Here's some feedback on the Cabrinha Switchblade II 12m after the first couple of decent sessions. I'm only an intermediate rider, but I figure there are lots more out there like me who may be contemplating a second generation bow this year, so this is mainly for their benefit. No doubt some advanced riders on the SB2 could add some info about the performance for more advanced tricks and unhooked riding. No shop or brand affiliations.
Rider stats:
Height: 187cm
Weight: 76kg
Board: Wipika SS 135x40 twin tip
Previous kites: Wipika Matrix 2005 13.5m & 11m. Airush Flow 2006 8m.
Level: Intermediate (able to ride comfortably in winds up to 30knots, basic waveriding, jumping, carving downloop transitions, toeside riding. Nothing fancy as yet).
Background: 20 years windsurfing and surfing
Conditions:
Session 1: 10-12 knots (just flying the kite and mucking around with launch and landing methods)
Session 2: 15-18 knots, cross onshore, choppy
Session 3: initially 12-15 knots onshore, then dropped to 10 knots, then picked up to 16-20 knots cross onshore with 23 knot surges.
Location: Nelly bay Magnetic Island (see
www.tevenei.com/tvm/nellybay_kite_map.htm)
I ordered the kite through Steve at Kitepower Sydney on Monday last, it was delivered to my door in North Queensland on the Thursday. Pumped up the kite to check it all out, ran out the bar and lines, all looked good so it was down to the beach. The rationale for choosing this kite was that I wanted something to handle the typical 12-25 knot gusty range we get here on the island with a bit more gust control, and was looking for a second generation flat kite design. The SB2 was the only kite from the current crop which seemed to have all positive reviews from users.
I nearly always ride solo from a narrow beach with a tight launch, so the first session was mainly just figuring out the best self-launch and landing methods. After considering all the options, and trying some sand on the wingtip plus the drift method shown here (
www.kitepower.com.au/blogs/news), I found that attaching the kite to a sand - weighted bag seemed to be the easiest with least stress on the kite. I just filled a heavy duty nike gym bag (600x300x300mm) with sand, closed the zipper, and then attached about 1m of heavy duty rope with a climbing carabiner on the end. Punch the bar through the stopper into "override 2" mode (full depower), attach the chicken loop to the carabiner, set up the kite at the edge of the window so that it is leaning forward into the wind rather than upright or leaning back, and then run back to the bar with one hand lightly on the nearest front line. Attach leash to flagging ring on the steering line, detach CL from carabiner and hook in, and then up it comes, no problems. Reverse for landing. Kite was stable at the edge of the window, even in the slightly gusty conditions.
Once in the sky over the beach the kite is very stable, flying very smoothly with no tendency to overfly the window and luff out, even with bar pushed out to the stopper. You feel totally in control of the power, with the large depower range available on the bar. On the water, the feeling of smoothness continues. A lot has been said about the need to switch flying styles when moving to bow kites. I found the kite easy to fly and predictable right from the start. The bar pressure is light but progressive the more you sheet in, so you can feel how much power you have down quite easily. I was able to hold ground or perhaps squeak upwind in 12knots, so the bottom end is about comparable to a 14m C-kite. You need to move the bar in and out a little to find the optimum trim angle, but it pretty intuitive. The kite goes upwind OK, not any better than the matrix or the flow, but I have a feeling it gets upwind best by travelling faster at a shallower angle than the C-kites. Certainly making good ground upwind once the wind was above 13-14knots.
In the last session, the wind built pretty quickly from 15 to 20 knots with 23 knot surges. In the past I would have been on my matrix 13.5m on a day like this, and either come in to change down to the 11m, or slogged it out on the 13.5m with bar set to max depower and constantly alert for gusts, edging like a demon and generally just hanging on. The SB2 handled these conditions easily..almost too easily! No challenge. Even at 23knots I was comfortably kiting one handed, kite at 1 o'clock, most of the depower pulled on, and just sliding the bar in and out in time with the gusts. Did a little bit of off the wind wave riding on some of the bigger lumps of chop, and the kite was happy to sit in the window depowered - not as much need to fly the kite in time with the board as with the C's. The depower comes in handy again for downloop transitions, just initiate the kite turn, start the carve, and then depower the bar and the kite just spins through with minimal pull. Toeside riding also very easy, sheet in to power up, and then manage power with the bar. Turning was also smooth, not particularly fast, I'd rate it somewhere between the 13.5m and 11m matrix's, so in other words reasonable given that it is generating the power of a 14m C kite.
Jumping was really easy and impressive, the kite only has to be flown smoothly back to 12 and then as it is coming forward in the window, just load and pop and pull the bar and up you go. The boost was definitely smoother than the matrix's, which tend to rip you up very quickly if you get all the timing right. The control of height and float using the bar was also very easy - at the top of one jump, I realised I had some more sheeting left, and so I pulled in on the bar and it floated me up another couple of meters. I also mis-timed the landing on one jump, splatted into the water, expecting to see the kite luffing and falling down...it just sat there at 12 no problems. So in comparison to a C kite, it seems to resist luffing very well and stay in the air when heavily depowered at the edge of the window.
So overall my impression is positive, the kite flies very smoothly through a wide wind range and is very controllable through gusts. It is basically doing the same job as my 2 old C-kites and doing it better. A bit like going from a V8 holden to a BMW - smooth power versus raw power. So no doubt it is a kite that will be easy to learn on, and will help intermediate riders improve very quickly.
On the down side, the fabric quality is light, and I don't think the kite would take a lot of punishment too well. It certainly doesn't seem as bomb-proof as the Matrix or Naish kites - more like the Airush kites in terms of feel and durability under your hand. Having said that, the finish out of the bag is good and the kites flies perfectly first time with no tweaking needed. I think if you were a beginner and your flying skills were OK, then the kite would be fine, but I don't know that it would like being rolled in waves, smashed on the beach, or put up in a tree too much.
Also, you need to be aware of the leash position. For "pull the pin" full safety you need the leash on the flagging ring on the steering line, but this prevents you spinning the bar. So for general riding the leash is attached to the center lines, and then you need to switch it back the flagging ring for best safety on landing. When the leash is on the center lines however, you are relying completely on the 100% depower of the bar for safety. In the event of a broken bridle, and invert or a twisted bridle, and a pulling kite, then the only QR you have is the one on the leash which detaches you from the kite completely. So riders used to a 5th line system need to spend some time getting familiar with the new setup, and acting to push the bar away rather than pull a QR when full depower is needed.
Overall, very happy with the kite so far and looking forward to some sweet sessions on it over the next few months. Good winds, Andy.
!! trying to recover it .............Good kite though!!
,(you can't flip the kite
), and I wouldn't recommend this set up unless you are a very good kiter, best to stick with the rear line attachment point, I recon.
