S2AS - News

Wednesday, 14 August 2013

Cabrinha 2014 Season Air Collection – introducing Contra, Overdrive 1XL, Stylus and Alias

At Surface 2 Air Sports, we're always keen to see the new gear from Cabrinha as they're an innovative company who really have their customers' needs at the heart of their work. We've been looking forward to getting our hands (and feet) on the new Cabrinha 2014 season kit. The Cabrinha Air Collection has been looking promising since the early press releases, so we wanted to find out more. Today, we're going to give you an introduction to the new Cabrina 2014 Air Collection.

What is the Cabrinha 2014 Air Collection?

The Air Collection is a set of boards and kites designed to work effectively in low-wind conditions, helping kiteboarders get off the beach and onto the waves on even more marginal days. The new Cabrinha 2014 boards and kites take advantage of technological and design enhancements to give the rider a comfortable ride position with great control.

Contra – lightweight kite for low winds

Rider on water with the new Cabrinha Kite

Designed to make the most of light winds, the Cabrinha 2014 Contra kite has a lightweight frame with 3 microstruts. The Contra Air Collection kite is available in 15m and 17m versions, and has a neat turning capability that helps keep you riding and jumping when the winds are weak.

Stylus – light wind and freeriding board

Rider on the water kiteboarding

Like the Contra kite, the Cabrinha 2014 Stylus kiteboard is designed to get you out on the sea when the winds are marginal. It works well in low-wind conditions, allowing you to get off the beach when other kites can't. It's got a laminated wood core, an ultrabond PU rail and low-drag premium fins. It's another high-quality Cabrinha product, compatible with their Hydra Series footstraps.

Alias – board designed to improve low wind kite performance

Rider standing on the beach waiting to go kiteboarding

Rider in action on the water

A star in the Cabrinha 2014 Air Collection, Cabrinha claim that the Alias kiteboard 'increases the bottom end wind range on any kite quiver' and we can well believe it. The Alias has an innovative bamboo and cork construction, making it very lightweight and manoeuvrable. A wide body combined with four precision cut fins makes it a fun, easy ride.

Overdrive Control System

Picture of the overdrive control system

A new engineering design, launched in the Cabrinha 2014 Air Collection, the Overdrive Control Bar is highly adjustable. It can adjust to a full 8cm in seconds, and is designed to allow adjustments to easily be made on the water. It's available in three sizes:
  • Overdrive 1X - standard size suitable for most kites, adjusts 49-57cm
  • Overdrive 1XL - large size, for use with Contra kites, adjusts 57-64cm
  • Overdrive 1X Siren - for use with the Siren range, adjusts 49-57cm

Siren

Women rider on the siren board

Part of the Air Collection, the Siren kites and boards are designed for women. There are a couple of strong arguments in favour of such a move, and we applaud any kiteboarding company which is making the sport more accessible and providing kit which will allow more people to hit the waves comfortably and in safety. It's clear that kit designed for someone who is 6 foot tall and 13 stone is not going to be ideal for someone 5 foot tall and 7 stone. But will the same kite really suit all women kiteboarders? And do they all want that kite to be bright pink? We suspect not, which is why we'll keep recommending a wide range of suitable kites to each of our customers, male or female.