Cabrinha Drifter 2012 Kitesurfing Kite

2012 Cabrinha Drifter.
Size tested: 9 m

What we liked:
A completely new three-strut design from Cabrinha, the Drifter shows much more refinement than one would expect from a new model. The first thing that really stands out is the Drifter’s ability to generate smooth power, both in a straight line and in the turns, especially in the lighter to medium end of its wind range. The square wing tips and moderate delta design shape give fast, instantaneous turning, and the medium bar pressure provides excellent positional feedback. The tight canopy results in a flutter less and quiet flight and smooth feel on the bar, even during aggressive manoeuvres.

Tuning tip: It flew perfectly straight out of the bag.

Buyer beware: Re-launch wasn’t as fast as we expected from a surf kite, but even the most intermediate of riders won’t have a hard time getting the Drifter back into the air. Less jumping ability than more dedicated free ride designs.

Bottom line: Bring on the wave season... we love the Drifter!

Control bar: The new Quick Link offers some major changes on the Cabrinha bar for 2012, that have dramatically reduced the feeling of clutter near the main quick release. The new spinning leash connection, and the moving of the landing line quick release are the two well thought out design changes that make the new Quick Link control system more intuitive to use. The system also features on internal swivel for manually untwisting flying lines in unison with the landing line. The IDS provides for easy self-landing without the kite spinning on one line making it unlike many other safety systems.

Here are my thoughts on the Drifter if it helps any prospective buyers!

I've flown the 7, 9 & 11 in anything from marginal wind with big swell to stonking wind with big swell and gusty, cross-off to messy onshore in smaller to medium swell, so a good all round test!

Overall, the Drifter is very stable in all wind strengths - I was particularly impressed with how stable it was in gusty cross-off. I was using the 7 and it was anything from 15-25kts and I could still get enough power to keep going (but not going upwind) in 15kts and the kite held firm when the gusts hit too. I also had the 7 in strong winds gusting over 30kts with a lot of depower on but it held its shape well and also remained pretty responsive - with some kites I've had, the kite can feel a bit dead when a lot of depower is pulled on.

These kites also have a fair bit of bottom end poke which I was surprised about - they sit quite far back in the window which helps to keep the power on when the wind goes lighter - but it's not the same as the bottom end pop you get with the wakestyle kites... more of a traction bottom end than a pop bottom end, if that makes sense, which is really useful. The power delivery is smooth and you have a lot of control over it depending on how much you sheet the bar and how tight or wide an arc you turn the kite through.

The relaunch isn't lightening quick but it is still pretty good and nothing to worry about - I did get trashed in some overhead conditions and the kite took a pasting but, to its credit, it took everything thrown at it and I was able to relaunch while still in the surf despite the kite rolling inside inside itself. The bridle set up didn't seem to allow any hint of the bow-tie thing that can happen with some bridle set ups.

The handling is very direct - you know exactly where the kite is at all times and the 7 & 9 are very easy to steer one-handed which is great in the waves. It is also very responsive if you want to chuck it about due to the lack of rear line bridle or pulleys - the 11 wasn't as sharp as the 7 or 9 and could be a bit sluggish in marginal winds but I guess this is to be a expected for a larger kite.

When you are surfing, the kite does exactly what it says in the tin - it drifts! Particularly in cross-on or onshore, you can just park the kite towards the beach and surf the wave as much as you like - I was cutting back on the wave even as far as going behind the kite and it would just keep drifting (more so with the 7 & 9 than the 11). I also found that you could still redirect the kite quite well when the lines were a little slacker (again, more so with the 7 & 9 than the 11) - probably due to the direct rear line set up and the fact that the kites are so much lighter with the 3 strut design.

The stand out sizes for me were the 7 & 9 as they are so light and manoeuvrable - if you are only interested in surf conditions that are 17kts plus, you could easily get away with a 2 kite quiver (I weigh 80kgs) but if you want to make the most of marginal conditions where the wind might dip below the 15kts mark, the 11 does a fine job in difficult conditions (I was out on one day in 15ft surf and 15kt cross-on - those waves were travelling like freight trains probably at around 25kts but the 11 was still able to keep me safely ahead of them and not get eaten up!).

Hope that helps.

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.