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CABRINHA XCaliber Wood
Sizes Available: 133 x 40cm, 135 x 41cn, 138 x 42cm, 141 x 43cm
Sizes Tested: 138 x 42cm

Cabrinha Says:

The XCaliber Wood is designed for intermediate to advanced riders looking for a freestyle model that can perform in varied water conditions.

Nothing beats the feel of a natural wood core when it comes to a high performance dampened ride. The XCaliber Wood shares the same shape as its carbon counterpart but has a completely different ride, especially in less than perfect water conditions. The wood construction absorbs the chop like no other giving you a softer ride and the ability to edge when the going gets tough. Better edging leads to better pop. And in freestyle, pop is everything.

Visit for more info: www.cabrinhakites.com/collections/twin-tips/products/xcal-wood

Our Testers Say:

“Very smooth ride through chop, cuts through chop, very little spray, good load and pop. Comfortable pads once you take the time to properly adjust them.” // David Kirkup

“Beautiful board with comfortable bindings. Loose board but easy to carve, better in powered up conditions.” // Marko Bartscherer

“True freestyle board, felt stiff and skatey. Felt the edge breaking away sometimes and felt heavier in my carving turns. Great load and pop, liked the comfortable footpads. // Chris Myles

Meet Our Testers

Tkb Says:

This year we got the chance to test the wood and carbon constructions of the XCaliber back to back. Both feature the same rocker and bottom shape, which is a relatively high rocker board with square tips that are the telltale signs of a deck designed for freestyle performance. The first thing you notice is the significantly skatier tracking and stiffer flex pattern that requires greater load and release skills to unleash the board’s pop potential. The XCaliber has tons of bottom shaping, yet the fins and rail don’t offer as much traction, so upwind riding requires more effort and control into managing that rail and those fins to keep the board rocketing upwind but with that what you get is a more playful board for freestyle. Those squared tips give you a ton of boost from loading the tip and releasing it out of the water. The wood construction is a bit heavier than the carbon version and may offer just a bit more flex for load and pop. The wood flex is a bit softer in feel while the carbon XCaliber feels just a bit crisper. When you land you can feel the board flex around the landing compared to the carbon version which seemed to be a little stiffer. The XCaliber is definitely a board for more aggressive riders that know how to use the boxier outline and stiffer flex pattern to wring every inch of performance out of this type of freestyle board.This year Cabrinha has done a complete redesign on the H20 pad and strap combo and the result is a major upgrade in terms of functional tuning and comfort. The new footbed features a really nice rubbery feel with a wide footprint that offers different textures for the heel and under the arch. Your toes rest on a nice rounded toe bump which combined with the pad gives you a solid lock on the board, yet not so grippy that you don’t feel like you can’t eject in a bad wipeout. The pads come with three different density inserts that allow you to choose plushness of the pad on install. We went with a softer plushness because we like that cushy feeling. The overall setup is fairly low profile and sits flush to the board, and the footbed does have some solid cupped contours that keep your foot centered in the right spot, although the center portion doesn’t feature a ton of arch built into this pad. The straps that go with this system feature a complete redesign for this year with a nice soft foam and terry cloth underside with a quad adjustment system that uses Velcro to dial in the exact fit. The H20 strap has a unique adjustment option that is not apparent from just looking at the strap, and this confused a few of our testers. There is a 360 compression strap adjustment that needs to be made upon install of the pad to the deck ”” this gives the H20 an incredibly wide spectrum of adjustment, meeting the needs of every size foot ”” just beware that you need to set the compression strap (its a Velcro overlap under the pad) with the pads off the board. If the quad adjusters control the top of the pad, the compression strap controls the under surface of the strap, and when set properly this setup earned the highest praise from the testers. Each quad adjuster has forward and aft attachment settings allowing complete adjustment of the straps position over the footbed. With this type of adjustment you can control the shape of these straps to get the fit you are looking for. Testers found the straps fairly wide and all-encompassing, spreading the load across the entire length of your foot. Easy to install and tweak, the new H20 design offers a ton of adjustment and unparalleled comfort ”” it’s safe to say that the H20 is one small step forward for Cabrinha and one giant leap for twin tip pad and strap design.


With the help of 14 testers from all walks of kiteboarding, Tkb’s staff assembled detailed gear reviews with objective performance criteria of the latest 2019 kites, twin tips and foilboards all packed into one neat and tidy 180-page digital package. Get all the reviews in convenient digital guide here: https://www.thekiteboarder.com/product/2019-freeride-gear-review-guide/