Pat Goodman is the lead kite designer for Cabrinha Kiteboarding. After being actively involved in hang gliding for more than eight years, he took up windsurfing and immediately saw room for improvement in the equipment.
In 1981 he started a sail loft on Oahu. Soon after, the craving for the ultimate sailing conditions led him to Maui where he made his own line of custom sails, "Goodsails Maui".
Following the success of Goodsails Maui, he was approached by Gaastra Sails where he worked for 9 years before joining the Neil Pryde design team. There he worked together with current sail designer Robert Stroj until he was introduced to kitesurfing.
In 2001 Neil Pryde and Pete Cabrinha created “Cabrinha” kites. They were sharing office space with the design team at the time and Pat immediately took interest and got “Hooked”. The rest of the story is obvious. Pat got in on the ground floor and has been there ever since.
Where does the development of a new kite start? What and who determines what kind of characteristics a kite should have?
Pat Goodman : The kites themselves are evolving as we go along, but we listen carefully to the demands from our distributors and their customers. I suppose the best way to look at things is to separate the kite design into two categories.
The first being the evolution of the kites where we test, refine and improve things the best we can annually in means of performance, durability etc. The second being true R&D where we try and think outside the “bubble” and come up with new technology breakthroughs in both performance and especially safety. Safety sets a huge precedence for all of our new projects and products.
The beginning of a new design is in many times a collaboration of ideas from market feedback, Pete Cabrinha who is heavily involved in all of the products bearing his name (and extremely creative by the way) and our team rider, testers, sales and product managers. We all meet regularly and discuss the direction of all products and monitor the progress of the testing. The motivating thing is we all share the same goals yet have very different ideas of how to get there. The group of people involved have decades of combined experience in the industry and are ALL avid kitesurfing participants.
Tell us a bit about the new Cabrinha kites for 2006. There are rumors that there's two new kites - the Revolver and the Crossbow. How different are they from your current products, and what can we expect? Pat Goodman : I am not free to comment on the 2006 product line just yet as for the kites have not been introduced publicly. I can tell you that there are many new improvements and innovations. Cabrinha is committed to performance and safety reflecting heavily in the designs for 2006.
How much does user feedback count? Do you keep track of how the market responds to Cabrinha products? Pat Goodman : User feedback is very important to us. We have a full time on-line support mail which is monitored and replies are sent out promptly. We also have had several on-line user surveys which have been very helpful in understanding the needs of the consumers.
Our distributors are also very actively involved in communicating their needs and concerns within their markets. I work closely with both professional and non profession test people actively providing valuable feedback.
A few years ago low aspect kites were meant for beginners and high aspect kites for the pros. Things have changed and just about everyone are on medium-high aspect kites. These days it seems that medium-high aspect kites have great performance whilst still being a suitable kind of kite for the beginner. How feasible is it to have 3 or 4 different designs - is it not better to focus all the design and R&D efforts on one or two kites, and bring out a great product instead of splitting all these man hours across a range of kites?
A lot of kiteboarding companies have up to 5 different ranges of kites whilst the majority of the market only seems to be using one or two of these kites. Pat Goodman : I hear where you’re coming from on this one. Rather than dividing the kite ranges by skill level, it is getting to where the kites are more defined by feel and performance.
High aspect ratio (or mid aspect ratio) kites with the help of re-launch systems such as Recon and even 5th lines have made the real issues with high aspect kite seem distant. What one can expect from a high aspect ratio kite is more airspeed, usually higher jumps and longer hang time.
Although a fast turning kite will provide the pop needed to boost plenty high, it is the hang time that still shines in the higher aspect kites.
To answer your question. Yes, as the range of the kites increase, the amount of actual different kite models needed can be simplified and what use to take four or five lines to cover can now easily be covered in three. We are heading this direction ourselves.
What is your typical working day like? Do you get time to kite a lot? Pat Goodman : My days are not typical in any way. They vary quite a bit depending on where I am. I travel frequently between Maui and China for developing the kites.
Throughout the year many organized test sessions take place and we head off to destinations most suitable for the kites we are testing. We can’t simply stay in Maui and test everything. As you know it is a windy place and the majority of the kites we sell are 12.0 and 14.0 sq. meters. For the most part I spend half of the day on the computer and then if visiting the factory I work with them in a “hands on” participation to make sure the designs are coming together as designed.
When in Maui I likely test kites (along with my test team) approximately 3-4 days a week and then head back to the office to follow upon what I have learned. Then because I am totally hooked on kiting, I free sail on the weekends whenever possible.
Cabrinha has a proven track record of innovative products. The Recon system and the Contra kites are legendary in their own right, and Cabrinha seems to be slotted in as one of the top 3 Kiteboarding brands in the world. But there has also been a few setbacks throughout the years, as with any other company. Every time there are big changes in any design, there is always a risk of things going wrong. With kiteboarding still in its infacy there seems to be a race against time to push innovative products on the market, and in doing so quality and durability can sometimes suffer as a consequence. The new kites seem to be a lot different from current designs. What kind of product testing will go into the new kites to ensure a solid and durable product, whilst maintaining innovation? Pat Goodman : You are correct and we are fully aware of this situation. We have set up a testing procedure that has documented reporting done on everything.
Starting at the beginning with sophisticated computer controlled lab test equipment (recently upgraded to the best possible available) which tracks material elongation, breaking strengths, simulated UV resistance, color fastness, flutter testing and even testing materials after a washing simulation to compare the material finish durability and longevity.
There is extensive water time hours logged on all of the new designs and products to ensure that they are ready for the consumer. Keep in mind we have a full time person monitoring and recording the testing both in-house and on the water all along each step of the development of any new product and or material.
In the Metropolis DVD there was a whole section about R&D. There wasn't a lot of mention about how long these products were designed to last. How long are kites and control bars designed to last in terms of kiting hours? How often does the average kiteboarder upgrade their equipment, and how does this affect product design in terms of durability and longevity? Pat Goodman : This is a tough question to answer. Breaking the average rider’s annual usage into hours is a bit difficult.
The environment in which the kite is rigged, used and abused is very different from region to region. For instance in a place like Maui (where it is very windy all summer long) it is easy to rack up the hours on an 8.0 where in many places a consumer will be lucky to kite once a week.
On the flip side, where a consumer has to rig on asphalt and or concrete, the wear issues are completely different than those maybe in Tarifa where the kite is exposed to constant flapping in the wind when left on the beach. Typically as I mentioned above we track the wear and tear of the products as we test them and 100 hours is the first real bench mark for having a close look at how things are holding up.
If we don’t make it to there, then we have a real close look at what is wearing and how it can be improved. I feel that it is safe to say that we design the kites with a lifespan intension of at least one year used by an avid participant. But in many cases this will equal a couple of seasons at least for an average consumer.
Can you describe your personal riding style, choice of equipment, and how much of your personal riding style is reflected in the final designs? Pat Goodman : My riding style is pretty conservative actually. I am a perfect example of a high performance consumer (far from pro). I love to boost big air and love to ride in small to moderate sized surf. I am not a handle pass guy at all (as are many of my testers).
I ride hooked in all of the time and will let the young guys bounce there bodies off of the sliders and kickers. I do have a very sensitive feel for the trim and performance of a kite. In many times much more sensitive than most I kite with. I can hop on a kite for two minutes and come back and tell you whether or not is trimmed properly, flying fast enough, sitting where I want it in the window, flying upwind well and turning fast.
I am a little older than the rest of my testers. They actually call me “Dad”. I can still kick their butts so they don’t call me that too often :-)
Way back in 2001 all the companies came out with the Variable Aspect Ratio concept - a concept that promised similar turning speed across a range of kites. In 2005, we are light years ahead in terms of kite design, but all the kites in a range still turn very different. A typical 8 square meter kite is a lot faster than a typical 12 square meter kite, and often different size kites don't even handle the same. Do you think it is possible to have kites from 8 square meter to 14 square meter to have the same turning speed and feeling? Pat Goodman : In a perfect world we would all have the same kiting style and demands from the kites. Unfortunately this is not the case. There are times when we need to slow down the 8.0’s for instance for a beginner and speed them up for the guy who boosts a double backs with a kite loop in the equation.
I agree with you that it would be nice if all the kites had a similar feel. The hardest thing is to get the large kites to turn fast enough. This is always a challenge for all of us. The conditions themselves also really have an impact on the feel of the kites for you will agree that 16.0 conditions are just usually not as gusty and violent as when riding an 8.0. It is easy to slow down the small kites. I do my best to keep them fast but manageable.
The 2005 Cabrinha C02 is a great kite. Will Cabrinha still offer this in their 2006 product range? Pat Goodman : Yes, and it is even better.
Windsurfing seems to have reached a stage where innovation has slowed down and most companies can now focus on refinement. There seems to be room for a lot of innovation with kiteboarding. Where would you say kiteboarding is in terms of it's life cycle. How many years of rapid innovation do you foresee for kiteboarding, and would you say that Kiteboarding as a sport has peaked yet in terms of numbers? Pat Goodman : As far as kite development is concerned, this year in particular has proven to us that we are just scratching the surface of things to come. The room for improvement in performance and safety is wide open. I truly feel as we improve the safety of the sport the growth rate will increase along with it.
Right now, the dangers involved in the sport is for sure keeping some people away. It is not really comparable to windsurfing either at this point. This sport attracts a wider variety of ages in its user group and brings in a lot of young people with also secures the growth of the sport.
