Cabrinha Drifter 2012

The name Drifter says a lot about what kind of kite were talking about here. Yes, it’s a surf kite which you probably already knew.

So what can we say about the Drifter? A friend of mine took out a 9m for a test ride in gusty conditions, 20-30 knots. Choppy water combined with a 5,4″ surfboard.

Let’s start with the good news.
The kite feels rigid almost as if there were rods instead of lines. It´s easy to pilot is whereever you want it without any annoying lag and no such moments when you´re waiting for the kite to power up, for instance after several turns in the waves.

The wind was pretty strong this day, but I experienced that it was easy to do multiple linked turns without having to worry about slacking lines. This would probably not have been a problem with any kite a windy day like this one, but still.

The upwind performances was great. I was able to lots of turns and tricks on my way down and just go upwind and start over.

The kite has only three struts, like the trend we saw among lightwind kites in 2011. The bar is a excellent, the IDS bar with the spring coil system that works as a stopper.

Bad things…

The colors are dull, boring and sort of faded. People asked me where the hell I found such an old kite.

The grunt is ok, but probably not the best grunt kite I tried.

The video below shows in which conditions the Drifter comes to its right use.

Cabrinha Drifter 2012 first Strapless test in Sweden!! from Surfskolan Crew on Vimeo.