How to go upwind with a Naish mutant?

[markus]

I have been going upwind with my old RRD Airtrixx twintip for a long time now. Just recently I tried a 5 foot Naish mutant and find going up wind much more difficult. I think its because I`m not able to sink the edge of my board into the water so easily as the mutant floats more and has a soft edge(rail?), but I`m not sure. Is the mutant riding style different from the twintip?

[macca]

Yes it is, you will need better skills.

You ride them flatter using the fins more. Practice and getting used to the board will sort it. There is no secret, just used it more.

The hard bit is when you want to turn round

[Escalate]

i have a 4 7 and it is flying upwind allthough you need enough power

you have to softly edge by pushing youre back foot and point the fins upwind (be carefull as you can easily kill the kite power with a mutant if you are eding to much)

[markus]

thanks guys, I`m already getting used to turning and going toeside, still losing ground though and ending up downwind, maybe its also because sometimes I`m unknowingly trying to go upwind too hard and killing the power so I have to point the board downwind again to gain speed, I`ll try and be more careful.

You are right, Practice make Perfect, I guess I`ll just keep trying to find the right stance to go upwind, keeping the board flat and more pressure on the back in chop will probably help.

[Dirk]

You probably should try a stance where the body is more upright and leaning slightly backwards to apply more backfoot pressure. Using the whole rail length or the middle part of it like on TT`s does not work too well on a lot of mutants. You will know that you have got it when your back leg feels tired after the session.
The nice thing is you will go upwind like a train and all the pressure and grip can be translated into huge jumps easily.
I rode the Naish 5.0 as well, it goes upwind very well, but I found it bouncy in chop with my weight (70kg).
The 4.7 Pro is much better despite having thick, round rails as well.

Dirk

[Starsky]

I dont know about putting more pressure on the back foot!! Your stance is set more toward the tail on a mutt so its really easy to kill your power by stompin on the tail. This means you gotta ride with more weight on your front foot or rather a more ballanced stance with about equal weight on both legs. When I first started riding my mutt I was always way too back foot heavy and killed all the speed and hence no upwind action. Stand more balanced and you'll carry plenty of speed and fly upwind. Point the board upwind and ride it a little flatter so you use more fin and less rail. Once you get used to it you will realize how back foot heavy twin tip riding is. On a mutt you can ride directionally all day without so much strain to your rear leg. On a twin, toe side gets tiring faster.

[markus]

You are right the 5 foot Mutant is bouncy in chop for me also, I weigh 67kg. Thats the problem when you buy on line because its cheaper and no one on your beach uses mutants, you can`t demo the stuff and you can only rely on reviews and impulse....But although the bouncing put me off at first I am getting used to it now, because essentially I have been using it for light wind.