Well had a few sessions now on the mutant.
Dailed in now and dang i'm loving the mutant style.
Fits my riding style sweetly. Fang out boosting airs through the white wash to slash onto a wave face for some upwind wave riding. rinse and repeat. over and over and over.
oh yeah loving it.
I'm not feeling any limitation compared to the TT. I'm doing all the same stuff and more.
Welcome plummet. Been saying this for a while now, but no one seems to listen. Either tt or SB it seems for those not in the know. Enjoy the freedom man.
Haven't ridden a tt for about 6 months always on the wave or the SB ,don't even put one in the wagon any more,mutant is way more versatile.
I havn't seen anyone riding a mutant in years. I used to love the old Naish ones. Are Cardboards the only ones that sell them? cheers
Mine's a Shinn Wave
I don't like standard TT's any more. Only ride the mutant. As Plummet says - "Fits my riding style sweetly."
No only myself and radman, plummet made his own! the shinn is also in the mix.
For me, for the average rider - meaning non competition, the mutant provides much more versatility. Still love high powered sessions on a TT don't get me wrong, but for normal conditions the CB wave offers a bit of TT and a bit of SB in just the right amounts. Can boost big, do some of the rolls, looping and transitions you need and yet can hold itself in decent surf - never as good as a SB (just different) but good enough.
The CB wave is so good backwards I ride the board just like a TT as it shoots upwind backwards with a ever so slight alteration of technique in the large swells, but can switch to toes easily and hold.
if you are an allrounder type then I don't see why you wouldnt have one.
Waiting for the Plummet production board to come out though. LOL.
All depends on your style, but we shouldn't be motivated by high powered freestyle comp riders, they are a specific niche and so are the SB riders. Then again I know SB riders that wouldnt use anything else! All depends. But if you want something for everything get yourself a mutant!
yeah a guy at my local has an underground srf. looks nice. more on the T style than SB style by the look. i like the little surf fins. may have to get me some.
The Jimmy Lewis RadF has been around since the days when this was one of the first mutants to appear.
Jimmy himself decided to drop them from his production range a few seasons back only to cop a tidal wave of objection from his agents everywhere.
They are still on range & available from all JL retailers.
I know a significant no. of kiters out there that have had their RadF for years and would never let it go. Seems once you've ridden one its just one of those must have options in your quiver. Whether that quiver is TT's or surfboards or even both.
My bet is that in the swings & slides - YES there was a time when you were laughed at for suggesting kiters should use a surfboard on waves - that mutants will re-appear as a preferred option for all those kiters out there that arent chasing that purist 'tow-in & park' kite-surfing experience. Lets face it most kiters arent 'surfing' waves. Most of us are 'kiting' and using waves to add value to the kitesurfing session.
In my book - you are either using your kite, part time, to get you onto a wave (purist style) or you are playing with waves to make your (pretty much) fulltime kiting sessions more fun.
Either is OK but the majority of kiters who are 'playing' on waves are the ones who may just find a mutant is a way better way-to-go than either a TT or a surfboard.
Bit of a free plug while Im on it - KSS has both the JL RadF & the Shinn Wave.
thats probably a fair assessment puppet. I'm definately not a purist wave rider. I prefer to "play" amongst the waves than endlessly smack lips down the line.
ps anybody seen any good mutant videos online? .... i can't find anything. its either freestyle or surfboard videos.
Yeh I think puppett has described this well. Waves add to my session, I'm not chasing pure wave riding, I do that on on surfboard when there is no wind!
I posted this in a thread a few month ago.
I had a mutant last season, but got rid of it as I felt it had a fundamental flaw. Mutants can ride backwards, but in a compromised way, which for me felt awkward and uncomfortable. This leaves toe side which they do pretty well, but not all that much better than a freeride tt. Mutants are too small to gybe. For me riding toe side all the time gets tireing very quickly. I much prefer to gybe and ride heel side both ways and just switch to toe side when actually surfing the wave.
I also think that to get the most out of a mutant on a wave you need to have your back foot back as far as possible over the fins, but due to the small size of mutants this compromises your ability to get up on a plane as quick as you would if the foot straps were more centered over the board.(example I can get going on my 132 x 39 tt as early as my mutant 151 x 43 when the back foot strap is all the way back). As a result I think mutants are best suited for stronger wind/no good for light wind.
Don't get me wrong I think mutants work quite well for there intended purpose, but considering you spend 50% of your time riding the opposite way to your natural stance, the above mentioned issues ment this board was no good for me. I think that if you don't want to go the surfboard, a wave specific twintip such as the underground srf is the go.
after playing around in the waves a lot more last season on a tt i i am definitely thinking of going the sb or mutant route. only problem i can i see with a mutant is that i like to ride toe side on the waves both ways. i spose there's no way around it with a mutant is there? cos blasting airs and riding waves without having to change boards would be the sweet.
Bennie.
your statement says to me you mutant was perhaps a bad one or the set up was bad. I can set mine up so its "compromised" going backwards and excellent on the wave face to as good as TT backwards and good on the wave face. my mutant goes better in light wind than my TT.. Theres no need to ride toeside everywhere if you don't want to.
captain. when you say toeside waves both ways do you mean upwind and down the line in the wave session? or when the wind changed to the opposite tack?
I have mine set up so i TT out healside SB upwind in and ride down the line toeside.
Yea Bennie sounds like it's your mutant that's the prob what type is it,the Wave rocks as a light wind board I use it in all winds from 10+ on the 15,I like to ride SB as well but some days the mutant kills the SB especially when the wind to wave angle is a bit off and it's difficult to stay on the face toe on the SB you can edge the mutant much harder into the wave,over the years have also tried a ton of mutants and they have all been crap but when I tried the cardboards wave it was a whole different story,well worth the effort to get a ride on one.
Yeh Bennie what mutant were you on? The wave rides backwards just fine and infact it blasts better upwind with the thrusters forward. As far as light wind riding the wave is actually better in the light to medium stuff as it planes quicker than a TT. Actually to add I am in the process of getting myself a TT to take my kites to their limit in higher winds as the wave planes to well! I will use a TT in balls to the walls wind, the Wave in lighter to meduim winds then i have a sector 54 for the bottom end of my kites.
Another thing not mentioned with the wave is when I hit the estuary or a real flat day on the ocean I take the thrusters out and put some TT fins in and rides as an awesome TT, looser and you can ride it both ways toeside.
I agree with having to ride toeside all the time, hence I ride the wave exactly like a TT, then hit the toes in the waves. Although it carve jibes so well, I will swing around into my toes, then quickly transition the other way on the next up stroke. There is a slight, ever so slight change of technique but nothing you can't master in one session if you know what you are doing.
Also I think a wave specific TT is an oxymoron in some sense. Tried most of them on the market before buying the Wave (as I though along the same lines) and they just don't even get close to the wave and too far away from a SB. Especially once the swell starts to ride. But some crew like that totally powered wave riding on a TT so that's cool. While you need some power on the wave, you can /kill stall somewhat in bigger swells and actually pump the wave face like a SB (not exactly the same), get into the pocket etc.
Yeah what I mean is in the same session, upwind and down the the line. So you reckon it is possible to gybe a mutant?
On your toes with thruster forward would need a decent change in technique if not swapping feet. I wouldn't recommend it. But if you gybe you mean swapping feet then there is no problem, why would there be, the thrusters are at the back right. ? Is that what you mean. Swapping feet on a mutant you'd need to be a gun rider though, not a much buoyancy as a SB...
Yeah I'm definitely far from being a gun rider, so I guess that idea won't fly. Was thinking of the possibility of swapping feet depending on riding upwind our down the line. Still would love to give a mutant a crack, leave feet in position for toeside down the line for more performance that way and boost on the way back out
Haven't found the problems you guys are talking about going toeside, the wave rides toeside really well, much better than a TT, but yeh I suppose not as good as a SB. Don't have a problem at all.
