Board for grommet with paddling issues?

[damo666]

I am looking for suggestions on a board for my 10 year old son.

At the moment he's currently riding a fairly standard grommet thruster (5'11" x 18" x 2" 1/8), and is having a few issues paddling into waves. He's actually a really good surfer once up and riding & goes really well when I push him into waves, but just does not seem to have the power to paddle in himself even when positioned correctly, and regularly falls off the back of waves.

Obviously this will improve over time as he grows and positioning gets better, but are there any suggestions on what sort of thing I should be looking for him to ride?

Would a standard 'man-sized' thruster at 6 foot + be a good idea? Or should we keep it small and look for something with more volume in the tail?

[alakaboo]

How big is he?
Seems like a big board for a 10yo already.

[Nick Carroll]

How big is he? Height weight etc

How big are you, ie what are you expecting from him re growth?

[damo666]

Thanks guys.

He is currently around 35kg, and....tall? (not sure exactly, is the tallest in his class but absolutely stick thin).
I expect he'll stay tall & lanky. I'm 6ft & 75kg, I think he'll end up much taller.

I have an old Firewire thruster here that is 6'4' x 19 1/2 x 2 5/8. I might stick him on that for a while, unless you think it will be counterproductive?

[scot]

My young bloke turns 10 soon and I just got him a new 5'0 . He was riding a 5'9 but was struggling to duck dive it. he is still struggling to sink this one, but it is better. He can paddle on to them if he is in the right spot but I usually paddle behind him and give a shove to help out.
I think the paddle power will come. Just need to keep at it and keep him keen.
I've been getting him up for the early before work/school and he has been loving it.

Sorry that probably doesnt help much, but paddling is only part of surfing. If his board is too big its going to be harder for him to turn it. Kids are pretty nimble and have good balance and can ride pretty small boards once they are up.


Scot

[Nick Carroll]

Scot, paddling is a huge part of surfing.

A young kid needs to catch a lot of waves, it suits the early stages of surfing to get through a heap of wave catching and to do that you've gotta be able to paddle the board.

damo you don't want to be buying him a board right now. The old Firewire sounds fine. At 10 your kid is a long way from the muscle growth that'll happen as testosterone kicks in between 11 and 14. Encourage him to surf with friends more than with you, that'll up his wave count over time.

[pirate_agenda]

maybe some regular swim squad training and nipper board paddle training would help him develop some strength required for catching waves.

[damo666]

Thats a familiar story Scot - the reason we went to a smaller grom-type thruster for my son was because he had progressed pretty quickly over the last 6 months riding my old board, and wanted something that he could duckdive in order to get himself out the back.

But then we hit the paddle in issue. He's fine when up and riding and fine when I push him in, but he really just wants to be out there under his own steam, and was getting REALLY frustrated & bummed about missing lots of waves every session.

Anyway, we have returned to option 1. We have managed to pick him up a fish type board locally (ie, an old-school fish outline, not a 'little bit wider than a shortboard type of "fish").

Its a 5'10"x21"x2 1/2" quad, and is a paddling machine! He can paddle into just about anything on it, and the amount of confidence he has regained in just a few surfs on it is pretty amazing. I think I'll agree with Nick on this one, he may not be surfing quite as critically as he possibly could be, but he's not in training to be the next world champ and is back to having fun again instead of coming in frustrated, so it has worked out pretty well for us!

[pridmore]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261202569172 ... 1555.l2649
my groms not the strongest paddler either, so I shaped him and EPS for better float, did the trick...till he outgrew it and needs more foam now.....been thru the whole range of grommy boards with my son from absolute beginner to today...