Are Flowrider lessons necessary or a waste of money?

[mlredman2]

Hi. My 12 year old wants to try the Flowrider. He's a good boogie boarder already (in the ocean) and I wonder if he should take Flowrider lessons. I don't want him to get hurt. Does anyone have any opinions? Thanks! :D

[mmagruder]

I just got back (last night) from Oasis and I am a 39 year old mom of 3. I did both the boogie board and the stand up surfing flowrider and didn't pay for a lesson. The workers working the flow rider are really helpful (except for 1 guy). The boogie board was easy to master. The surfing one wasn't as easy but I did it multiple times. I wiped out and just got back up and tried again.

[RBKL]

If you search the threads for Flowrider you'll see several threads on this already.

 

The lessons are 8 people for about an hour and you learn how to boogie and surf style. It's $60 for an hour so not too bad.

 

You can also rent a private hour.

 

You get a little more attention since it's only eight people with the crew.

 

Many posters said if you know what you're doing you don't need it. Others felt it was a good way to get better at it before you stood in line, got on, fell down and got back in line again to wait for another ride. You might get more time in the water after the lessons and you get better at it.

 

If he's a good boogie boarder he might not need it. If he's tall enough for the surf style the lessons might help him with that.

[DEIx15x8]

I don't think it's worth it. If you go early in the morning you can go with barely anyone there. When I went the one morning there were only 3 of us in line at the start. I think the guys running the flowriders would be just as helpful at that time as they would be during a lesson. He was constantly giving everyone tips and advise before each run to help improve on any mistakes from the pervious one. He also did several runs to show how to do things if he saw a pattern of mistakes with everyone. If it was more crowded I don't think this kind of attention would have been made. Later when more people started coming and they hit 10 in line they had to divide the boogie board flowrider and the help also seemed to ease up.

[catlady27]

I don't think it's worth it. If you go early in the morning you can go with barely anyone there. When I went the one morning there were only 3 of us in line at the start. I think the guys running the flowriders would be just as helpful at that time as they would be during a lesson. He was constantly giving everyone tips and advise before each run to help improve on any mistakes from the pervious one. He also did several runs to show how to do things if he saw a pattern of mistakes with everyone. If it was more crowded I don't think this kind of attention would have been made. Later when more people started coming and they hit 10 in line they had to divide the boogie board flowrider and the help also seemed to ease up.

 

We booked lessons on the Freedom and you are correct, when you go early you get a lot more attention; however, the one thing you don't get is the "tow rope" (see video link below). This was great because they spent a lot of time telling me how to shift my weight from my heels to my toes to move from side to side and while there were times the rope was slack, just having it my hand gave me a sense of security and I was able to stand up for much longer. I think the lessons were well worth the $60 and we plan on booking lessons on the Oasis. Of course, the DH didn't like the rope and was quite the daredevil :D

 

 

First part of this one is the DH being a daredevil, second part is me falling, face first :)

 

 

As you can see, you get a lot of personalized attention and you don't have to worry about other people getting in line.

[bwest the man]

It just depends if you want that little extra time on the wave and a little more attention. They are not neccacary but benificial none the less. If you want to learn how to surf well then I would reccomend taking a lesson. I have never taken one but I do the private seccions. Surfing is a whole lot harder than hoggie boarding. I would get good a boggie boarding and understand the mave before trying surfing. Eithier way lessons or no lessons you'll still have fun. :D

[DEIx15x8]

We booked lessons on the Freedom and you are correct, when you go early you get a lot more attention; however, the one thing you don't get is the "tow rope" (see video link below). This was great because they spent a lot of time telling me how to shift my weight from my heels to my toes to move from side to side and while there were times the rope was slack, just having it my hand gave me a sense of security and I was able to stand up for much longer. I think the lessons were well worth the $60 and we plan on booking lessons on the Oasis. Of course, the DH didn't like the rope and was quite the daredevil :D

 

 

First part of this one is the DH being a daredevil, second part is me falling, face first :)

 

 

As you can see, you get a lot of personalized attention and you don't have to worry about other people getting in line.

 

That's the first time I've ever heard of that rope. Didn't know they ever did that. I've never seen them use it during regular hours so your right, that does look like a great benefit to the private lesson time.

[bwest the man]

i didnt know they did that either, nice little thing. wish i had that when i firsted learned. oh well.

[catlady27]

That's the first time I've ever heard of that rope. Didn't know they ever did that. I've never seen them use it during regular hours so your right, that does look like a great benefit to the private lesson time.

 

It was great and even though I was the only one utilizing the rope, all the guys taking lessons were very patient with me and no one ever got peeved if someone took a bit longer. You really do have plenty of time in that hour to get a LOT of surfing time in. As a matter of fact, towards the end I was too tired to get back on the board so it was just the guys surfing. Then I went to the store and bought an $8 bottle of asprin :D

 

I did try to put in from the top like the DH did but after wiping out about four times I gave that up as a very bad idea :)

[bwest the man]

It was great and even though I was the only one utilizing the rope, all the guys taking lessons were very patient with me and no one ever got peeved if someone took a bit longer. You really do have plenty of time in that hour to get a LOT of surfing time in. As a matter of fact, towards the end I was too tired to get back on the board so it was just the guys surfing. Then I went to the store and bought an $8 bottle of asprin :D

 

I did try to put in from the top like the DH did but after wiping out about four times I gave that up as a very bad idea :)

 

dropping in is very hard. It took me 3 days to get it down. And I still crash once in a while.

[mlredman2]

Are the Flowrider lessons only in the evening? I just looked at some times for when I'm there (week of March 20) and the earliest time is 6:30PM.

[catlady27]

dropping in is very hard. It took me 3 days to get it down. And I still crash once in a while.

 

I just couldn't do it and the DH says he finds it much easier than pushing in from the sides, go figure :)

[catlady27]

Are the Flowrider lessons only in the evening? I just looked at some times for when I'm there (week of March 20) and the earliest time is 6:30PM.

 

I would think they are simply because it opens at 8 am for passengers and closes at 6, but I can't say for sure because I haven't been on the ship yet. We were on the Freedom when we took lessons and I can't remember if there was a time other than after 6 pm that they offered lessons.

[bwest the man]

I would think they are simply because it opens at 8 am for passengers and closes at 6, but I can't say for sure because I haven't been on the ship yet. We were on the Freedom when we took lessons and I can't remember if there was a time other than after 6 pm that they offered lessons.

 

 

If they do offer them before then, then it would be while in port. But I don't know if they do. Ask them on the ship an book a lesson then.

[DEIx15x8]

They only offer them at night. During the days it is open for public use regardless of port status (lots stay on) and then at night during dinner time it is open for private lessons. I have also heard that then after that late at night they open it up for the crew to use. Wish I knew that because I'm sure some of them would have been pretty impressive to watch.