Cabrinha’s Dave Hastilow Shares What He's Stoked About for 2023

Aaron: Well Dave, thank you for taking the time. Tell us about yourself and your role with Cabrinha. Give us a brief introduction.

Dave: I'm Dave Hastilow, brand manager at Cabrinha. I've been with Cabrinha in some form probably from the beginning, over 20 years. I'm based in Maui, and I oversee everything visual: what the brand is, the brand itself, and the direction. That comes from myself and the guys.

Aaron: We're here in Cancun for dealer week and the 03 Cabrinha release. I have been asking and talking to some of the members of your team and staff about what's their favorite thing. Obviously, you guys have a lot to be hyped about right now... forward momentum, design progression and everything, but in your quiver, what are you most fired up about? Is it a kite, a board, a harness... whatever it is, what's your very favorite thing in the 03 release?

Dave: I live in a place where we've got pretty good waves so I gave up freestyling a long time ago, so for me it's the Drifter. That is the go-to for me. I think it's where I live; we've got the conditions for it, and it's an absolutely amazing kite and I only ride a surfboard, although I've started to ride a twintip. I got one with a Nitro, and that kite kind of sparked a little thing for me again and it got me back on a twintip. So I've got a Nitro and a twintip, but the Drifter is the go-to.

Aaron: What size quiver do you run?

Dave: It's kind of a tricky one. You either need a 6-8 or 7-9, but normally 7-9 is my two-kite quiver for Maui, and that covers you for nearly all the conditions you get over there. That and a surfboard.

Aaron: What's your favorite surfboard? I am tracking with you 100 percent. I am in that same lane. I will definitely tool up a quiver of Drifters and a Flare 5'4" for everyday drivers, and then a Phantom 5'6" for head-high and up.

Dave: The good thing is, if you come to Maui, you can use my quiver. I ride exactly the same as that. If it's full-on waves, anything above head-high, it is a Phantom. The 5'6" is pretty darn good for that. Smaller than that, I like the Flare. I ride the smaller one though, the 5'1".

Aaron: Cool. I think I was 185 lbs. before I got here this week, but I've eaten a lot of seafood so I might be pushing 190 right now, 86kg maybe. So the 5'1" and maybe just a little more power.

Dave: I'm super lucky working for the brand and I've got the opportunity to have quite a bit of stuff, so for me it would be a quiver of Drifters, and then the 5'6" Phantom if it's a proper wave day. On that I like the thruster setup. I'm a thruster guy. The quad is really amazing and it holds a line, but for me the thruster is a little bit better. It's the kind of feeling that I want. And then anything smaller than overhead is the small Flare for me. I like to try to do freestyle a lot, and I've always liked a really small board for that because I feel like I want my feet to be pretty spread out on it.

Aaron: Maybe put some punt wax on there?

Dave: A little bit in the past, yes. It's pretty good stuff, but it just gets freaking everywhere. I've got hairy legs, and if I use punt wax it clumps up and it takes a while to get off. But yeah, I always like the smaller board. Even beforehand I used to ride the small Spade and things like that, but the Flare is pretty special. We try all the boards, but that one just put an instant smile on my face when I rode it because it's a fun, freestyle, fishy-feeling board.

Aaron: When I was talking with Todd we talked about the Nitro, but then he also wanted to comment that personally, he loves this surfboard line, and I do too. I'm definitely in that channel as well, because if I had to pick one thing, it'd be a Drifter 9 and probably a Flare 5'4" when it's chest to head high, and I like a quad for the upwind drive. In our conditions, our wind and swell are always going the same way. Occasionally you experience something different, but it's almost always going the same way. We get adequate conditions in terms of swell size, but in close intervals. I get excited if I see an eight-second interval, like "Whoa, that's massive!" but I love a quad for the upwind. I feel like we're fighting some current; we have a lot of jetties that are actually concrete piers, and so they create a point break so you can hide and stay out of the current. You can head upwind around it, but I still like the quad for upwind ability because I love to run that triangle. I'll rip back upwind, cut over again and down, and I know that I can get back to where I started from. It's most noticeably different when I'm heading out with buddies who ride a Drifter and a thruster; I can upwind them, and it's a noticeable difference. It's not game-changing radical, but it's noticeable enough that if we're on a half-mile tack, I am noticeably upwind of that person in the same distance, and so I appreciate that. Going down the line, I just know to make sure that back foot is at the kick tail, all the way in the back, so that when you rip around you can blow it loose. I was so excited to see the five-fin box. Now, granted, I'm going to swap out the fins and keep those on standby, but I love that you guys did that. It's a price point thing, too. You're saving $80-120 on a fin option, and you've got a good, usable set that'll get you out the door and on the water to get started with if you are a beginner. If you are not a beginner, you're probably going to want to punt those and upgrade, but that's up to you to customize, and I love the way that you guys did that.

Dave: Yeah, if you're a guy who knows his stuff, then you're probably going to change your fins over. It's a super personal thing, but the five boxes was good. I still haven't fully decided what I want on the Flare. On the Phantom I know, because on that kind of board the thruster definitely is going to be the one, but on the Flare I still don't fully know if I'm going to ride three or four, or two and a trailer. That's what I'm going to try when I get back. I was thinking two and one of the little mini trailer fins, just to see how it feels. We've got a square-nosed board, the Method, but I've never personally got on with those. Maybe I'm just too lazy, but on those boards you have to move your feet depending whether you're freestyling or wave riding, so I've always liked a more traditional-shaped board like the Flare for freestyle. A traditional surfboard nose, for me, helps with Oles and Spinouts and stuff, whereas the square one, I find, wants to track in a direction, but then you've got guys like Lorenzo, and that's his go-to freestyle board. I think that's the cool thing; it just depends on what you're going to do.

Aaron: How about the sizing of your Drifter quiver? Historically, if I wanted the power of a 9m, let's say, I would have always jumped to a 10. Is that still accurate?

Dave: This one is a new kite and it's pretty light in the bar, so you don't have that force, but I'd say the power is pretty much the same as where it was before. It's kind of hard for me to say because where I live, I override a 7 or a 9, so it's hard to really say where the full power is. But the Switchblade is a machine. That thing pulls like a beast.

Aaron: On the sizing, I feel like I would gravitate toward the 7 and 9, too. Some of our guys also run a 5 for hurricane winds, and it's like, "Wow, you're never gonna get lit on that," but it's a really fun kite, and nice to have.

Dave: It is, yeah, but I don't get to use it a lot because, to be honest, I actually like to be a little bit more powered up kiting, especially if it's in Hawaii. I don't want to be under; I want to be a little bit over, and the thing with that kite is it's so quick. I also ride a big bar. That's the funny thing; I ride the smaller kites and the biggest bar we make. So I ride the medium-large bar, and I have it on the wider setting because I'm not freestyling. That's something which a lot of people don't do, but for me, if I'm riding a 7m on the wide setting, I can loop my way out of a lot of issues, which is kind of nice.

Aaron: I tend to ride powered, too. I understand the two different schools of thought: you might have a small kite and bigger board, or a bigger kite and smaller board. I think I naturally like more power, too. I'll come in hard heelside out in front of it, burn to toeside as hard as I can, and just try to go vertical, and I mash it as many times as possible, but I know there are also a lot of people who will finesse it and stay closer in the pocket down the line. I do love to come out and come back in with it.

Dave: That feeling is pretty amazing. We're super blessed where we live because it's sideshore, so we get a lot of sessions in. You crank that first one pretty hard, and then you hit it and the good thing is we can just park it and ride at it. I definitely try to ride a little bit overpowered, and sometimes I'll even over-sheet my bar just a touch because I think you can get away with that on a surfboard.

Aaron: Well Dave, dude, thank you so much for your insight and your time. I know you guys are busy. Your 03 release looks absolutely amazing. For those of you out there with questions about anything in the 03 Cabrinha lineup, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We're always happy to help. I am fired up as well, and I can't wait to get on a set of Drifters when I get home. I'm gonna be ordering up a Flare 5'4" and Phantom 5'6". I'm excited about the new bar and the simplicity of things. I'm feeling it, man.

Dave: The good thing is if you come to Maui, you can use my equipment, and if I come to you I can use your equipment because we're pretty much exactly the same in what we ride.

Aaron: Well, I doubt you'll be coming to Michigan, but if you do, the offer stands.

Dave: You never know; I've seen pictures of waves in Michigan.

Aaron: Well, we have 300 miles of potential fetch, so if you have a north swell, by the time it hits the southern end of the lake that can be a quite a measurable size difference, and same thing going from south to north. We are typically side-on as well.

Dave: That's pretty fun for light jumps. We've got one spot in Maui where it's onshore, and when it's blasting on the regular spot, you go here. I'm sure in side-onshore the jumping is so much fun.

Aaron: I haven't tried that at all, and I feel like I should. There's no reason not to.

Dave: You know what? You're just gonna have to come over and give it a go. Use my quiver.

Aaron: Dave, thank you again for joining us. Thank you for the great advice. It's been an amazing week. See you guys on the water.

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