“At the end of the day, we don’t make hospital equipment. We make surf equipment, and surf equipment that you can use in any part of the world. So it’s really cool, and it’s cool for me to make something that is just made for the sole purpose of letting people have fun. That’s one of the biggest joys for me in this business.”
Overview
Peter Cabrinha (popularly known as Pete Cabrinha), born September 13, 1961, on Oahu, Hawaii, is an American professional waterman, big wave surfer, artist, and the founder of the global kitesurfing brand Cabrinha. Based in Maui, Hawaii, he is a living legend recognized for achieving both pioneer and master status in three cutting-edge ocean sports: windsurfing, tow-in surfing, and kiteboarding. He is also an early pioneer of hydrofoiling and wingfoiling, remaining at the forefront of watersports evolution for over four decades.
Career
Growing up near the beaches of Hawaii, Cabrinha moved right by the ocean at age six and spent his youth surfing every day before and after school. Around 1976, at age 15, he learned to windsurf because he lived on a windy side of the island where the surf quality was often poor, quickly becoming obsessed with the sport. Embracing a “do-it-yourself” attitude in high school, he built a shaping room on the side of his house and began shaping his own windsurf boards. As the professional windsurfing tour emerged right as he graduated from high school, he competed alongside peers like Robby Naish for about a decade. Excelling as a pioneer of wave sailing—performing aerials and loops off wave faces—he won the WSMA World Tour Wave Performance World Championship in 1985.
In 1993, on Maui’s North Shore, Cabrinha joined forces with a creative group of fellow athletes—including Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Brett Lickle, Mike Waltze, Mark Angulo, Rush Randle, Buzzy Kerbox, and Derrick Doerner—collectively known as the “Strapped Crew.” Using footstrapped boards and personal watercraft (PWC) to tow into massive waves impossible to catch by paddling, they pioneered tow-in surfing and revolutionized big wave riding. Cabrinha was also present on the very first day Brett Lickle brought an Air Chair (a sit-down hydrofoil water ski) to tow behind a jet ski, participating in the early experiments that adapted hydrofoils to surfboards and laid the foundation for modern foilboarding.
In the late 1990s, during a wave sailing trip to Punta San Carlos in Baja California, Mexico, with Sierra Emory and friends, Cabrinha witnessed early two-line production Wipika kites in action. Seeing how effortlessly the kites hopped over the waves in conditions where windsurfers struggled to get through the break, he was immediately sold on the sport’s efficiency. That winter, Robby Naish had given Laird Hamilton an early four-line 9-meter Naish AR5 kite to try. Because the kite was too small for Laird Hamilton’s frame, it was passed along through mutual friend John Murray to Peter Cabrinha. The following spring, Cabrinha taught himself to kitesurf on that hand-me-down kite, launching downwinders from Ho’okipa on Maui and riding surfboards with a kite. During the off-season, he traveled with the Strapped Crew to Namotu Island in Fiji, where they introduced surfers like Ben Wilson to kitesurfing and helped spread the sport globally.
Reaching the pinnacle of big wave surfing as well, Cabrinha rode a monumental 70-foot (21.3-meter) wave at Jaws (Peʻahi), Maui, on January 10, 2004. This ride earned him the 2004 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Award for Biggest Wave and a Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed at the time. Additionally, he trained extensively in PWC rescue and became a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), leading the rescue team for the Big Wave Tour and making vital contributions to ocean safety.
Sponsors and Brands
After riding for and working in graphic design and marketing at Gaastra and Naish during his windsurfing years, Cabrinha began building kiteboards in a small workshop in Haiku, Maui, in 1999 during kiteboarding’s infancy. In 2000, he partnered with Neil Pryde and the Pryde Group to establish his eponymous brand, Cabrinha.
Keeping research, development (R&D), and marketing rooted in his home of Maui from day one, he worked alongside renowned designers such as Pat Goodman to bring numerous innovations to market. Most notably, in 2005, Cabrinha licensed Bruno Legaignoux’s bow kite patent to release the world’s first bow kites, the Crossbow and the Switchblade. Offering unprecedented depower capability and effortless water relaunch, these kites became historic game changers that dramatically improved safety and brought kiteboarding to the masses. Following the 2020 acquisition and brand consolidation in partnership with Waterbound Investments, he continued to serve as the face and creative pillar of the brand for a quarter-century.
Personality and Relationships
Waking up every morning on Maui between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. to the sound of roosters before heading to the ocean, Cabrinha maintains a dedicated waterman lifestyle. Known for his open-minded curiosity toward new ways of playing in the ocean and his calm, engaging cadence, he is deeply respected by watermen around the globe. Beyond his decades-long brotherhood with Maui’s Strapped Crew—Laird Hamilton, Dave Kalama, Robby Naish, and Brett Lickle—he shares close bonds forged in Hawaiian waters with Cabrinha team riders such as Moona Whyte, Reo Stevens, and Jesse Richman. Furthermore, four-time world champion Keahi de Aboitiz is his relative on his mother’s side (third cousin), and Cabrinha warmly supported him when he was young by giving him kites without ever pressuring him into the sport.
Influenced by his mother, who was an artist, Cabrinha has also pursued a career as a mixed-media artist for over 30 years, blending photography, graphic design, and painting. His cultural footprint extends well beyond sports, including an appearance in the 1998 Hollywood film “In God’s Hands” and being named one of TIME magazine’s “Top 100 Innovators” in 2001. In his personal life, he lives on Maui with his wife, former windsurfer and fashion designer Lisa Letarte Cabrinha, and their daughter, Tahiti Cabrinha.
Quotes and Episodes
Reflecting on the DIY spirit he cultivated in high school during the 1970s, he shared on the Kitesurf365 podcast: “There’s kind of this sort of do-it-yourself attitude. And that started for me kind of a long, long time ago. For example, like when I was in high school, I was into windsurfing. And then we’re talking back in the 70s here. And I needed boards. And so I set up a shaping room on the side of my house.” This drive to build whatever gear did not yet exist became the foundation for launching his own brand.
Recalling the industry’s reaction when he introduced the original bow kites in 2005, he noted: “I really felt it in my gut, that that was going to be a real game changer. But it was really surprising how divided everyone was at the time.”
On his philosophy regarding equipment design and lifestyle, he stated: “I feel like we’re a very technical brand. I mean, we spend the lion’s share of our time in development and R&D and, you know, putting these very technical products through production. But at the same time, I feel like it’s not about that as much as it’s about the sport and the lifestyle itself… I want people to buy them for what they can do for them, as opposed to what they have in them. So how it makes them feel and where they take them.”
Competition Results and Honors
– 1985 WSMA World Tour (Wave Performance): World Champion
– 2001 TIME Magazine: Named among the “Top 100 Innovators”
– 2004 Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards: Biggest Wave Award Winner (70-foot wave at Jaws, Maui / Guinness World Record)
– 2021 Windsurfing Hall of Fame: Inductee
Search Aliases: Pete Cabrinha, PeteCabrinha