Cabrinha Drifter (2012)

Had a chance to try this out on some decent waves recently and it was amazing, definitely the best wave kite I have used so far. I purposefully tried to ride fast towards it to test its drifting capabilities and it just stayed in the air, soooo good down the line, sits there all the way! The other great aspect is it turns back up even with slack lines, perfect for bringing it back up to attack the face of the wave.

If you are looking for an all out wave kite, this has to be the one to go for!

WOW is all I have to say about this kite. I finally was able to get on the Drifter in some waves. Note: I am a 250 rider, so an 11m kite that is designed for wave riding is my small kite. This particular session the wind was up in the low 30-35 mph with waves from 3-4 ft on the shore break, to about 8 ft out by the second sand bar. The wind was pretty consistent without too many big lulls or gusts. In my opinion, the perfect day to test a new kite.

I was able to ride the 2012 Drifter fully powered and hold it down, or pull in the trim strap about halfway and was able to have more control over when the power actually kicked in. The first thing I noticed about the Drifter was that it turned way faster than its brother, the Cabrinha Switchblade, or my 2nd favorite kite to ride, the North Rebel. The increase in the Drifter's turning ability is the 3-strut Delta shape and the pivotal turning. Pivotal turning is when the kite turns closer to the center of the kite and actually dumps power during the turn. This type of riding is key for wave riding for sure, but not so friendly for big riders in lighter winds. Since it was blowing so hard, the loss of power in the turns was actually really nice. I didn't have to worry so much about losing an edge or veering downwind to complete a transition.

The 2012 Drifter reminded me a lot of the 2012 Liquid Force Envy. It is also important to note that the two kites are similar in size vs. power. The 2012 12m Liquid Force Envy had noticeably more power than the 11m Cabrinha Drifter when I flew them back to back a few days prior to this last session. I also noticed that the Envy and the Drifter both had similar static bar pressure: not much at all. However, the input pressure to steer the kite is a little harder on the Drifter vs. the 2012 Envy. Personally, I like that sort of a feel; it makes the kite a little more controllable and less twitchy.
Now on to the drifting part. WOW; since I am so used to the feel of the Switchblades, this whole pivotal turning and drifting was a new concept to me. Now I can say I am in love. With the added Cabrinha stability and nice constant feel in the gusts, this kite made for a fun day on the water. And yes, Drifter is the right name for the kite. On several instances I was headed down the wave directly at the kite with a lot of speed and it just hung out in the sky and didn't get all freaky. On the Switchblade, Crossbow, or the North Rebel, you would have caught up to the kite and been in a bit of trouble.

One downside for me on the kite was that light bar pressure. I am used to being able to feel the kite in the sky a little better, but this session I found myself spotting the kite after turns and after landing jumps. New kite jitters maybe. I'm sure it is just a "time on gear" sort of a thing, and after a few more sessions it will be less of an issue.

The Drifter won't be for everyone since the biggest size it is available in is an 11m. For heavier riders like myself the Drifter line will make for a fun high wind kite, and for the surfers out there the Drifter will be a killer kite for the waves. For the free riders and cruisers out there you will notice the kite does not "like" to go upwind as easily as other kites, but that should be expected. The Drifter is not an all-around kite; it was built for the waves and it does that well.

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.