pedro,

the sb is not meant to be fast as others have said. however, you have a great kite on your hands for most all types of riding except wave riding. if you find you want to focus on waves, then a different kite might do the trick, but you are only 1 year into it, so might want to wait to see what style of riding you like best.

being a past windsurfer, trust me when i say you are way way ahead from a gear aspect with kites. you'll be able to do a lot more with 1 kite than with windsurf sails.

some kites to consider are:
Cabrinha Drifter
Slingshot Rally
Wainman Kites.

Hope this helps,

Bob
www.kiteridersllc.com

I have a crossbow which is slower than the switchblade. One thing that helps is to pump up the kite really hard.

Pump up, as in inflate the kite right? Cause I pump mine till I can barely bend the LE. Is that good?

Thanks Bob, I'm not looking to replace my quiver yet, I just thought I may have setup something wrong, and besides this is my impression only.

Yeah the SB are great, they've done right by me, until now, and again is my perception.

Yeah I know what you mean about the windsurf sail vs kite, I reduced my quiver by a quarter, I think, by switching to kitting (LOL).

I'm by no means an expert, but with my limited experience, it seems that my Ion3 was way quicker and boosted like crazy, which leads me to believe I may have made a mistake buying the SBs.

I just thought I'd ask, no disrespect to the SBs.

Depends what you mean by 'barely bend' guys here mostly use those electric pumps and fly floppy noodles cos they don't inflate enough or check it by manual pump afterwards.
I always prefer a tight kite so pump mine up until they won't bend under their own weight when on a wing tip... a good musical 'ping' when you flick the leading edge... so far so good.

For performance... check your lines are tuned (front vs rear) and your settings at the kite are correct... then if you don't like or can't adapt, you'll have to admit the SB isn't your cup of tea and try something else.

FWIW you're not the first person I know how said "Oh you have Crossbows huh? I have SB because that's what everybody here has too..." Personally, I don't the like the SB but - for me at my skill level now - like my XB's more than any other kite I've flown to date... except my Flysurfers

Pedro, I love my SB in the waves, but I notice that I do tend to loop it more than others. If the wind is light and/or slightly onshore then I struggle to go down the line without the kite trying to fly backwards. I think the SB is great for boosting too but have to admit I have not ridden many other kites.

Try to keep the lines tight. A lot of riders that aren't used to riding waves will follow the kite. Slack lines are fine if you leave the kite, but if you want it to turn it is not a good idea.

Pixelpedro,
Just reading some of your fine points in your posts, ie
- that you are a year into the sport
- weight 200lb,
- getting into waves,
- dont get to ride the 10m sb often,
- took the 10m SB out in waves in onshore waves from 25-35 knots,
- got yanked whenever you looped the kite.
- kite wasnt responding well to turns (wave riding)

I would say that there are probably several factors which could be contributing to your frustration about the SB not working the way you want in the waves.
As a new rider and new rider to waves, getting the kite timing down is very important for any discipline ie waves, freestyle etc. If you try and turn your SB when you are getting yanked towards your kite, there will be less steering response when attempting to turn your kite. Also if you get behind your kite, this also will make the kite feel very unresponsive.
- Getting to know your kites is very important as well. The more hours you put riding that kite ie 10m sb, the better you will understand how it works best.
- It could be possible that you just had a too big a kite out for that day. A 10m SB out in winds gusting to 35knots when wave riding even for a 200lb rider, is plenty of kite. Also being that you were yanked when you looped the kite also makes me think that too much kite was being used. If you are potentially overpowered and thus riding the kite too high then this would make turning more challenging, especially if you are getting pulled towards your kite. Potentially a smaller kite ie SB8m might have been a better choice for the condition you were out in.

The SB is an excellent kite which does work very well for so many riding styles, ie freestyle, wakestyle, speed, freeriide, bigair, and waves, which is why it is probably the most popular Cabrinha kite offered, however it may be the case that one of the other Cabrinha kites might be better suited to your riding style ie wave/freestyle/freeride. As many have noted the Cabrinha Drifter or even the Cabrinha Vector could be the better kite for you as you are wanting to spend more time in waves.

Here is a link to a rider using what appears to be a SB 2010 model in small waves and a bit of flat water freestyle.


Also a link with Drifters being used...

The switchblade can do wave but it never was meant to be a wave kite by any mean; it's main program is wakestyle.



The switchblade is a very popular kite; jumps really good, glide also very good, stable, relaunch easy , handle gusty wind, really powerful, etc... It also allows people to progress fast but no it isn't fast and it will never be as it was meant like that.
________________________________
If you like cabriha a want a wave kite than get the Drifter:



You say that you dont want to have too much quiver but if you really want to get into surfing you might want to get a surf kite so it will be really good at surfing but a little less in the other discipline.

Ozone Reo, RRD religion, BWS etc...

have fun

Thanks all ... wow, this forum rocks! I really appreciate everyone's opinion.

I went out today 16-18 kts, on my 12m SB, and I tried what some of you said about keeping the lines with tension, when I go down the face of a wave I had to keep the kite moving, and today I realized I was doing something someone mentioned to avoid, go in the direction of the kite causes slacked lines which sucks for turning, so instead I edge a bit and kept the kite moving, I even looped it once as I was going down the face, and didn't get yanked, I must admit, not as turnier as I'd wished, but definitely much better.

As a mentioned before, I think I may endup using my kites more for waves than anything else, so I'm anxiously waiting the arrival of my new toy (6'0" North Wam) and see how that goes, for now I'm sticking with the SB, not that I can afford to change my quiver anyways, so kinda have no choice, lol, but I do like the SB, I just wished it was quicker, and never noticed it till I needed the extra turning speed.

Thanks ya'll again for all your comments, they are GREATLY appreciated.