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Ok, so I bought a second board, a 2013 Mako King SE, to serve as my lightwind board for under 20 mph and also to serve as a wave shredder for when I travel to places with surf.

Right now I am facing marginal conditions so I am setting it up for light wind as a TT for use with a big kite. Twin tip mode is the two Z55 fins, one at the tip and one at the end right?

I notice in older pics the fins have changed over the years, my package also came with three T80 fins I assume would make up the mutant mode (all three in back or two in back and one up front).

Has anyone played around with different setups for TT mode (eg, using the T80s instead of the Z55s or no fins at all)? I realize people have been playing with Makos for years, I would love to hear how you setup yours for both TT and mutant modes and what your experiences have been.

I use a surf fin on my left tip and the twin tip fin on the right.
This favors a goofy stance for waves or hard carves, and lets you hop switch stance without much stickiness. Foot straps centered on the deck for max low end too.
Nice ride!

I've ruined several sessions fooling around with the fin setups, number of fins, larger fins, smaller fins. I find the thing will squirrel out with too many fins in mutant mode, it will track and veer off, it aint no surf board. Dont mess with it - its been honed to perfection with a single fin on each side. I put the pads as FAR APART as possible. Gives me the greatest lean and the most leverage to swing the tail around fast for toe side. Just my 2 cents. Magic board - Good luck!

For me, more than one fin is just too much. My 150 is set with the pads in the closer to center mutant position and the 80mm fin on the "back". This is great for when I'm over powdered on the Dialer but still want to pretend I ride waves... Rides backwards fine like this.

And you use the smaller fins vs the larger fins for the TT setup?

I really liked the King as a lightwind twin tip and it was fun strapless, but now have a space pickle which I find much better for light wind strapless riding. I didn't like riding the King as a mutant. That's why I'm confused why Ocean Rodeo stopped selling the King with the twin tip pads and straps. I think that's the best part!

I tried it out one time as a twin tip with the big surf fin plus two small fins on one side. I thought it was horrible. On take offs and landings from jumps the large fin would "catch" and really throw me off.

Not much risk in trying it out though! Just set it up with the big fin and bring a screwdriver with you to the beach

funny how we all like something different. I thought the King was not good at all as a TT but really liked it as a strapless ride with one fin on the back. You just gotta try different combos and see what works for you and then in a few months try some again because as you progress and your style changes, different combos will work better/worse. There is just no knowing until you try them in different conditions. And it's fun to try new stuff sometimes!

Working on toeside riding with a TT, boosting higher jumps, and dealing with light conditions. Working the rails to do a proper load and pop is very much necessary as simply sending the kite at random isn't cutting it in these conditions like it does in the 25 mph+ zone. Loading via rails is working although its not the quick boost I can do in better wind, gotta work for the air right now.

All for trying new stuff, was just trying to align my initial setup with what I am working on. People claim the larger fin can catch when you land a jump and I am working on higher jumps (vanilla jumps atm, hope to add tricks once I get more air). Other than this post, I've mostly been reading this article on Progression.me with Mark Shinn for guidance on fins:

Part 1
http://www.progression.me/news/2014/02/ ... the-board/

Part 2
http://www.progression.me/news/2014/02/ ... the-board/

Appreciate all the comments guys. It is very interesting how some people swear by mutant mode, some by TT mode, and a few people have just done unique setups that dont fit any category.

my king is set up mutant from day one. I ride it off the front end (backwards) when the wind is light to get out through the surf. and it jumps great like that too. Toe side is also great on the king.

Not much to add to this beyond what everyone else has said here but I will throw in my standard reply...

All Mako boards are designed to ride off the rail and not the fin, the fin is there to give lateral stability, hence the 2 fin option in TT mode. This requires an equal weighted stance to ensure you carve off the rail (I tell people to get over their front foot).

When you move the weight back on the board to Mutant mode you need to add more fins to compensate. As such, we've experimented heavily with a variety of fins and have found the current set-up (3x 80mm fins plus 1x 55cm fin for nose). This gives you enough fin to carve against but won't rail the board up and will let you ride backwards if / when needed without wanting to snap the board around to face the other direction.

If you wish, you can fin the board up some more with 110mm or larger surf style fins but this would only be if you intend to ride in one direction only with the board and you're likely going to find that the board will want to rail up and will be hard to hold an edge.