CABRINHA AND THE OLYMPICS

I am personally very excited to see that Kiteboarding has been accepted into the Olympics by ISAF.
This decision will open many new doors for our sport and we expect it to increase
the potential active participants internationally.
This is a great milestone in history of our sport.

This decision by ISAF is bittersweet; many of us believe there were many other sailing classes
that could have been dropped instead of windsurfing.  
RSX windsurfing is a dynamic and exciting sport, with strong base of young aspiring sailors,
especially in developing counties that have invested so heavily.  
The windsurfing culture has been built up over the years and
we hope this decision does not dampen any spirits.

I firmly believe it is time for the Kiteboarding and the
Windsurfing classes to be separated within ISAF.  
They are clearly two separate sports. If this were to happen,
the potential to push for the separate sports inclusion in the Olympics would be far higher.  
The current “one-or-the-other” philosophy is not going to
encourage a growth in exciting new sailing sports.

Although very exciting, we also need to be careful what we wish for.  
We have a massive challenge on our hands, with only four very short years to
accomplish a multitude of hurdles facing our sport.  
We need to address such issues as; international security standards, course rules,
the logistics of launching and landing at predominantly sailing locations,
box-class verses one-design class,
light wind performance, water rescue, the list goes on.

I am certain we all look forward to the challenge;
I just hope we can collectively acknowledge we have a long way to go.

As the holders of the current World Speed Sailing record,
we are extremely excited, because we know how to make fast kites!

Rest assured, the Cabrinha kite development team is running full speed ahead.  
We plan to build upon our heritage of producing race winning, high performance,
thoroughbred kites.
We stay committed to supporting our team of national and international racers.  
We are serious about winning.


Best Regards,

Michael Raper
CABRINHA BRAND MANAGER