Cabrinha AER 2025
Reviews / Wings
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At A Glance
The AER is an all-new wing from Cabrinha that goes against the flow of the current design brief in the industry. It’s a project wing that started out shedding weight to see what was possible and then surprised the team with just how versatile it was. Gone are the booms and hard handles, and making a comeback are some premium ultra-lightweight semi-rigid handles.
Instead of expensive fabrics to reduce weight, the team have just stripped the wing back to the essentials while using High Tenacity Dacron for the leading edge and strut. The AER also features Cabrinha’s featherlite bladders, which drop much of the overall weight. The result is a wing that weighs next to nothing but isn’t going to cost the earth. A welcome direction considering the current trend of ever-rising prices in the industry.
In terms of the shape, it’s a medium aspect wing with a forward draft to generate power. There is a high dihedral angle to increase stability when heading upwind and during free flying. A convex Strut helps maintain the frame stiffness, and there is a lightweight trailing edge support to reduce flutter.
In The Air
Who’s it for? Well, primarily it’s been designed for riders looking to go on upwind downwind missions, the AER packs down really small and is perfect for this discipline. However, it is also great for kids, being so light and easy to handle. It’s not a toy, though; the performance is surprisingly good, especially if you are riding waves.
The moment you pick the AER up, you'll notice the reduced weight and this makes handling a dream, from throwing overhead during tacks and gybes to flying down the line in the waves the wing is incredibly stable, the balance feels spot on and the reduced weight just makes it feel like you arne’t being held back or fighting the wing in any way whatever you are trying to do.
I’ve been on a bit of an upwind, downwind mission of late, and the AER is my go-to wing for this. The 3m has lots of power, and it’s easy to pump and get my DW board going early. It’s a stable wing for long upwind runs and works well with a harness, being so balanced. When it’s time to pack down, the double inflation system makes it easy to drop the strut first and then the leading edge. Packing it down is a dream with the semi-rigid handles not hindering you.
I appreciate this is a niche area of our niche sport, but I do urge you to give it a go if you are downwind curious. We don’t have the advantage of long open beaches here, and there aren’t many of the locals on that journey, so it allows you to be totally self-sufficient and not need a shuttle. It’s also a lot of fun and the AER is a dream come true for this job.
It’s more than that, though; it's rapidly becoming one of my favourite wings when it’s really windy and the waves are pumping. It handles the gusts well, and the handling on the wave is sublime. It’s amazing how good the semi-rigid handles are. I appreciate that the handles will be a big deciding factor for a lot of riders, with some point blank refusing to use anything but a hard handle, but I think you’ll be surprised.
Overall
Lightweight, simple and great fun to fly, impeccable handling on the wave and perfect for pack downs and kids, if you want a wing that offers excellent performance but won’t break the bank and you want your own ride for downwinders, then this is it…
Videos
For more information visit Cabrinha
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By Rou Chater
Rou Chater has been kitesurfing for over twenty years, paddleboarding for the last six years, and was there testing the first wingsurfer from Naish in Tarifa when it arrived on the continent. He is passionate about riding waves and exploring new places. As the publishing editor, he oversees everything at Tonic but also our sister magazines IKSURFMAG and IMB. He's been on the water since he was born and has never looked back, in the winter you'll find him chasing swells in the Caribbean and during the summer he can be found all over Europe at various SUP, Kitesurf and Mountain Bike events getting features for the magazines.
