Hey guys, anybody ridden any of the new cab surfboards? Especially the fish style board- think its called the "secret weapon".
And is there much difference between the Skillet and the Keahi signature board, besides the fin setup options?

Cheers

Curious about the secret weapon myself. Would love to hear from any Nugget riders who have ridden one. I like the toughness of the cab boards which is what you need for lightwind days when it often goes wrong. Bit concerned though that it might be a bit long and unwieldy through the turns.

Agree with Dl33ta regarding toughness. I have hammered my cab subwoofer and it has held up pretty well.

I'll be interested on a review as it will either be this or a nugget tt as my next board.

Talked with one of the dealers about the Cab boards today, he thinks they have gone overboard on the reinforcement this year. Way too heavy to be of any use. Any other Nugget alternatives?

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Dl33ta said..
Talked with one of the dealers about the Cab boards today, he thinks they have gone overboard on the reinforcement this year. Way too heavy to be of any use. Any other Nugget alternatives?

I have had a fair bit of time on both the 5'10 Secret Weapon and the 5'8 Phenom. The Weapon is pretty fun.Planes up super fast and very easy to gybe and tack. I was surprise on how maneuverable it is being a bigger board. I used it with the Cabrinha Resin fins and also a Futures glass set. The Cab fins give it a noticeable softer feel IMO.
The Phenom 5'8 just rocks! Great speed with fantastic maneuverability. The extra volume is very noticeable. I liked so much I bought it. As for the weight, yes they seem a little heavy but really there are no performance issues that I notice. In the last couple years I've been using Slingshot Celeritas and Airush Cyphers and I feel the Cabrinha Phenom is has a better combo speed/carving than both of those models. That said ,my Airush Cypher in the active construction was very light but there where some construction issues.

I’ve had a Secret Weapon 5’ 10” for about a month now and ridden it in everything from underpowered 12m to overpowered 9m with small to medium surf at Wanda. It’s my first ever Cabrinha product, I usually get my kite surf boards custom made. I weigh 88Kg and kite almost exclusively in the surf with Ozone Reo’s.

This year I was looking for something different with decent volume to ride waves on the lighter days. I had looked seriously at the new “Tomo” designs but I’m not an early adopter. This board has already exceeded my expectations and if you are intrigued by the Cab promo video, I would say it’s a fair reflection of the board’s performance.

First though, a rant about the fin boxes which are Future Fins except instead of fitting genuine OEM boxes I suspect they have used some cheap knock off Chinese box. I spent an hour sanding a set of proper futures glass fins to fit into the boxes which are about 2mm too short and 1mm too shallow. These same fins fitted perfectly into my other boards with Futures boxes. (Not anymore though) Kitepower gave me a set of the standard Cab white fins but I ditched them after two goes as the board was too loose for my style of riding.

With good glass fins the board has an amazing amount of drive and smokes upwind, it is very quick to plane up and keeps on planning through the lulls. It’s not a particularly light board but it feels light enough in the air and is balanced in jumps and rotations.

Riding wave’s front side the board turns through a smooth arc and cuts back quickly and loose if you push hard or if you have some face to work with a much wider top turn, the volume really helps here to keep going through flat sections. Backside is the same, it’s loose off the top if you push and great fun to reo over white water, for my weight the board rides well even with virtually no power in the kite.

Riding upwind on the outside I’m riding it differently to any other kiteboard I’ve owned, driving much more through the back foot off the fins with the board flatter like dare I say…….Windsurfing. To test this theory yesterday with winds S 20 -25 at Wanda I took out a 92 ltr wave board with a 5.5m fully powered then rode the 5’ 10” with the 9m slightly overpowered. The lines I was taking through swell was very similar which makes for a smoother ride and with the round nose profile it even looks similar on the water. You can just edge it upwind like any other kiteboard but I like this windsurf ride style.

What I’m most surprised about for a board with so much volume and width is the control even when overpowered. It’s not just a board for light wind days.

So to sum up the board is very quick to plane, rides gutless east coast waves well, the extra volume allows you to ride a kite size smaller than usual and it’s just great fun.

JR.

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KB7 said..
I’ve had a Secret Weapon 5’ 10” for about a month now and ridden it in everything from underpowered 12m to overpowered 9m with small to medium surf at Wanda. It’s my first ever Cabrinha product, I usually get my kite surf boards custom made. I weigh 88Kg and kite almost exclusively in the surf with Ozone Reo’s. ....



JR.

Good review there JR, sounds like the perfect cruising board. What do you reckon your bottom end with the 12m is?

So wide. Tried the amp?

And how is it holding up to punts? Would love to try one

DI33ta

I’ve been out in about 8 -12Knots with the 12m Reo and could still plane and hold my ground. Just flatten the board, and swing the kite onto the plane then you get going on induced wind. If I was on my normal surfboard I would have been walking back up wind. The only other people still planning and going upwind that day were on foils.

If you put bigger fins in I think it might go even sooner but I’m happy with my setup in terms of early planning V maneuverability on the wave.

JR

Indeed the fins and fin boxes are an issue on the 2015 Cabrinha boards. The last Phenom we sold, 3 fins fit no problem and other 2 required some sanding. Its definitely the box, the plugs have needed sanding as well. Its not a huge deal but really they should just fit. Great review of the Secret Weapon JR.

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KB7 said..

DI33ta

I’ve been out in about 8 -12Knots with the 12m Reo and could still plane and hold my ground. Just flatten the board, and swing the kite onto the plane then you get going on induced wind. If I was on my normal surfboard I would have been walking back up wind. The only other people still planning and going upwind that day were on foils.

If you put bigger fins in I think it might go even sooner but I’m happy with my setup in terms of early planning V maneuverability on the wave.

JR

Cheers JR that's pretty much the range I'm looking for. I don't think the fin boxes will be too big a deal for me as I rarely change out fins. Thanks again for your inout.

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mazdon said..
So wide. Tried the amp?

And how is it holding up to punts? Would love to try one

Hey Mazdon,
My kids gave me an AMP last Xmas.

Its always my go to board expect down the line. Then I use my Converse.

Very light board.

I doesnt do anything great but I love the ride.

I really give it a hard time and to my surprise it hasn't got a dent or scratch on it.

Im having the same fin box issue

Just picked up a second hand 2015 Proto.. can't believe they could have had this type of problem!

Id read this so at least I didn't expect to run off to the beach with my new board.. you'd be pretty pissed if you were expecting to just go and use it without sanding glass fins for an hour :(

Has cabrihna gone back to proper fitting Future fin boxes???

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BrisKites said...

Dl33ta said..
Talked with one of the dealers about the Cab boards today, he thinks they have gone overboard on the reinforcement this year. Way too heavy to be of any use. Any other Nugget alternatives?

Riding one of these for almost a season -http://star-board-surf.com/product/ultra/

How's it holding up damage wise? Would be good to have a board that you can both kite and surf on in small waves that doesn't weigh 100kgs.

The holy grail

My old 2013 Skillet 5.6 is a bit lighter than my new 2015 5.7 Proto - am keen to see which I prefer on the water..