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Old 09-04-2014, 08:59 AM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default 2015 Cabrinha Gear From The Bahamas - Kiteboards - IV


The Lucayan indians of the Lucayos (later called the Bahamas) were impressed by bells and whistles in 1707. Today's kiters want
quality gear that delivers. Good news, you're in luck for 2015!


This is the final installment of a several part series about the 2015 Cabrinha kiteboarding gear presented at the dealer meeting at
Old Bahama Bay, West End, GBI, Bahamas in June. This post follows:

2015 Water Gear, Wind & Great Times In An Island Paradise - Part I

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12154

2015 Water Gear, Wind & Great Times In An Island Paradise - Part II

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12155

2015 Cabrinha Gear From The Bahamas - Overview, Radar, Switchblade, Drifter - I & II
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12170

2015 Cabrinha Gear From The Bahamas - Contra, Chaos & Velocity Kites - III
http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=12176



Heading back to Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island for a look at the kiteboarding offerings for the new year.



Our stash of primo riding gear for the dealer meeting on the beach and ready to go. Cabrinha is bringing a dozen boards to
market this year including eight twin tips and four surfboards. More about this excellent riding ware follows.



The resort is certainly a scenic venue for this sort of thing and they even scheduled wind for the event!



Cabrinha has eight twin tips for 2015 covering a wide range of attributes, styles of riding and price range. You can find out much more
about these boards on the Cabrinha website at: http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/overview.html



It was great to have Pete Cabrinha and other key staff on hand to personally introduce the gear for the new season.



Paying close attention during Pete Cabrinha's presentation of the new gear.


A look back …


An evolution of Cabrinha logos over the years. The one of the right may be one of the first renderings of the well known brand logo of today.




Master Cabrinha board designer Dave Kay provides an overview of the 2015 board lineup with the intent of helping you to select the board which will work best for your needs.




Let's start out with the Xcaliber ridden here by Jan Lucas Gianello of Naples Kiteboarding. Cab says this about it: "The XCaliber is our
competition freestyle pro model. Designed together with PKRA star, Alby Rondina, the XCaliber is designed to provide quick bursts
of speed, incredible pop, and the upwind ability to keep your performance right in the box."



" The pop comes from our wood core and full carbon laminate. The extensive use of carbon allows this board to be our lightest,
most technical twin tip."






More at the Cabrinha website at: http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboa...ure-model.html









The Bahamas can be a demanding kiting environment, rocks, squalls, adverse current at times
and even sharks, sometimes real big ones too. You want to be able to rely upon your gear whenever you're out but particularly
in conditions like this. The water world can turn on you at times, particularly if you help it along with some poor choices. The guy in
the pantaloons shown above must have made some particularly bad choices likely of a piratical variety as he is about to lose his head.




I'm over three miles from the resort kiting around a few islands and rock outcrops to the north riding a Tronic. I rode over several
smaller sharks on the flats but nothing like the big fella that shows up in the following video in deep water just offshore in the Straits of Florida.




Video at https://vimeo.com/105205626




FOR MOBILE USERS - CLICK PHOTO TO LINK TO VIDEO



Thanks again to Damo LeRoy for providing these interesting video clips to me. A few explanatory notes on this video. It is
uncertain but likely that the shark had already had a go at the turtle prior to the guys coming upon things. Its buoyancy difficulties
and missing pectoral fin section may have grown from another attack. Turtles given their inherent defenses, have few predators
aside from sharks and man. In fact, I understand turtles are a favorite food of larger sharks. So, this was an act of natural
predation in short. Finally, things look smaller and further away in GoPro imagery than is actually the case. Both the turtle and shark
came in pretty close to the camera at moments.



The guys ran into the turtle and shark about a 1/4 mile out from the marina inlet shown above in deep blue water. I learned of
the encounter at the end of the first day. I knew that the world famous Tiger Beach dive spot with lots of massive tiger sharks was less
than a half hour boat ride from the marina. It didn't turn me off from kiting out to the islands hunting for unusual shots and to see
whats there but it did make me more cautious. Kiters are IN the water, most of the time although not necessarily always, on the
quite rare occasions when things go south with sharks. So, stay on plane, aware of your surroundings, have a care and ride reliable gear.



I ran out to Wood Cay and the islands/rock out crops of it three times, about seven miles R/T each time, including twice in one day when
I had a camera problem. The lengths some folks will go to for a photo? Anyway, they are interesting scenic places as you can
see from photos throughout all the write ups.







Let's take a look at the Ace, new for 2015.


Cabrinha describes it as "The Ace twin tip takes the freestyle game out of the confines of the box. This go-to board performs in
a huge range of freestyle conditions."



"It’s forgiving in choppy water offering a smooth ride while retaining a high level of freestyle performance."



"The Ace is perfect for ocean or lake freestyle riding, thanks to its quad concave to quad V bottom shape. It is fast, smooth, and responsive."



The Ace is good for exploring out of the way islands too. I found it to be a capable, responsive ride.



It makes for a nice kite loop platform too.

More about the Ace at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/ace.html


A look back …


The Spoiler from around 2002, shown off by Elliot Leboe



Moving on to the Tronic, described as "a performance freeride model with a shape and build that allows a rider the ability to
crossover and experiment in any and all types of riding including hucking huge lofty airs. "



The Tronic is a performance freeride model with a shape and build that allows a rider the ability to crossover and experiment in any
and all types of riding including hucking huge lofty airs. The Tronic twin tip delivers top performance and slash and run type of
riding in small waves or choppy water. The Tronic curved tip outline and generous rocker is a chop killer. It cuts through rough
water with ease and adds a whole new dimension of g-force inducing turns when banking off of waves or redirecting in the flats.



Annabel takes her Tronic for a walk and looks great doing it!


More about the Tronic at: http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/tronic.html





Moving on to the Spectrum


Cabrinha says "The Spectrum is a freestyle freeride model which means that it has a wide range of performance in a wide range of
conditions. We use Paulownia wood core for strength and rebound and durable ultra bond PU rails."



Sergio, a super helpful guy, brings over a Spectrum for me to take out.



"The Spectrum is a progression model which means that it has the ability to keep up with your riding level as you progress."






I liked it, found it a nice easy riding board which performed well edging upwind on trips to the islands offshore.

More about the Spectrum at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/spectrum.html




Checking out the large sheltered marina basin.



Its not all about kite gear, sometimes you just have to jump and eat sand?


On to a personal favorite given the light wind paradise we frequently have here in SE Florida, the Stylus.



"The Stylus is made to perform in the fickle conditions known as threshold winds. Threshold winds are generally thermal
breezes with wind speeds just strong enough to fly a kite. The flat rocker line and extra wide outline make the most of these
less than ideal wind conditions."



"In many cases, the Stylus twin tip will be the difference between sitting on the beach or getting a full kiteboarding session.
The Stylus is specially designed for the rider who wants to ride a twin tip in the lightest wind possible."

More about the Stylus at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/stylus.html

Let's take a look at the XO Signature Model


Susi pops on on the XO, a board created for women kiters. Cabrinha has this to say about this board; "The XO Susi Mai signature
model is inspired by the one and only Susi Mai. As a leader in performance riding and a role model for many, it was an easy task
to create a board suited to her needs and the needs of the growing population of women in kiteboarding. Our approach to developing
the XO was to start from scratch and engineer this board from the ground up. The result is a performance freestyle model with a
soft, responsive flex. Details like appropriate sizes and widths, narrower stance options, and lighter weights all make this board
the ideal choice for women of all levels."



Mom heads out for a run offshore on her XO, Mosquito dad holds the fort with baby girl on the beach.



Annabel enjoys a Maui session on her XO too.

More about the XO at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboa...ure-model.html


A look back …


The Double Agent brought to market about ten years ago in 2004.


Next, the CBL ...


Cabrinha has this to say about the board, "In the increasing cross pollination of the Kite and Cable world the CBL stands out
as the go-to model for both. The CBL can be ridden at the park or under a kite with identical results."



"The CBL features a deep double concave with a flat center and rail channels. The flat center combined with the P-Tex base
is perfect when hitting any type of water feature. The rail channels provide the bite and the flat top 20mm GFN hex flow fins keep
things grippy when needed and don’t need to be removed at the park for added convenience."

More about the CBL at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/cbl.html


I was unable to checkout the Custom but wanted to provide some information on it here anyway.


"If your brand of riding leans toward throwing wakestyle tricks on the flats, the Custom would do you right. The Custom is a refined
ride from many years of development in the wakestyle arena. The result is a board with pure wakestyle performance and surprisingly
great upwind ability. All together this produces an incredibly smooth ride even in tight chop. The Custom is built with our winning
combo of a Parabolic Rail™ and basalt laminate construction. The Parabolic Rail™ provides a stiffer center section while delivering a
more responsive tip and tail flex and keeping the board weight to a minimum. For the riders looking for the ultimate wakestyle
ride that also excells in choppy conditions." Wakestyle in choppy water, sounds like a natural for South Florida!

More about the Custom at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/kiteboard/custom.html



Wonder if this Junkanoo guy prefers twin tips or surfboards?



Now for a look at the Cabrinha surfboards for 2015


First a video overview. All 2015 Cabrinha surfboards are constructed with our new ultra durable eco-cork bamboo layup. The bamboo
sandwich construction features a super light (25kg per cubic meter) EPS core and bamboo reinforcement layer on both the top and
bottom of the board.






Pete presents the Secret Weapon



"The secret weapon is a modern spin on a retro-surf design. The rounded nose and wide tail make this board extremely friendly
to ride in real world conditions. It is fast and lively on waves of any size. The aggressive swallow tail and quad fin configuration
gives this board its edge and attitude. The Secret Weapon is excellent at making the most out of sub-par wind and surf conditions.
Even when the surf is flat, the Secret Weapon becomes the ideal board to throw down your freestyle game."



Pete boosts a strapless jump in Maui




More about the Secret Weapon at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/surfboa...et-weapon.html





Moving on to the Proto


"The Proto Reo Stevens pro model is our advanced surfboard model. The shape lends itself to stronger winds and side shore surf
conditions. The Proto is capable of surfing larger waves than the Phenom or Secret Weapon. This 3 fin model is ideal for
down the line, side shore surfing. Its narrower outline and straighter rail shape is perfect for pushing turns at higher speeds.
Yet, the generous use of rocker makes the board loose and snappy off the top."



Pete smacks a lip with a Proto off Maui






A rider in the Bahamas moves out on the Proto.

More about the Proto at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/surfboard/proto.html



The was a good deal more than kite boards at the dealer meeting. There were many SUP boards from Imagine and JP-Australia as well
including some particularly intriguing inflatable boards.



Well it may be flat water but it was still fun kiting there!





Next, the Phenom


"The Phenom takes a step towards the performance end of the surf chain while keeping its easy to ride characteristics. The Phenom
is our widest board with the highest volume. The combination of width and volume makes this board extremely versatile in the surf
as well as the flat water freestyle arena. The Phenom is developed with our two time KSP World Champion, Keahi De Aboitiz. Its
5 fin box configuration allows the rider to choose just about any fin set-up they like. It ships as a thruster, but can easily be
converted to a Quad Fin."


Taking the Phenom out for a spin in the Bahamas. You may wonder about my strange socks. I wear them for cut protection.
They are Kevlar Swiss Protection socks. Closer to barefoot than booties and still cut resistant. There is a lot of in the flats to slice you up.




More about the Phenom at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/surfboard/phenom.html


A quick look at the Alias


Unfortunately, I was unable to give the 2015 Alias a whirl while in the Bahamas. I have been using the 2014 model and have
been very impressed with its light wind performance and really performance in general.

This is what Cabrinha has to say about it; "The Alias is a super efficient light wind board with no limit to its performance or usage.
The Alias, when combined with our Contra light wind kite, can have you flying across the water in well under 10 knots. The hybrid
design is a combination of a race board and freeride directional; you get the best of both worlds in one board. The Alias, with its
three fins will get you upwind in seconds. Once pointed off the wind, the Alias becomes one of the best downwind models for speed
and maneuverability. It comes with a swept bi-elliptical tri-fin set." We spend a good deal of time at the low end in my area, have
riding tools to take advantage of that is a very good thing!

More about the Alias at http://www.cabrinhakites.com/surfboard/alias.html



A group shot of the folks at the dealer meeting at Old Bahama Bay, West End, Grand Bahama Island.



Kent does his patent knee bashing cossack dance.



So, that is a quick look at the 2015 kite boards from Cabrinha. Good bye from the Bahamas, it's going to be a great year for kiting!





..
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transcribed by:
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Last edited by ricki; 09-07-2014 at 07:33 AM.
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Old 03-26-2015, 06:44 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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And, the final installment from 2015. Wonder what 2016 will bring?
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