: He may have some physical
: problem like inner ear difficulties that cause his balance to be
: less than perfect. Whatever the problem is there is no reason to
: not give him a boat that suits his fancy and his abilities. SOFs
: are cheap to build so there is no reason to saddle him with an
: outrigger that was designed to aid a five year old.

: I guess I agree, pride certainly has something to do with it. While
: it's hard to think back to when I was 11, I can certainly
: remember being proud of the boat I had at the time, having
: outriggers that I didn't invent would have bothered me enough
: that I wouldn't use the boat.

I am discussing one 11 year old boy and I don't recall his father mentioning any physical limitations.
As far as I'm concerned he can have any kayak he or his parents want him to have.

I suggested sponsons as a temporary measure to see if the 11 year old can learn to paddle
a kayak, and in part to get some use out of the boat already completed. You are trying to read
way too much into it.

It's a useful learning tool, and it had been used by other 11 and 12 year olds with success,
not just 5 year olds. These children moved on to no sponsons in short order and I don't
recall their pride being damaged in any way.

For the record, sponsons were not my idea, and I offer no plans for them in my manuals.
They were first used, and then suggested to me, by a parent whose 10 year old son was having
problems paddling.... and it wasn't even one of my boats.

Tom