My 8 year old son is begging for his first board as the thrill he derived last summer from standing up on his body board in the slop is gone. Looking for recs on what to put him on for South Orange County points and soft beach breaks. He's only 4'5" and a bit over 50 lbs, wiry and agile (damn I'm envious!). Any help in getting him on the right board appreciated.
Something around 1-2 foot over his head in length, scaled down longboard outline with fin boxes for multiple choices 1, 2, or 4 fins. Has to be narrow enough for him to carry and paddle.
There are lots of ways to go with this...
Soft boards are good for kids that age. The Doyle Kids line is nice and safe.
Mini- longboard as suggested by LeeV is excellent choice also, if you think he's ready for a ''hard'' board. Get some soft fins for it at first and take that worry out.
Or a beater rocket, it'll be oversize but ''cool''.
Ask him ''how he wants to surf". If he wants to rip in the modern sense, and he's athletic and brave; spend about 10 sessions on one of the above and then get him a grom hpsb about 4'10''-5'0''. It'll still have plenty of float for 50 lbs. I've seen kids flyin' down the line climbing and dropping after about 2 weeks. They only need the ''trainer'' board to learn how to catch waves and stand up. Then (for some kids), it's off to the races...
Be prepared to fix some dings/fins though. They're not very good at taking care of boards at 8.