15 year old is using a complete piece of shit redback 5'10 which is cracked in the middle and he goes best of all.
These are not high performance boards, they are softies and for the beginners and kids I wouldn't sweat too much over the minutiae...

Thanks for all the info. For what it's worth, I have a 6'0 Flow and a 5'6 Fluid. My older son who is now nearly 8 has been using the boards since he was 5 1/2. The Flow floats a lot better and is more stable. As he is getting heavier, he is finding the Fluid a bit harder to use now. My younger son is now 5 so he is starting out and uses the Fluid, but again, the Flow is an "easier" board for him. So all things considered, I would probably vote for the Flow if you are choosing only one board.

I do have a question though. My older son is itching to get on a "proper" PU board. One thing I like about the El Nino boards is the safety aspect. In fact, when my son rode my McCoy Astron Zot recently, my fears were realised as he came off a wave and the board flew up in the air and came straight down on his head... Thankfully, his head must be like a rock, as we heard a mighty crack but he was OK and he managed to ding the tail rail of the very heavily-glassed McCoy! After this incident, I have been a bit more wary about him riding anything other than his El Nino. Do you guys have any suggestions on when it is appropriate for a young kid (who loves surfing but does not get to surf often) to move to PU boards? I realise every individual is different but I wondered if you had any experiences / thoughts to share.

cheers, Kevin

...

Maybe just try a board that doesn't weigh as much as a McCoy?
And enrol him in boxing classes, with a noggin like that he'll go far.

I've seen great surfers aged about 7-8, they obviously started younger.

wingnut2443 wrote:

oldman wrote: ... Don't look any further. I did and settled on this. ...

Did you, or have you looked at, or seen anyone using, the Softech TC Pro?

Has anyone any feedback on the Softech TC Pro?

Can't say I have wingnut. Sounds like you took the plunge anyway. I didn't have any problems with the TC's other than the price.

The boy wants me to get a fibreglass for him. During the summer I surfed with him and we swapped boards out there, had a go on his el nino flow.

It's not too bad, and a lighter adult won't have a problem surfing them. I hate squaretails generally, but it could pick up the waves easily and turn, no problems.

Will look at getting him a fibreglass later in the year, late winter/Spring. He might have grown 6'' by then so I'm stalling a bit waiting for the growth spurt to kick in so it won't be redundant in 5 minutes. Also, don't want to get him a board and then have him hit me up for something else expensive for his birthday. Sneaky dad.

I'm planning on hitting up an underground shaper who stalks these forums, if he is up for it.

But don't tell anyone.

...

I want them all to post all the time. I can understand the reasoning behind them not doing it, but it always leads me back to the same question. Why do people give surfboard artisans such a hard time in a surf related forum?

And, as for my artisan description, that's exactly what they are. Very few do it and I'm pretty sure most of them never become rich. Make a living? Yes. Whilst on my soap box, surfboards are worth much more than we generally pay