F-ONE Kiteboarding Mitu Monteiro Pro Model 5’10” 2014
Reviews / Surfboards
41,428
At A Glance
Everyone loves Mitu, one of the most charismatic and humble riders on the plant, the multiple World Wave Champion has a style that is hard to emulate. F-One have never produced a pro model board, Raphael Salles said he didn’t want to just stick a riders name on something in order to sell more boards. However, after working with Mitu for many years and seeing him develop a keen interest in board design, Raph felt it was time for a change. The Mitu Monteiro Pro Model is the work of Mitu, not just a board with his name on it. He has spent the last few years working on shapes and developing boards and this is the culmination of that relationship with F-One. Essentially it is a shorter, wider board with a thruster configuration. When we say short there are in fact three sizes, the 5’8” and 6’0” sandwich the 5’10 that we have here. That might not sound very short, but Mitu usually rides boards a few inches longer than that. They have chopped the nose and the tail whilst retaining the more familiar dimensions in the middle to create the new shape. The deck features the Camel Deck that is on the surf line up this year, this was created after Mitu explained to Raph that his favourite board was the one he had been using the longest. It turned out his heel dents had shaped the board to his foot and this made it comfortable. The increased contact patch also helped the board stick to his foot more when the board was in the air. Raph emulated this with the Camel Deck, which is further enhanced with the integrated deckpad. Futures fin systems finish off the package and the overall quality of the construction is very high.
On The Water
There are a couple of things you notice immediately when jumping on the Mitu board, first up is the super comfortable deck grip that is really shaped to your foot. The Camel Deck shape provides an excellent contact patch offering superb grip and board control. The second thing is just how easily the board gets up and going, in light airs the wider shape really offers fantastic low end performance and the board will have you riding and cruising upwind while others are struggling. We were keen to see how this wider and more freestyle friendly shape would perform in the waves, after all there is no point creating the perfect freestyle machine if it doesn’t perform when the waves jack up. In small to medium Euro-style waves the board is excellent, the width will carry you through the flat spots and help you to get plenty of power and drive when the waves are weak. Once the swell picks up the board handles it with aplomb, arguably on really fast waves you do notice the width and the board will chatter a little, but it is manageable and still easy to control. We should mention that if you have small feet, definitely go for the smaller 5’8” model, the width of the board means you need to have good foot placement to get a solid edge. If you have big feet, this isn’t a problem at all as your foot can easily cope with the extra width. Carving on the Mitu is smooth and predictable, the thruster shape throwing up no nasty surprises when you don’t need them. It’s forgiving too, the extra volume helping to mask any mistakes you make and maintain good board speed.
Getting the Mitu in the air the new shape really comes into its own, the wide outline providing plenty of surface for the wind to catch and stick it to your feet no matter what tricks you are trying to pull. Watching Mitu demonstrate his skills on his own board, you’d be forgiven for thinking he has nails on his feet! The board has a fairly soft flex, which feels good underfoot, it helps smooth out what could be a bumpy ride offered by the larger mid section.
Overall
Comfortable, forgiving, easy to ride and easy to get going, the Mitu Monteiro Pro Model is going to be a popular board during 2014 that’s for sure. If you enjoy doing strapless airs and want something that will help you improve your riding then this is perfect. Equally if you want an all-round waveboard that can handle just about anything you throw at it, from onshore mush to double overhead barrels, the Mitu is perfectly happy. From beginner to expert this board is sure to deliver, just remember to get a size down from your normal ride!
This review was in Issue 42 of IKSURFMAG.
For more information visit F-ONE KiteboardingRelated
By Rou Chater
Rou has been kiting since the sports inception and has been working as an editor and tester for magazines since 2004. He started IKSURFMAG with his brother in 2006 and has tested hundreds of different kites and travelled all over the world to kitesurf. He's a walking encyclopedia of all things kite and is just as passionate about the sport today as he was when he first started!
