Dakine and Cabrinha unite. Thoughts?

[Havre]

Is Cabrinha really "the world leader in performance kitesurfing equipment" ?

On the Cabrinha homepage I would expect so.

Elsewhere I don't think so. Then again I don't think there is one "leader" anyway. So I guess they are as much a leader as anyone else.

[mikelet]

Good news and a big step for both of my prefered brands in the industry to join forces .
A new contender for the duotone/fanatic/ion and north/mystic big party..

[madworld]

Will the Cabrinha fireball system, be rebranded as Dakine? etc. etc. etc.

[HugoMC]

1. A BIGGER (17m or 18m) and lighter (e.g. Aluula) version of the AV8 for airstyle.
2. A lighter version of the Drifter.
3. A lighter version of the Contra.

I have heard rumours of a single strut Cab kite being released this year. I don't know if this is what you'd like in regards to lighter. I don't know if Cab have a Aluula like fabric yet.

I never really understood the AV8 kite.. I love the idea of a one Design Racing class but Cabrinha never really showed and movement on this. I know it's probably a great Airstyle kite.

[ralu81]

Seems like a good move that makes sense... I like Dakines products and you can always get them at a good price. Hopefully they don’t overthink things and over charge for it. I just want a comfortable, good looking harness that doesn’t break.

[bjw]

DaKine made awesome harnesses and seemed to be a little cheaper than their competitors, can't wait to see their new range!

[nixmatters]

Surprised it didn't leak out before the official release. The word is out since few months.
Strong move for Cabrinha, given that the Cab-NP 'relationship' was never really a smooth one. And that NP has literally left the market lately.
The 2-brand model 'kitesurfing equipment - waterwear & accessories' was if I'm not wrong introduced by Pryde and followed by few of the big names... NKB/Duotone-ION, Fone-Manera, Slingshot-RE, North-Mystic. Strange that Brunotti and Prolimit remained solo and that's probably one of the reasons for their market positioning.

For Cabrinha now there just isn't a better match than Dakine and vice versa.
Interesting times ahead!

[GraemeF]

Well I think it's good news that the Dakine name will continue in windsports, which frankly was how it came to be as successful as it once was. As to Cabrinnha being the white knight, well better them than no-one, hopefully some of the original DK team might be involved in the product design and we'll see some innovation that has been missing for a while now.
As to how successful they'll be, who knows, it's a very different landscape now than the days when we sold 5000 harnesses a year with very little competition. Now Mystic dominate the market by not being tied to a brand, the North connection hasn't really gotten out there yet. Ride Engine, Ion, Pro Limit, Manera, Brunotti have all flooded in to fill the void DK left in the wake of the Billabong GSM acquisition and debacle that laid waste to the brands watersport dominance.

But whatever I'm glad and if I can still renew my tired impact vest and Nitrous shorts, I'll be really pleased, so I wish Pete Cabrinha all the best with it and hope he does well.

[Kamikuza]

Hard to get Dakine harnesses will be even harder to get as they disappear down the supply chain black hole....

[Marc_87]

Should not take a long time I suppose, see some new kites below.