"will you teach me to surf?"

dont try to go right to a surfboard, start on a boogie board so she will realize how the waves work. Then right to a shortboard. theres enough longboarders

 

Get her a beater board, they're allot of fun and safe not to mention you can teach her outside of the designated surf areas in VB. 17th st has them for 149.00 with out the fin and i think 160 something with one.

 

I would put her on a regular board. Nothing huge but enough float so its relatively stable. Take her out on smaller low tide days where you can accompany her without needing a board yourself. Teach he to paddle but push her into some waves to keep it fun (she most likely won't catch any on her own).

My girls are too young yet, but I've tried this approach with relatives. Amazing how exciting 1 foot whitewash is to a kid learning to stand on a board

 

Yeah either get her a board just be enough to float her but still be stalbe or a get her a Liquid shredder or and BZ it would be a safer than a regulare board if she has a spill and falls
Also let her learn at her own pace dont get discouraged if she dont pick it up as fast as u would like . and Have fun sharing the stoke

 

My daughters 6, I got her a sk8board and she messes aroung on the bosu ball while i do my workouts, balance and strength is key. +1 to pkovo, paddle out on small days and from ur board or while swimming, push her into the wave and comunicate to her to paddle 2-3 times and stand up. We even practice popping up around the house just cuz she thinks its fun. If u have a pool, let her paddle around on a board. And if shes big enough to take a couple on the head while in the ocean, give her some space to figure it all out and fall in love.

 

Def start on a foam/soft board. They have them on Craigslist for around $100.

Then dig deep for the patience to stand waist deep and push her into them and not constantly yell advice. As she gets comfortable have her paddle back to you.

You'd be surprised how easy even in little surf they pearl and get upset. Most importantly make sure she never puts the board between her and the ocean. My kid got rocked with a shot to the nose when he didn't heed my advice.

 

If you're worried about safety or the risk of breaking the board then go with a soft top. I know some of the nicer soft tops are pretty expensive though, sometimes more than just buying a regular board which she can use even after she learns. I would recommend a decent sized fun board from ron jon or something like that

 

I help teach with a surf school in Atlantic City and I would say get her a cheap foamie that way she doesn't hurt herself as she is learning. I agree to take her out in about waist high (her waist) water and stand there with her. Have her lay on the board while you hold on to it to help keep her stable. Keep the board facing the beach. Wait for a broken wave to approach and have her paddle but still give her a push straight toward the beach. You can help her by telling her when to stand up after she has caught the wave. After she starts getting up consistently, have her paddle and catch the waves on her own. Sorry if some of this info seems redundant or stupid but this is how we teach beginners. We also go over all of the basics on the beach before taking them out. We even have them practice the pop up a few times and give them pointers. Good luck and have a great time teaching your daughter!

Oh, and definitely take her out on a small day.

One love.

 

Younger kids are MUCH easier to teach how to surf in my opinion. I think the most important thing for you to do is to reinforce her confidence and comfort in the water. That way, she won't be nervous about being farther out in the water than all the other kids her age. I recently started teaching my younger sister and girlfriend how to surf, and their fear of the ocean is making their progress slow. Also, stress what to do after she catches the wave. I forgot to tell my girlfriend not to keep her longboard in between her and the next wave when she gets off and she got rocked in the face by her 10 foot Walden. Oops haha

 

Seeing that look of stoke on their face when they finally pull off their first turn is priceless. My daughter is 8 and loves riding on her softie. I still have to push her into them but she's starting to get it on her own. Perseverence and letting them go at their own pace is the key.

 

shoot man I've been teaching my 24 year old girlfriend how to surf lately and she is such a little kook! Always cutting me off and running into me, getting stuck inside and ditching her board, paddling in peoples way haha it's pretty bad. She gets all angry when I try to tell her to hurry out of the break zone or to paddle faster. LOL pretty sad but I think she is out of my hands...

 

you will need patience. I don't know about you but noone taught me how to surf so when my kid wanted to learn I pretty much taught him about waves on a bodyboard then threw him out there and said you are on your own. The patience is needed when they do dumbass things like paddle over the worst part of the reef (in Hawaii - I subsequently ruined a board cuz I had to paddle in after him). The mechanics are the easy part; teaching them about waves/respect/safety is the difficult part. It pays off though because there aint no better feeling then catching a good wave then watching your son (or daughter) ride the next one!!!

 

apples dont fall far from the tree,do they? want me to teach her the stinkbug?

 

call me a kook, offer to teach my girlfriend the "stinkbug".

Stay classy, Ripturbo, stay classy

 

teaching a child to surf

the hardest thing will probably be resisting the urge to always be teaching/explaining something and reminding yourself that the most important "lesson" for kids to learn early on, is that surfing is a blast. if kids walk out of the water feeling that way after every session, all the rest will come in time, but if there's too much instruction at the beginning, it may start to feel like school, which is a drag.

i would say to try to have one objective for each day in the water (body positioning on the board, paddling, etc.) and limit your comments to reinforcing and complimenting the child on that point, and then just make sure that it's safe and fun.