Cabrinha Contra

June 11, 2006

{7 comments}


We recently spent some time on the new Cabrinha Contra in light winds.

A number of improvements have been made on the Contra over the existing Cabrinha bow kites. The most notable improvements are the Sprint system - Cabrinha's answer to a one pump system, minor changes on the bar and the Override 2 tension ring which allows you to set the release load of the stopper ball.

In terms of flying characteristics, the Contra seems to sit somewhere between the Switchblade and the Crossbow. It flies similar to a Crossbow, but doesn't have heavy bar pressure and performs really well when unhooked.

The control bar certainly left an impression with us. The fact that the emergency safety release releases instantaneously, the depower and power straps are easily reachable, the stopper ball's release load can be tensioned or even disabled, and the overall quality and ease of use of the bar is impressive adds to the fact that this is the best control bar that we have come across to date.

Attached are some pictures we took of the Cabrinha Contra.


7 Comments
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1 Wolff 6/12/2006 4:25:19 AM

Hi Carlo -
You mentioned that you used the new kite in light winds,
1] How many knots were you flying in?
2] How much do you weigh?
3] What size were you using?
4] Let us know how much pull it gave you...
Shot
]M[

2 Carlo 6/12/2006 4:45:18 AM

Hi Wolff

Wind was very light, peaking at 12 knots.
I weigh 72 kg.
I was using a 14.
I don't believe there was sufficient pull as the wind was too light.

This was not meant as a review, but rather to highlight the features of the kite.

Will write more once I use it in decent wind.

3 Lars 6/12/2006 11:33:44 PM

Looks like Cabrinha is the world's no.1 kiting brand. Their products are great the service is best and for sure every year they just get better every year. Cabrinha is way ahead of the rest.

4 Lars 6/12/2006 11:38:47 PM

It would be interesting to compare the 16 Contra with the 16 Crossbow and 16 Switchblade. This will be the ultimate light ind shoot out.

ikiteboarding - can you try and do a light wind shoot out like this?

5 FlyMyAssOff 6/13/2006 10:19:51 PM

It would be nice to get this kite (17m) reviewed in light wind, since it's designed for that (8-10-12mph).

6 kiteforfun 6/15/2006 6:14:36 AM

Cabrinha always said the one pump was a shit, now they agree with that, they said the crossbow and switchblade bar was light pressure , now they said the new contra bar is lighter than the others model, they said you could fly the 17m Contra in light winds, now they come with the same strategy, not mentioned the recon agains 5th line , i´m just waiting to see what will be the next marketing ideas to sell untested product, not forgetting that they released the crossbow last august 2005, what means they had changed the some aproach three times in less then a year. Someone has to believe, not me.

7 fran 7/8/2006 5:41:30 AM

Hi Carlo!! I'm interested about this kite and there is one thing you could explain me; How was the kite speed? Comparing to the ss turbo diesel 14, was this kite faster?

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