Both brands are great, ensure you get a green one as it will blend in more with the trees.

As you might get advised to go and support your local shop... I'd suggest
you do yourself a favour and make your own decisions. Sure North are great
and so are Cabrinha, and so are many other brand's but they are only as
good as they Guy on the end of the bar! Get a trainer, learn to fly a kite and
buy some secondhand gear and progress then move up to what suits your
general conditions,riding styling & preference. Watch out for the sharks out there!

Thanks for the feedback!

Hey Salt,
yep plenty of depower rope issues with the north bar. Just google it, there'll be loads of reports for your reading pleasure. Cab bars don't have this problem but they mostly always seem to need a tune out of the bag. It's weird but they don't seem to pre=stretch the lines or i dunno but they fly better once you straiten them out. YOu may be able to get the guy in the shop to doit for you as it doesn't take long and you're his customer! The new Switchblade is supposed to be easier to fly but the Vector is definitely easy to fly and has plenty of maneuverability and power. IMO a better choice.
Other models to watch for?
Lithium's
Envy's
Renegade's
All easy flyers/relaunchers and can do everything you've mentioned that you're after.

Hi Salt
+1 for the switchblade, I have a 2010 10m as my only kite at the moment and love this kite. (62kg on a 134 tt)

I think you will find the 9m a bit small at 12 knots untill you have your "light wind technique" mastered and the 10 might be a bit too much to handle at 25 knots untill you can really hold a good edge. A larger board for light days and smaller board for windy days will help though!

If I were to go for 2 kite quiver on Sunny Coast at my weight would probably be the 8m and 11m and would demo the Cab Switchblade, Airush Lithium and F-one Bandit, we have local shops that sell these. (been put off North by the number of posts regarding wear on the centre lines)

On my existing and previous Cabrinhas I check the line lengths about twice a season(only takes 10 mins to adjust)

Hope this helps

The Cab Switchblade is a Delta and an ideal 1st kite. The North Rebel is more of a Hybrid but many a newbie has started out on a Rebel.
Read below for one persons opinion.

Cut & pasted from another post.
... for newbies 1st kite choice look at the Delta(ish)
Delta(ish) (aka Delta DNA) are the style of bow kites that have little or no wingtip. The LE rolls back around to the trailing edge. I say Delta(ish) kites to include those recent Deltas that have swept in the tips of the LE to create some of the effect of a wingtip.
For ease of flying (and learning to fly) your kite these are the number one choice - esp if you are rating ease of water relaunch. Deltas are way easier to relaunch that any other kite.
But they are not for the exclusive use by beginners. A huge percentage of seasoned riders out there prefer their Deltas for a whole raft of reasons.
There is nothing wrong with a beginner starting out on a hybrid - Bridle Supported Leading Edge (SLE) - but the advantages the hybrids offer over the Deltas wont be appreciated until some serious kite skills are acquired. There are also some hybrids which are not so suited to beginners but I dont know of any Deltas that fall into that category.
Every kite brand makes its own version of a Delta and - being completely honest here - for your first kite it really makes little difference which one you choose. All major brands nowdays are over-built for the effective life of the kite. Build quality is no longer an issue amongst the established brands.
There are variables in how different brands of Deltas fly BUT your first kite will teach you how it needs to be flown. Once you have all the moves mastered then you begin to know what you want in a kite. Faster, slower, sits deep or flies forward, etc etc etc. These are all variables you cannot know till you have developed your own style and know where you are heading.
IMO - for newbies - zero in on the Deltas. Get the best deal you can from the local shop you feel most confident will follow through with support, advise etc. and get out there. Leave the brand & style decisions for next season. It'll be a lot clearer then.

Puppet
Your advice couldnt be sweeter

Newbies!!!
Do your research on kites
And on boaards
The gear available out there today is fantastic
Ask the good guys at the beach
Demo