How old? How much
money? How heavy, kid and boat? What kind of sailing do you think he is interested in? Capsizing and swimming part of the fun, or need a more stable boat to stay out of the
water?
I've been taking my
kids out on small
boats since they were very young. I have a Hobie 20 that we take out in lighter winds. We (they can't sail alone on our club boats) have also been out on our club's Picos, Lasers, FJs, Laser >>s, Bravos, El Toros and maybe a couple of others. When they took
sailing lessons, they were in Optimists,
Hunter 140s and Hobie Waves on their own. My
kids dislike the Optis, but if the interest is in
racing, that pretty much is the only option, except that in some areas the BIC O'pen is trying to make inroads. They did like the Hobie Wave, but it's probably since I polluted their minds on our Hobie 20. I couldn't get them to take more lessons because of the Optis, so for less
money than I shelled out for lessons I got them a Hobie 14. So far they've spent more time swimming under it than sailing, but at least they're going out and having fun.
Hobie Wave is probably the better choice over the 14, but I didn't want to spend that much money. They've really had to
work hard to learn to tack the 14, it's a real bear to learn and I've had to add a righting pole so they could right it.
So you also might need to find out if he is a speed freak, or relaxed or what.
John
Trying to go sailing on their 14, but can't seem to stay on the boat long enough to get away from the
dock.
The kids are minimizing wetted surface on a Friday night club
race 2 years ago on the 20.