Taking nephew out for his 2nd time

[Oldhead]

Curious your guys thoughts on starting out someone new on a camber or reverse camber board.
He will probably be riding less than 5 days a year until he gets a car, he is 13 now.
The shop near my house rents NS boards that he has ridden in the past.
I have a Capita pathfinder new in the plastic i got from a warranty. Tempted to set this up and put him on it instead of the NS rental.
I sure this has been asked and answered before.
Any advice is appreciated.

[benjinyc]

I dont think the board makes a huge difference for someone starting out.

from the few years I instructed, I didn't see a huge advantage from LTR or rockered boards versus camber for first timers. I think after a season or two, the camber profile can be beneficial for beginners who are past the falling leaf stage but struggling with their edges in the linking turns stage

[Muskrat]

Agreed with the above. The general idea is that rocker is more "forgiving" in the early stages, but at day 2 just trying to learn edge control I wouldn't think it's critical either way. If he's going to rent all the time, probably sticking with the same deck would be helpful at this stage?

Looking a bit further down the road...I had this conversation a lot with younger riders and their parents when I used to work as shops. Often moving from a few years of rentals, to buying their first board, and they would get really caught up on what to buy. At some point you have to just pick one. The next board you have a baseline to want more or less of certain characteristics.

[Spenser]

I think of it this way… a lot of parents teaching their kid to ride a bike these days use striders/balance bikes instead of training wheels, because they learn to handle the actual bike - instead of only learning pedaling, really. Coming from training wheels, you then have to relearn handling, and start fresh with balance. Coming from a strider, you already know how to handle the bike, you just have to start pedaling - which you could have been teaching stationary in the meantime.

My point is, if you start them on the right board with a profile that has more engagement, you're doing them a favor. It can still be easy to ride, but they will be learning better fundamentals from day one, and they won't have to relearn handling/etc once they get on a "real" board

I'd agree it's not a huge deal either way, but in my mind, why bother adding an unnecessary phase if you can avoid it?

[Oldhead]

Thanks for all the input. I forgot to add, it is the camber version of the Pathfinder. And the camber is minimal.

[benjinyc]

13 is a weird age too, iv'e had kids who spent the entire winter on the magic carpet, and some other first timers advance so quick they were on the lift their second day. Is he going through a growth spurt, is he fit or obese, does he skate board.... these will make a bigger difference on how fast he progresse. Id say length, width, flex are more impactful than camber profile

[Oldhead]

13 is a weird age too, iv'e had kids who spent the entire winter on the magic carpet, and some other first timers advance so quick they were on the lift their second day. Is he going through a growth spurt, is he fit or obese, does he skate board.... these will make a bigger difference on how fast he progresse. Id say length, width, flex are more impactful than camber profile

He is a fit kid. Tall and size 12 flippers.
The pathfinder is a 57 wide pretty soft flex.

[eleveneightnate]

I put my girlfriend on a Salomon Wonder for her first board. It (allegedly) has hybrid camber, but the thing is visibly like 98% camber with hardly any rocker at all. Similar to what @Spenser said, IMO camber is a more direct path to learning edge control. It'll also set a good reference point for different camber profiles and associated edge control in the future.

Anyway, she's 37 and here she is this past December on her first day snowboarding ever:

[SJF_NH]

She's a natural... I think that having a smidge of camber is good for first timers, I feel like it allows someone that's just learning to develop a more acute awareness of where their edges are. As long as the board is soft enough to provide a bit of forgiveness, particularlly when a newby inevitably gets their weight in the wrong place during an edge change.

[jota]

I like to start with flat camber. It helps to have your feet more connected to the snow in a relaxed way without having to fight with the camber and therefore feel better riding and how, what you do with your feet translates into reactions from the board. On the other hand, flat has more torsion and helps more to enter the turn so it helps the learner more. That is really the complication to learn, to stop, you have to make a turn first and the learner has afraid because to turn needs speed and need speed to stop... Afterwards your level goes up and you can go to other shapes.