by Carlo
Over the last few weeks I have been speaking to quite a few people about the new Cabrinha Crossbow kites to find out what the general concensus is out there.
Overall the feedback has been very positive - most people are benefiting in terms of safety, increased range and better gust handling. Probably the first thing people tell me is that these kites handle the gusts incredibly well, so that is something that comes as a bit of a surprise since it wasn't marketed. Then there's also the fact that the kites have a noticeable gain in wind range, sudden depower and increased jumping performance.
But there are also a few things people don't like about these kites. I am going to cover the 3 most common issues about the Crossbows, and offer some advice on how to get around these issues.
1) The kites flip inside out
This is definitely a problem that I have experienced on more than one occasion.
Yesterday afternoon I managed to dump my kite about 200m offshore. The kite was straight downwind of me, lying on it's back with the leading edge facing me. I didn't pay much attention and allowed some of my lines to go slack. The wind was pretty strong, and since some of my lines were slack none of the wingtips had any wind so the kite was just sitting straight downwind of me, occasionally hovering about half a meter from the water. At this stage I knew exactly what was going to happen next, as I have found myself in this situation with both a Crossbow and a Nova before.
The first thing I did was to pull one of the side lines and swim to the side in order to move the kite to the side of the window where the wingtips can catch some wind. As I did this the kite suddenly relaunched and inverted. The kite was now flying completely inverted but there wasn't any power.
I managed to get myself out of the situation without crossed lines, long swims or rescues. Here's how.
When the kite is straight downwind of you and inverts in the air your first priority is to dump the kite. Dump the kite hard into the water by pulling on one of the side lines. This will revert most of the kite, but you will probably find that the wingtip that has the most line tension is still partially inverted. By swimming towards the kite you decrease line pressure and this will allow whatever part of the kite that is still inverted to revert back. Once the kite is back to normal shape you will find the kite is leading edge down, facing you.
To get out of this situation simply pull on one of the side lines while slowly swimming to the side. This will slowly bring one of the tips around and allow the kite to catch wind which will put it back into the classic kite down position. Once in this position, maintain line tension and simply pull on one of the side lines and the kite will relaunch. The whole ordeal took less than a minute, so it really isn't that bad at all.
I must point out that I have managed to invert my 5 line kites in exactly the same way on previous occasions too, but the difference is that a 5 line wraps around your kite which causes a different set of complications.
So to recap. If your kite is inverted you must revert your kite by either dumping it or swimming towards it if it's in the water. Once you do this and the nose of your kite is facing you, you have to bring the kite into normal relaunch position. Once you've done this, simply relaunch and sail away.
2) Crossbows are difficult to self launch
A lot of people have complained about this. And I must admit, they are not as easy to self launch as traditional kites are. But self launching is entirely possible.
All you have to do is to fold a bigger part of the wingtip over and put a lot more sand on the kite in order to prevent the kite from launching prematurely. Once you've done this double check your lines and pulleys to make sure the lines aren't stuck underneath the wingtip and that none of the lines are snagging.
You are now ready to self launch.
3) The bar pressure is too heavy
A lot of Cabrinha riders find this a big problem, as earlier Cabrinha kites have long been known as the kites with the lightest bar pressure.
The Crossbow kites doesn't have any more bar pressure than a lot of other kites that I have flown including the Best Yarga, Naish Torch, Naish Boxer and Slingshot Fuels.
Most people complaining about bar pressure are people coming from previous Cabrinhas rather than people coming from other brands. Give your arms some time to adjust to the bar pressure as the first few days might be a bit tough, but the bar pressure is certainly not as big a problem as a lot of people are making it out to be.
Conclusion
Bow style kites are still very new. It is inevitable that any new product will have a few glitches, and the first few weeks on these kites have proved that there are minor problems. But to put things into perspective : the 5 line kites had their own set of problems, and there was a whole lot of skeptics who criticized the 5 line kites, but today it is the most used technology.
In the few weeks that I have spent on Bow style kites it has become very clear that the bridle system offers a lot of advantages over the 5 line and previous 4 line systems that we are used to. The bridle system handles gusts better than traditional kites, it turns the kite a lot tighter, the safety system is great and the relaunch system is second to none.
It is inevitable that kiteboarding will be moving in this direction. There are a lot of critics out there because opposition brands don't have similar products yet. Just like with the 5th line systems, once more brands take on the bow concept the general attitude towards bow kites will improve.