Surfing with kids is the ultimate family activity. For many surfers, teaching their kids to surf is the ocean equivalent of having a catch in the backyard. It’s an excellent way to bond and to promote fitness and physical activity. It’s also been a means for surfing to launch out of obscurity and into the mainstream of sports. If you’re not a surfer, learning to surf alongside your kids is likely to be an incredibly positive experience for both of you.
Finding the right surfboard for kids and beginner surfers can be a frustrating challenge. If your child has never been on a surfboard before, a surf instructor is likely to recommend a foam top. You may also hear these referred to as soft tops or “Doyles”. Foam tops are sturdy surfboards with a soft skin intended to reduce the chance of injury in the inevitable newbie wipeout. Kids generally feel comfortable on foam top surfboards, and they make learning fast and fun. Price conscious parents will find a foam top surfboard to be a good option.
If you know your family will get good use out of the board, and you have other children to whom you intend to pass it, you might also consider a fiberglass longboard or a “funboard”. Funboards are incredibly forgiving and are a hybrid of the shortboard and longboard shapes with thicker rails and a wider deck area like a longboard but with a streamlined nose and sharper tail like a shortboard.
A child’s surfboard should be measured in length relative to the weight of the child. Children under 100 pounds will generally do fine on a 6-7 foam top board. Children 100-140 pounds should be on a board between 7-8 long. Children over 140 pounds will find greatest beginner successes on boards over 8 in length. For older children and beginner adults, learning to surf on a 9 or larger board may prove to be the best option. Longer boards afford great stability, helping new surfers master balance and the art of wave catching before moving on to more challenging board shapes. With the right equipment, surfing with kids is an awesome family adventure.