2012 Cabrinha Drifter (Wave Kite)

Rider: 85kg,Level (advanced) - 10 years kiting
Style: Surf kiting only, stapless most of the time
Weather: 12-25 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: 9/10
Disclosure: Cabrinha rider for 6 years simply because I have been happy with their products and the service I get in Perth and had no reason to shift. I pay for my own kites.

My Comments:

Got to use all 3 new kites on the weekend 9m on Sat, then 7m and 5.5m on my 2 downwinders on Sun 21 August.

Drifter is the new surf orientated kite from Cabrinha. Brief bit of info for those who asked.

I have flown Switchblades for the last 4 years and my quiver last year was 6,8 and 10m For the last 2 years I have exclusively wave kited 95% which is strapless.

As I have hardly used my Switchblade 10m in the past 2 seasons (simply because I didnt get much more out of it than I did my 8m kite on waves) I downsized my quiver. If you have 3 kites you want to use the smallest and largest about 20-25% of the time as more than half the time you should be on your middle kite unless you travel extensively and I only used my 10m about 10% of the time.

Anyway i got the the 5.5m, 7m and 9m quiver.

The IMPORTANT STUFF: They are less grunty than equivalent Switchblades (ie take off 0.5 to 1 metres off the kite size to get equivalent) BUT they turn faster. They also draft downwind better than a switchbalde when you are riding down the line. This is it in a nutshell, they feel similar but these are the key differences.

This suits wave riding so I am very happy.

OTHER STUFF: They are three strut, which lowers weight which makes them draft downwind better. This should also make the kite cheaper to buy and of course they are faster to pump up and pack down smaller.

The kite seems to be lower aspect ratio than Switchblade and I thought it flew back further in the window, it also has chopped wing tips compared to the switchblade, but I dont know how this would effect the flying, as it turns faster than a Switchy I am happy. Kite is very stable in the air.

The other thing to note is that while I think they are less grunty than the Switchy I thought that the 5.5 and 7 seems to have enormous useable top end. I flew the 7m overpowered before switching to the 5.5 and still had no problems strapless which is when it tends to become a problem.

The best bar in the business got better. The safety punch out and the kite release punch outs are new and supposedly work regardless of loads (I obviously wasn't able to test this). The initial safety seems bigger but the swivels, safety lease attachment and chicken are all slightly improved in my opinion in terms of useability.

I was told it was lighter bar pressure than a Switchy but I felt it was a bit heavier to turn, not massively and not a problem just my view.

Cant talk about jump heights or hang time because this is not important to strapless wave riding and i simply didn't try. I would have thought you would go for a Switchy or a Nomad if you wanting jumping and hangtime as the Drifter is a wave kite.

Kite has less bridle than last year's Switchy which is also good for waveriding (less probs with kite crashing in waves), I dont know if the brdile on this years Switchy is smaller.

As for colours this is subjective and I dont care too much as long as it rides good but I thought last years kites looked far better than this years kites. Don't know why we have returned to fluoro colours, i thought we left those behind a couple of years ago.

I tried the Nomad's when they first came out because I found that as my wave riding had improved and I spent more time doing it I wanted a faster turning kite, and Switchys have never been the fastest turning kite. I HATED the Nomad and thought it was gutless but with the Drifter (and I can only say this in relation to wave riding) you get not only faster turning, but it is only slightly less grunty and you get stability, the down wind drift and other benefits, so all in all I think Cabrinha have achieved their goal of creating a really good wave oriented kite.

I loved my Switchy's but as a wave rifer I think I have made the ride choice to Shift to the Drift.

Happy to repond to any questions although I dont look at the Gear review forum too often, my best to get me on General Forum.

Great review. when you are talking bar pressure slightly heavier, is this hooked in or unhooked.

Great review, certainly worth a demo.

I still don't understand why people ask about bar pressure unhooked? On every kite, as soon as you unhook you get 100% pressure...

If you're talking about steering pressure when unhooked, then it's much lighter than a Switchblade, and the 7 and 9 are able to be steered around the window easily with one hand while unhooked. Big movements on the 11 require two hands, but for twimmed down the line riding, one hand will be more than enough.

Any more feedback guys??
I hear the 7m is the bomb, what about the other sizes??

www.straplesskitesurfing.com/2011/08/23/cabrinha-drifter-2012-first-strapless-test-in-sweden/

I had a few sessions on the 7m Drifter.
Been riding Cabrinha for years and have experience waveriding with Switchblades, but I mostly rode Nomads this year.
Here is a review of the Drifter, mostly based on my experience with those kites.

I have been riding surfboard-only for this year. Learning a lot and trying to ride wave powered and stay on the wave, instead of using the kite to pull me around.
We dont get a lot of swell where I ride, the waves are mostly wind waves which are running to the shore at an angle. Meaning its difficult to get back or stay on the wave without having to stear your kite. There is a few ways to still be able to ride wave powered and not stear the kite. In other words: there's a few ways to make a kite drift along the wave. Most of it is technique and would probably work with many kites. I felt I managed to make my Nomads drift well, aswell as the Switchblades.

First ride on the Drifter together with the new Quicklink control bar, connecting the backlines to the middle knot. Had a fun session but it didnt go very well on all parts. The shape of the kite looked strange. It wouldnt unhook. My arms felt sore from riding. Seemed like incorrect tuning.
Went on, depowered the kite 1 knot. Felt a lot better but still some backstall on the unhooked part.

At home I checked the tuning of the bar according to Cabrinha's methods as described on their website. I found the frontlines were almost 3 inches too long. Its easy to adjust the length difference with the 'centerline adjuster'.

Back on the beach, backlines on the recommended middle knot. Let the kite up in the air and its perfectly tuned!! When unhooking the kite while on the waves it didnt backstall anymore. It gave perfect feedback, also when riding hooked in. No more heavy barpressure. Stearing felt very good and clean.

There were 2 things I wanted the Drifter to do well: I wanted it to unhook well. And I wanted it to fly nice and clean. I was a little worried the canopy would flutter too much as some of the other 3 strut kites do.
But I can now say the canopy is beautifully stable. It can flutter when you fly it too aggressively, but is easy to have it fly clean.

And then for the best part of this kite. The weight of the kite is kept down, its super light weight. Making the kite drift along nicely, and making the kite
stay aloft when lines go slack.
I felt I could position myself better to attack the lip, and to also make that extra manouvre without having to think of your kite.
Riding hooked-in and letting the kite drift works better compared to the Nomads.
Another thing I felt is that I can complete turns better without getting pulled by the kite, especially when unhooked.
These qualities allow me to get most out of difficult conditions and to surf even more from my board, with less interfearance from the kite.
Upwind riding ability is good.

Also there is the more traditional way of riding, that I still see a lot. Which is mostly a hooked-in riding style, throwing the kite from left the right. I feel the Drifter is quick enough to do so.
But my feelings are Cabrinha has put this kite on the market as a way to make kitesurfing feel closest to surfing as possible. To achieve that feel I think its best to try and let the kite drift.
I think that is where the true benefits of this kite lay.

Although I like to surf unhooked and tune my bar accordingly, I think it could be very interesting for hooked-in riders to connect the backlines to the 3rd knot for most power. It will stall the kite a little which will help to keep the kite deep in the window.

Thats pretty much it. Im stoked on the kite and the new bar is just awesome.
But I would recommend any Cabrinha rider to check the tuning of your bar.
Especially when you have used the bar a few times, but maybe also when the bar is still brandnew.

As far as I can see weight is saved by having less struts and less dacron in the wingtips.
That is 3 less struts than a Nomad, 3 less bladders, 3 less reinforcements for those area's. Plus the wingtip dacron. Pretty extensive weight reduction I would say.
Didnt look like weight is saved on Leading edge and canopy material, but im no expert on that.

To me this lighter weight, and therefor slack line drift, felt most beneficial when riding hooked in and riding towards your kite with low line tension. Nomad is more heavy on the LE and more likely to drop down then.

I grabbed my twintip for a small hour. Gusting up to 35 knots. Dont think it will affect the upper range. I fly my kites untill I can no longer keep it from fluttering, and there was no sign of that yet.
However it think its obvious a Nomad with its 6 struts is most stable during aggressive manouvres in high wind speeds.
I was actually surprised by the Drifters jumping ability. Nice boost with good height.