By Rhys Porter, KPQ

Everyone keeps asking me why I ride a kite that’s exclusively designed for waves when I live in Redcliffe, which has no waves to speak of.

While it’s true I dream of peeling reef breaks and four-foot glassy sections, I have to accept that I get those conditions once or twice a year, so the kite I ride must have certain ‘do it all’ qualities for everyday riding around my local area in Brisbane. This year, I chose the Cabrinha Drifter and here’s why…

The best things about the Drifter are its light, nimble flying characteristics, and its very fast relaunch. Not that I need the relaunch qualities of course! I also like the fact that I can still jump to a respectable height or unhook and attempt some freestyle moves, or hand it to one of my students and feel comfortable that they won’t break it and will be able to fly it easily.

Speaking of beginners, all the kite companies out there at the moment are faced with a dilemma, and that is that they have two different markets that actually need the exact same kite. First you have the beginners, who need a really stable, easy relaunching kite that turns fast and is built really tough; and on the other hand we have the surf kiters, who need a really stable, easy relaunching kite that turns fast and is built really tough. See the problem? Surf kiters don’t want to buy a beginner’s kite because, well, it’s a beginner’s kite…. So Cabrinha made the Drifter! They market it towards surf riders, but a beginner feels completely at home when flying it. In fact, they’ll probably learn faster on one of these than they will on a Switchblade, for example, because it teaches you to ride properly right from the start.

The Cabrinha Drifter is an incredibly stable kite. If there’s enough wind it will sit overhead for as long as you like without any bar input, and when sitting off to the side, it gently floats along on its own accord. The very wide wingtips are what cause this stability, and despite being a new design element for (usually pointy winged) Cabrinha products, they’ve nailed it. These new, wider wingtips also help the kite turn at an incredibly quick rate. In fact, it has C-kite turning characteristics, which are fantastic for both wave riding and general freeriding. To compare, the 11m Drifter feels similar to the 9m Switchblade in terms of turning speed.

For actual surf riding it’s incredible, especially in the 5.5m and 7m sizes – but the 9m and 11m both perform very well too. On a wave face the kite just drifts a long nicely and lets you do your thing. If the conditions are onshore it turns fast enough to keep up with your turns, and has plenty of grunt to get you out the back quickly. Plus that relaunch comes in handy too – I’ve had my fair share of close calls, but the good ol’ Drifter never fails to pop up just before the white water munches it.

What’s the downside? Well, there are a couple, the first is that there’s no 13m. This unfortunately limits the Cabrinha Drifter to people under around 80kg as an all-round kite. The second problem, which isn’t exactly helped by not having a large size, is that it’s not as powerful as a Switchblade of equal size. Again, not a problem if you’re under 80kg. But if you weight in around 85kg, best buy a 9m Cabrinha Drifter as your small kite, and a 12m Switchblade as your all-rounder.

For lighter riders, this is nothing but good news because not only does the kite fly well in light winds (its only got three struts so it doesn’t weigh anything), it doesn’t have that crazy raw power of a Switchblade, which is so confronting to many (including me).  It’s just a great, light feeling little kite that does what you want, when you want – without ripping your arms out of their sockets every time you pull the bar in. And I think that’s a good thing.

Go for a Cabrinha Drifter if any the following apply to you:

-       You’re under 80kg and want to learn fast, ride easily or surf waves

-       You’re over 80kg but want a small kite with a light and fast feel

-       You don’t like the really powerful feel of a Switchblade

-       You need a kite that flies in very light winds, but handles gale-force winds as well

You probably won’t like the Drifter if:

-       You never want to ride a wave in your life

-       You’re over 80kg and want one kite that does it all

-       You’d prefer a kite with lots of bar pressure

-       You’re into competitive freestyle riding

Check out the 2012 Cabrinha Drifter

Check out the Cabrinha Drifter and Chopstick Package Deal