Riding Styles

Whether you're looking to cruise across the Gauteng dams, boost big airs, tear up the surf on holidays, stomp technical wakeboard maneuvers — there many different styles of kiteboarding for everyone. With endless options, find the style that best suites you.

The gear described below can be used for any style of riding you would like to do.There is just gear that performs a
given style better than the next.

Free-ride

Spanning back to the early days of kiteboarding, the free ride style put kiteboarding on the extreme sports map. Ranging from massive, gravity defying airs to just cruising around, who wouldn't want to try kiteboarding?


Equipment of choice for free-ride

Kite: Cabrinha Convert

Reason: This style of riding is versatile so you want a kite to be the same. The Convert IDS is designed
                 to deliver the widest wind range of use and easiest handling weather it's flat,chop,ocean or a
                 combination thereof.

Boards: Cabrinha Prodigy
                Crazyfly Allrounder
                Airtool Ignition
                Airtool Flow

Wakestyle

While you shouldn't kiteboard with a wakeboard (they are horribly designed for it), all wakeboarding tricks translate directly over into kiteboarding. Without being constrained by the uniform tow of a boat, the possibilities are endless. Your kite can tow and lift you in any direction you choose. With been sufficiently powered you can pop off the water with a simple edge to launch you into whatever sort of flip, roll, grab, spin or any combination you can imagine. Wakestyle riders do the majority of there tricks un-hooked and use the downwind power of the kite. Flat water is ideal for this type of style.

 

Equipment of choice for Wakestyle

Kite: Cabrinha Switchblade


Reason: The Switchblade is designed to perform in a wide range of conditions,hooked or unhooked. The
                 steady predictable pull and its ability to fly forward when unhooked makes the Switchbalde
                 perfect for hitting kickers,sliders and any wakestyle trick bookloop,forward loop,jump
                 transitions, raleys in the book.

Boards: Cabrinha Custom
                Crazyfly Bulldozer
                Airtool Torque

Freestyle

The freestyle side of kite boarding has become a style developed by the kite boarding community where ones kite playes a big role to preform your moves. From mega kite loops to downloops this style will keep the heart beating and on lookers entertained for hours.



Equipment of choice for freestyle

Kites: Cabrinha Nomad


Reason: The Nomad is a non-bow hybrid IDS kite that combines the best of both worlds... A moderate
                 C shaped arc and an IDS bridle to deliver a super fast turning kite. The Nomad creates the
                 type of kite turns that increase in power throughout the turning arc by pivoting off of the
                 wing tip. This is what makes for a kite that is ideal for for powerd kite loops.

Boards: Cabrinha Caliber
                Crazyfly Raptor
                Airtool Torque

Wave riding

Kitesurfing is essentially surfing with a kite. With the advent of high-depowering kites, the feeling of actually surfing a wave is now more possible than ever. Simply use the power of the kite to get you into the wave, then depower the kite and ride with little or no pull from the kite. Do you like surfing, but don't enjoy all the paddling? If so, then this riding style is for you.

Equipment of choice for Wave riding

Kite: Cabrinha Nomad


Reason: As the Nomad has two distinct tuning options One just changes the bridel from the
                freeride setting to the wave bridle setting which then allows a greater level of
                de-power for hooked surfing. The fast turning speed of the Nomad combined with its
                quick and short de-power throw makes for a finely tuned,predictable surfing kite
                like no other.

Boards: Cabrinha S-quad
                Cabrinha S-killit
                Cabrinha Thruster

Speed kiting/course racing.

Speed kiting is as the name implies. One finds a super flat piece of water to see how fast you can go.
this style requires one too wear a GPS. unit as well, this is so you can record your speed over an average distance
of 500M. Course racing is similar to formula 1 were one races other contestants over a specific course.

Equipment of choice for speed/course kiting

Kite: Cabrinha Crossbow


Reason: Years of refinement has made the Crossbow the highest performing Freeride Race kite available
                 today.The Crossbow IDS is a highly tuned wing capable of winning top level course races and
                 is only one of 3 kites in the world to break the 50knot speed barrier.
                 The Crossbow started the bow revolution and today continues to define the essence of
                 speed,control,versatility and security.

Boards: Cabrinha Thruster
                Airtool Speed board