Cabrinha Ace 2021 kiteboard Review

The Cabrinha Ace has been one of the most popular kiteboards for years. Many kite schools use the Ace as a training board, due to the excellent handling on the water. In 2021 Cabrinha will launch two versions of the Ace, the Cabrinha Ace Hybrid and the Cabrinha Ace Wood. We took a look at the kiteboards and show you the features and differences.

Construction of the Cabrinha Ace 2021

As the names already reveal, Cabrinha relies on different materials within the new kiteboards. The Cabrinha Ace 2021 Wood has a wooden construction with Paulownia wood core.

Whereas in the Cabrinha Hybrid on a kind of “sandwich” technology is relied upon. Instead of a full carbon sheathing Cabrinha relies on the hybrid also on Carbon fibers, but only in the form of two stringers of Japanese Toray UD carbon are laid over the entire length at the top and bottom to make the flex behavior more sporty. The rest of the composite material is made of fiberglass.

The core is special: It’s not a pure wood core like almost all boards in this class, but a closed-cell foam core combined with wood in a sandwich construction. The foam core is certainly partly responsible for the fact that the Ace Hybrid is one of the lighter boards, weighing well under four kilograms.

Ride behavior

As in the past, 2021 Ace models shine with a maximally versatile, easy-to-ride, forgiving performance freeride concept that combines the features of a freeride and freestyle board.

The Ace delivers a homogeneous behavior over the entire wind range and thus covers a good spectrum of conditions. It does not belong to the ranks of the absolute early gliders and in the overpowered limit range it does not feel as comfortable as the specialists, but it still goes off early enough and also tolerates a good pinch of pressure in the kite.The basic tuning is kept loose.

The transition from grip when the board is upright to cross-sliding at shallower angles is easy to feel and easy to use. If you put the board aggressively on the edge and brace yourself against the kite pull, the effort is rewarded with enough grip to beat even big kites in the overpower range to the edge of the wind window. The Ace is not a board that wants to be ridden exclusively on the front or back foot.

It feels most comfortable with centered weight distribution and doesn’t make much difference between 40/60 and 60/40, and riding over choppy water is absolutely straightforward. The small hits are swallowed and you can guide the board around the thick waves.

Summary of the Cabrinha Ace Review

Who is looking for an easy to ride board, with the height running is a breeze can calmly reach for the Cabrinha Ace. Especially beginners we can recommend this board. The rides in wavy water are well absorbed by the board, so you can really talk about a comfortable kiteboard.