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Pic Charles Oreve
A change from the regular news collection today.
On Monday we featured Mark Angulo and raised the questions about the difference between a Mutant and a Wave 360. And is a Goiter a wave 360 or not?
Who better to ask than the man himself? Who says we need no education? Who says we need no thought control? Innovating since the 80s, it's the ultimate Mad Professor of Mutantology, Doctor Mark Angulo. (Watch this clip of the first Mutant on video from GP first...)
"First things first. I would be remiss to not state the obvious, most of the maneuvers all of us are doing should be considered 360s. Goiters and Takas being counterclockwise [at Ho’okipa] and carving 360s, aerial 360s and Mutants being clockwise.
As we progress into landing tail first, or taking off tail first for that matter, than we enter into the realm of 540s and then 720s...
Many get confused with the many different names we have for them all, but in reality these descriptions do serve a practical purpose. Now sometimes we get a little excited and try to rename something because of a little addendum or tweak.
Sometimes it will stick sometimes it doesn’t. It usually sticks when it is obvious that the difficulty factor went up by doing it , or it’s something out of left field ( Boujmaa's "Blackshot" for example).
It usually is borne from our attempts to articulate exactly what we did to a fellow sailor. " No, it wasn’t just a 360, it was an aerial 360".
We want our friends to really understand it was a much bigger and badder move than the one they saw, and we are determined to convince him how difficult it really was. Some friends take the bait, some don’t, so as the age old adage says " choose your friends wisely"!
It seems that most of the problems with identifying 360s (clockwise ones on Maui’s Northshore), began when I named something which I felt to be “different" - the Mutant". I have included a picture from Charles Oreve that kicked my pursuit off.
I went for a 360 and the thing was unlike anything I had done before. Funny thing was I landed perfectly , but I had already hit the eject button, but now I had gotten a taste of something I really wanted - a giant 360, flying over an entire section of wave, "backdooring" it as we would say, at full power and full speed.
Now this is a problem, because it is very difficult to get the perfect pop from a wave and clear your mast tip, all while blasting full speed, upside down, trying to clear a section and spot a landing.
I have been sailing a long time and it was pretty obvious, that this was a different type of 360. In the end you had to take a different approach on the takeoff.
It had to start like a goiter and then once you see that the mast tip has cleared the top of the wave you complete the rotation back as a normal 360 and not keep pushing through and doing a Goiter.
This was the true difference to me. I called it "Mutant" because to me it was a hybrid between a Goiter and a regular 360, and I identified it differently.
So I identify them like this: There is the carving 360, super tight, usually carving straight up into the barrel in perfect sync with the timing of the wave.
A good one of these will make your session, its like getting barreled, it feels like you stayed true to the wave, one of the best feelings you can have windsurfing.
Then there is the aerial 360. Usually done full speed, getting a nice pop from the lip out into the face, rotating like a backflip and continuing on.
Then there is the "mutant" which when done correctly should include Goiter style take off, super upside down action, eyes on the tip of the mast, traveling over big section, etc.
In all fairness let it be said that in my mind, I feel I’ve only made about thirty of these. A poorly executed "Mutant" looks like a really junk 360.
The mast clips the top, or you get to the lip early or you just plain boggle it. Many times now a 360 is called a "mutant" and that is just not the case.
Think about it, at what point does an aerial 360 become a "Mutant" , there can be a lot of space in between those two moves , but at some point the two must meet.
I will say this also, the clip that Brian got was a clew first 360. Not a "mutant". This was the first clew first one captured on film, (thank you Brian) but no air involved, no mutanto.
The clip that Jake Miller captured recently was an aerial clew first 360, also the first one, (thanx Jake) but not a "mutant" either.
In fact the term "Mutant" might not qualify for clew first because the mast getting in the way doesn’t seem to be an issue.
I would like to say that it wasn’t my intention to bring confusion to our sport. It’s all about having fun and testing yourself and expanding your horizons.
360s are just one aspect of what we do, and we should always be thankful just to be getting in the water.
But remember, as Confucius says " For every wave, Rotation! "
Aloha
Mark
