Cabrinha Crossbow Review


I've been flying the Cabrinha Crossbow for just over 3 and a half weeks, and have had the opportunity to test it in our local conditions as well as very steady wind in Kenya over a two-week period.

The kite setup was standard except for a few extra knots which was made on the back lines by Cabrinha Kiteboarding in Cape Town. This setup allows for better low end and makes for slightly faster turning.

Turning Speed

The most striking characteristic about the kite is that the kite turns on a really tight axis - as if the kite turns on it's center rather than on the wingtips. Tight turns must not be confused by turning speed. We found that the 12 Crossbow kite moves slower through the window than your typical 12, but it does turn really tight. The 9 Crossbow kite turned very fast.

Bridle systems usually have slower turning speeds associated with it. In response to this, Cabrinha brought out the 3 point pulley system on the bar which helps speed up turning. It seems to help, but there is still a delay with turning speed. One can easily get used to this delay and it is not necessarily a bad thing at all. The Naish Torch and Best Hellfish have built in delays - nowadays having a delay in a kite can be a good thing for freestyle.

Cruising on the water with the kite is such a pleasure. This is the easiest kite that anyone can ask to fly. It subdues gusts. The feedback on the bar is soft and easy, although the bar pressure required to move the kite is a bit on the heavy side when compared to the 2005 Cabrinhas.

Kite loops are really easy as the kite turns really tight. When you push the bar out while doing kite loops there is almost no downwind pull at all.

Safety and Relaunch

According to press releases, safety was the main brief on this kite. This is also the area where the kite performs the most and is completely different to anything else that precedes it when it comes to Leading Edge Inflatable kites.

Killing the power on the kite simply involves pushing the bar past a reseat able ball. Once the bar travels past this point the kite looses all power, and will slowly drop to the water where it will fall in a relaunch position at the edge of the window.

Relaunhing the kite simply involves pulling on of the side lines towards you. Once the kite takes off, pull the bar towards you and reseat the ball by pulling it towards you. Really simple and it works great.

If you find that for some reason you cannot relaunch the kite by pulling on one of the side lines, you can pull the front lines in and the kite will flip on it's back, just like a 5 line will flip a kite on it's back. This is an additional way of launching your kite should the first method fails, and makes for an almost fail-safe relaunchable kite.

Jumping

Jumping high on the Crossbow requires good timing and strong wind. Once you lift of the water, remember to pull the bar in else you will jump depowered. I have found that the Crossbow is really sensitive to jumping from a low position in the window - if you want to jump high instead of low and far you need to pull the kite from a high position in the window.

I find that the 12 has excellent high wind capabilities, but the kite starts slightly later than your typical 12. You probably start having good fun on the kite in 16 or 17 knots. To jump high, you need to be really powered on this kite. Weighing in at just over 70 kg's, I was able to hold this kite without any stress in 26 knots, and it is in fully powered conditions where the kites jumping abilities comes into it's own.

Upwind Ability

Upwind ability on this kite was good - just to clear out any uncertainty about this topic. I wouldn't say it was better or worse than any other kites upwind abilities. The kite does sit further back in the window like a medium aspect kite, but this really has no affect on upwind performance at all.

Crossbow 9

I managed to fly the 9 Crossbow after spending a good number of days on the 12, and the 9 is a completely different kite. It's still got the safety and gust absorbing abilities of the 12, but where the 12 rides like a 1977 Mercedes Benz Automatic the 9 goes like a Porsche Boxer with airbags and ABS brakes. It's a super fun kite to fly that will satisfy everyone from beginners to the pro kiter. We felt that the 12, unlike the 9, wasn't progressive enough - the 9 is very nippy and allows you to generate power. Flying the 9 is an exhilarating experience.

The 9 is excellent for wave riding - once you've had the 9 on a wave you will know what I mean. It's fast - you can move it through the window at incredible speed and instantly cut the power by pushing the bar out whilst still moving the kite. If for some reason you've got too much power on your bottom turn you can spill the power and sheet back in on your top turn.

Jumping on the 9 is also a lot easier and more fun, requiring less precision than the 12 due to its faster turning speed.

Another thing that was amazing about the 9 is that I was able to stay upwind on the 9 crossbow in just about the same conditions that I could stay upwind in on the 12 Crossbow, or on our equivalent 12 Classic Leading Edge test kite. The range on the 9 is incredible - I would take a guess and say that it could easily be 17 to 30 knots for a 70 kg rider.

Conclusion

The Crossbow is a really easy going kite. It absorbs gusts better than any kite that I have flown, behaves incredibly well and inspires confidence in the rider. Both the 12 and 9 performs great in strong and gusty conditions. I would say that this kite would be an excellent choice for the recreational kiter that needs a safe, gust absorbing, confidence inspiring, easy to fly kite with good performance as well as the more advanced kiter needing a good wave riding kite or a kite that loops quickly.

The Crossbow's safety and abilities to depower the kite whilst keeping the kite in the air puts it well ahead of the classic leading edge kites.

We were surprised at the slight lack of performance in the 12. But given the incredible abilities of the 9 coupled with the safety, relaunch and depower abilities of the entire range of Crossbow kites I must say that the Crossbow range of kites is a huge step forward in kite design. In every day scenarios this kite will make kiting safer and allow you to push harder as you can always kill the power by letting go of the bar, or relaunch the kite if anything happens. A kite well worth buying.

Thanks to Cabrinha Kiteboarding in Cape Town for supplying the demo kites.

Article Comments: (Add Comments)

Nice review. Do you have access to Windwing kites and will you review the 2006 Windwing Rapture?

Steve Martin

It seems by your comments that Crossbow will be the next generation of kites, times will tell, i would said. Also , looks like the Crossbow has no negatives caracteristics what intrigades me a lot. I 'm starting to thing that your opinions are more orientaded than we can expect, specially with some brands.
Anyway, you did a nice review.

CWS

The way you decribed the 9 is spot on for both kites I have used my 12 the most I am 95 kgs and have not had any trouble with the low end power of this kite I left from doodles on saturday and had to wait for a friend to arrive. I had no trouble staying up wind in 12 to 20knot, during the down winder the wind got up gusting to 26 knots I would have normaly rigged my 05 14 but would have had a shit sail The 12 covers me from a o5 14 to an 05 10 that is unreal on its own so it has the power of my 14 but moves like my 10 may be the 12 is the 9 for the bigger guys great review.
Also if you want a none Cabrinha riders view check out Mark shins he has been around since the begining.

Enlish

English : We went down with two crossbow 12's and a North Vegas 12. The difference in low end and turning speed was obvious to all of us on the 12. 9 was sick. If you fly a kite for a few weeks you get used to how it flies, and perhaps the several characteristics has become less obvious?

carlo

I still, want to get the answear how is the kite when riding unhooked, doing wake trix? Does the bar pressuer make it harder to ride and do unhooked trix?

Unhooked

I always feel safe on my Crossbow, kudos to the designers for this!! I'm glad someone pointed out the 12 is sluggish as I thought I was the only one that thought so.

JR

If you tune your kite maybe it will turn properly the fourth knot is a must.

Albert

I like the review as I was out two times on CB 16 and can confirm Carlos statements of the 12 applying for 16 as well. Being just an unbiased consumer I´d like to point that these kites jump quite differently to what a good LE provides you. Hangtime is simply great, but what I definitley was missing is a thrilling lift before the smooth sailing down phase starts. Jumps get long and low. And 16 is eating up wind, so that you won´t start jumping before any other good 15 oder 14 out there. I would have loved to change to CBs for relaunch matters but the lack of my prefered kind of lift at least in the 16 size keeps me from doing so. Will give 9 a try though and hope that Bow concept still has some upside potential for next release steps ..

Foxi

To Enlish : You say that your Crossbow 12 covers the range of your 10 and 14 kites. Most 12's will cover that range anyway as it is easy to stretch a kite's windrange one size either way. 12 is the best size to have in any kite.

NaishRider

What is interesting is that Mark Shinn was way overpowered when he jumped on this kite. Other kiters from the Gorge reported that they were overpowered when they were jumping high.

How does this kite jump in average conditions when compared to your typical leading edge kite? I watched a few experienced people do some nasty long and low beginner jumps on the Crossbow. I'm waiting for a big jump on a CB in average conditions not way overpowered conditions.

Andrew

Interesting, thanks Carlo. Are you planning a Nova review as well? Interested to know whether the Nova 12 is also sluggish? I thought the 15 would be a viable light wind kite - maybe not if the 12 is that slow.

André

Since the CB uses this passive safety system, thas means you can NEVER let go the bar when riding???

What happens if you miss the bar while doing a very high handle pass??? You will fall like a stone cause the kite lost all the power???

Lucho

I've always loved kiteboarding, but as a 52-year old with the ability to go upwind and little else, I've also been afraid of everything that can go wrong when kiting in gusty winds near the limit of my abilities with a given size kite.
Then I got to use the Crossbow 12 in 12-24 knot winds in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario on Friday, August 12th.
All I can say is thank you, Cabrinha and RIP to the traditional four line kite.

Bruce Johnston

hey fantastic review, i want to know what the prices are on those kites, and what size you recomend for a intermediate kiter who just started staying up wind and wieghs 90.7kg.
i'm really interested in getting one of these kites
lemmi know.
thanks
R.

Robert(bobby)

How do you spin the bar after rotating with the crossbow? Surely you will fall out of the sky if you let go, or at least loose all power?

What happens when the kite twists about itself?

Self rescue?

Thanks

Jimmy Jones

Just thought you would like to see what the king of crap writing has to say on this issue. I thought it was rather amusing. I mean, after the hellfish.

http://forum.bestkiteboarding.com/viewtopic.php?t=736

Roland

In Holland lots of people talk about "blown up biceps muscles" which they experience as a major disadvantage of the crossbow.
What's your experience in this?

Reinier

About the Bar pressure on the crossbow : Personally I didn't find it to be much of a problem. I've flown kites in the past with a much heavier bar pressure. Maybe some people find it to be a problem, but for me personally it was noticeable but not a problem.

The bar comes with two stopper balls. The standard one will depower the kite when you let go of the kite in powered conditions. If you slowly bring the bar close to the stopper ball you are able to unspin your bar without depowering the kite. Let go of the bar from a distance and it will tap out the ball.

The second stopper ball requires more pressure to release, and I suspect more people will prefer this ball. This ball requires a more firm tap on the ball to activate the safety.

carlo

Hi there

Thanks for the great review. Takeaway points: 9 great, 12 good but a bit slow, some bar pressure issues, all in a all great advance in design.

When are you going to line them all up and compare: Crossbow, Nova, WW, GK etc. just like car magazines do...?

kitango

@ Andrew:

your point is my main issue not to keep CB 16.
It´s not a low wind contender and jumping didn´t start before other kites in that size. BUT when mates had fun and great jumping WITH NICELY THRILLING LIFT on their 14m´s, I still was on those long low floating jumps you describe. It´s the kind of jumping experience I dislike. Don´t want to trade that. Safety I got enough since 5th element. Recon riders may experience massive additional range, 5E riders already had huge advancements in this respect.

Foxi

Have flown three years ago a Flexifoil Blade II. The comments on the CB stand true for the Blade. If Ram air kites didn't succeed before, why should a Ram Air inflatables do?
The Blade turning speed was slow until you add a cross over kit on the lines.
The Blade turns around the middle of the kite rather than the wingtip. So it loops faster and easier as the arc (circumference) of exponential power increase is much smaller.
The Blade had smoother low long jumps but timing was not as easy as LEI. Boosting up was not the same as LEI.
The Blade had bar pressure that will always (IMO) be until you lengthen the wing tips to kill the tensile strength on the lines. You end up with a LEI kite.

What we have here is a more efficient kite in terms of wind collection. Interesting to here that the kite excelled in gusts where I thought that CB/Nova shaped kites will accelerate since more efficient!! My Blade used to pull me off the beach ground vertically with each gust!!!

If Ram air kites didn't succeed before, why should a Ram Air inflatables do?

I do not know if I am right, but I feel that the CB or Nova is just a safer, easier reluanch Ram airs but same performance.

Appreciate some comments to know the truth about the performance of these kites.

Ciao,
Mo

Mo

To Mo:
Everybody has there own views about the cross bow
I have flown the 9 once and as a lot of people have already commented this seems to be the best size for all round performance
I have been flying the 12 the most all in NW winds and love the kite it is very smooth in the gust and personaly I find the kite to be very responsive in the turns, but I have only flown Cabrinha kites so I compare the speed to my 05 14m2 nitro beause this is the kite that replaces my 14.
When this kite is powerd It jumps as well as any Cabriha Kite I have ever flown I can not comment on light wind performance because I have only flown this kite when it is powerd , I have had no long low jump experiances.
It rules in the waves its safe and rock steady without the need for a fith line but above all it is the range of the kite that is the biggest improvement.
I have not one single regret about my investment.
The main thing is to be on the water and haveing a blast no matter what you ride.

English

Well...
it seems that the Cross Bow flies better, jumps higher and the performance improves dramatically once you pay for it.

curious

The crossbow, especially in the larger sizes does not seem to change position in the sky as quickly as a normal LEI. To improve this will require making the kite bank or tilt more. When the kite is sent back to initiate the jump, because the LEI can go back faster, it gives a more vertical jump. Right now, the kite only banks by pulling one rear line down while the other rear line goes up, the front lines stay the same. I the front lines could be moved independently of each other, the crossbow will give more vertical jumps.

babararacucudada

It appears that most of the people buying cabrinha bow kites used to use old kites from Cabrinha. I guess this is why the "Range" - the old ones had none,"Easy Relaunch" - RECON didn't work well and was inferior to 5th lines, and all round general fun is new to them. Does anybody remember the old kites? If the big Bow kites are low wind monsters, what about the Contra? Even that has moved to a 5th line. I guess as long as you enjoy your kiting, that is all that matters and for these guyz they are stoked. this is always good for the sport.

Ed