Kids and windsurfing
Windsurfing is a sport that is also suitable for children from the age of 5. Many children learn this sport when they are still very young, but there are some specific rules to follow. The learning process for a child is very much different from the one for an adult. Adult can be put on a board, given some instructions and, in the worst case scenario, he will swim back with a board and sail. When we are dealing with children, it is necessary to assess whether he/she is ready to learn this sport. Despite the fact that we often see a child learning to windsurf without being able to swim, we would not recommend it - despite the fact that an adult is present at all times.
As long as your child does not master the basics of windsurfing, it is important that we are always close to him and we can immediately come to his aid. But even after that, you should always keep an eye on him.
The first condition to learn windsurfing (for the safety of your child) should be at least a basic knowledge of swimming and loss of fear of "black" (deep) water. Nevertheless, if you consider your child a good swimmer, we recommend that you equip him or her with a life jacket at least in the beginning or any other buoyancy aids. When learning, it often happens that even the smallest wave overturns us and we lose our balance, fall into the water and, in many cases, the sail also falls over ourselves. While even an unexpected fall into the water can cause in child a moment of panic, where they simply freeze, this is greatly intensified if a sail falls over the child’s head and momentarily prevents to breathe normally.
We recommend the use of neoprene suits even in cases where the water is warm enough for adults. Children are more sensitive to the wind and are faster cold. Most of the initial attempts to learn windsurfing often end up because the child is cold and consequently also gets tired faster. Next time, it takes much more convincing to get him on the water because he knows he's going to get cold again. This can be solved with wearing a neoprene suit, which keeps the child warm and can devote itself to learning.
Proper equipment is crucial. For starters, we always recommend choosing rather a smaller sail than a bigger one. If you have decided to teach your child to windsurf on your own, it is important that you also provide him with the appropriate equipment. While a five-year-old child begins to learn on a 0.5 m2 sail; a seven-year-old child is learning on a 1 m2 sail. If he starts learning at the age of ten, we still recommend a 1.5 m2 sail to get started, to master the basics, and then he will quickly progress to a size of 2 m2 or. 2.5 m2. For smaller children, the initial size will be relevant for another season, or maybe two, while for older children (e.g. 10 years and older), the child will probably outgrow by next year and need a 0.5 - 1 m2 larger sail. Children's rigs are perfectly adapted to the child and his process of learning windsurfing. The equipment is lighter, undemanding to use and consequently allows the child to still have enough energy after one hour of windsurfing to continue. The mast is lighter, the boom is thinner and easier to hold, and the sail itself also has a lower weight due to its simpler design and makes it easier for children to handle.
For boards, we recommend a size between 160 - 220 litres. Of course, even a slightly larger board (e.g. 250 litres) will not make learning more difficult compared to the smaller ones mentioned above. The board must have an additional daggerboard, as this greatly increases the stability of the board itself. In recent years, the development of inflatable boards have caused a small revolution. In addition to being lighter, they are also more convenient to store at home. We also highly recommend the use of this type of boards. Hard-deck boards have on the other hand the advantage of being more resilient to damage.
Now you just have to decide whether to buy or rent the equipment? The advantage of renting is definitely that you do not have to worry about the storage of equipment and just return it to the centre or change the size if conditions change. The big disadvantage of renting equipment is that often when the wind is ideal for learning, all the equipment is already rented and your child learns on inappropriate equipment, in inappropriate conditions or spends much less time on the water than you would like. All of this often takes away the desire to windsurf or at least limit progress. If you have your own equipment, you can go to the water when you decide and stay as long as you want. The child will thus learn to windsurf faster. When buying equipment, the initial investment is higher, but on average it already pays off in few years at the expense of not paying for equipment rental. Once the child outgrows the equipment you can resell it as used equipment. This is definitely a win-win situation for you, because financially you get better through (in the long run), the child uses new equipment that he/she always has at disposal.
If windsurfing really attracts your child, it is much better to have your own equipment. Despite owning your own equipment (if you decide for this), we recommend that you do not "force" your child into windsurfing when you have the time, but let him show the interest.
There are schools and instructors who really know how to work with children, in our experience there are also many of them who do not have the necessary pedagogical skills and are not giving the child content appropriate to his age. Especially for younger children, windsurfing is like playing a game. Let them play and enrich it with many ideas and bring windsurfing closer to them. Internet is now offering you a lot of ideas how to do this, but of course you can always ask us for advice and we are happy to give you some ideas and experiences on how we presented this sport to our children.