Cobra Surfboard Factory

[Giovanni Sealy]

In1987, COBRA started offering OEM, serving the worldwide market for composite watersports equipment, and by 1999 had become the leading manufacturer of windsurf boards with over 50% world market share. During this time, COBRA also expanded its product range to incorporate the significant surfboard and rapidly growing kiteboard markets with the aim of expanding its product line.

In 2005, COBRA entered into the Marine manufacturing business via a joint venture. In 2006, on receiving an initial order from a top-class German Automotive brand, COBRA entered a completely new market as a manufacturer of carbon parts for premium cars. Cobra Advanced Composites was established the same year.

At CAC, sophisticated technologies are combined with the famous craftsmanship of the proud and respectively gifted people of Thailand. Being part of the Cobra Group, our experience in the composite industry and excellent supplier relationships enable us to provide the best possible service for our international customers.

CAC is currently operating in a 11,500 m2 purpose-built factory with over 400 dedicated employees. The company is also ISO 9001:2008 and IATF 16949:2016 certified. Today, it supplies to many world-class premium automotive customers in Germany, Italy, Austria, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Livin in Europe i ve always thought and believed in the superior quality of hawaian,usa, and aussie surfboards brands. So when i decide to buy a new surfboards i e mailed Vampirate surfboards to buy one of their "magic boards". Shipment cost was too expensive ..so the owner of vampirate linked me first to "surfboardsagency" and They cc me to Aloha surfshop in Netherlands. I bought too fast for satan model . As the board arrived i was totally pissed of when i saw on tthe board the sticker designed in australia crafted in thailand.

payed total 1000 aussie dollars.openin the box the board looks completely different from all the pics on all the websites...no bright colours.. bad finish.No way.

wrote back to dan at vampirate. in italy we say "cclimbing a mirror ". Still sayin to me if the board rides good ..but is not the point. So ..when u sell something u ve got to tell where its made first and by who...because "shaped by the dirty hands of Gnech" is false..fake. my board was made by an AKu 3000 cnc tech machine and finished by a thai worker. For 685 euros. Proudly thai made . And the ridiculous fact is that they often post on instagram pics of shapin room and hand made boards. GuiltY. They still continue to reply sayin " Cobra factory use best tech and materials and bla bla .." Noo way. Cobra : vampirate, lsd , Simon Anderson , webber , aloha ( for euro / worldwide market ) . Cheers

The WIndtech brand is also made at the Kinetic factory in Vietnam and the attention to detail and quality has been outstanding on both light construction slalom / fast freeride boards and wave board layups.

I don't think we have seen a single quality issue in Australia.

So hats off to Kinetic and their materials / attention to detail.

Select to expand quoteOldGuy3 said..

col5555 said..

Does Kinetic hand lay up ?

Cobra uses some kind of resin infusion inside a concrete mould don't they

Proper vacuum resin infusion in a solid design should deliver a higher strength to weight product. Less voids with less resin and less waste.

No production sailboards, that I know of, use resin infusion. Polystyrene is too weak to take the pressure and is like a jar of marbles, it would fill up with resin. All boards will all be done using hand layup in a mould - either compression (Severne) or under vacuum (Cobra).

Only exception to this is Patrik with Airinside tech, which I believe is prepreg moulded in an autoclave.

Resin infusion needs relatively high pressure and all voids are filled, not always the easiest to get right, and certainly not necessarily the best way to get light weight. I have made a few surfboards with resin infusion, but you always end up with a lot more resin consumption than you would with hand layup. I guess the saturation of the fibre is better. But for sailboards this tech would crush the polystyrene blank.

Patrick International posted a video series on their YouTube channel a while back giving a behind the scenes look at their board manufacturing suppliers in the Ukraine. Don't know if they still make their boards there or if only the air inside boards are build there.

Select to expand quotekateontour said..

and how do brands get away with Made in Aus when they're from Cobra - eg JS Hyfi (surfboards)?

Don't know about surfboards but I don't know of any brand here in Australia in the windsurf segment that claims any of their gear is build here unless it actually is. I would say in the surfboard segment brands get away with it because the market is simply a lot bigger and customers are not scrutinising quality as much because the boards are a lot less expensive. I mean most surfers expect their board to be a two piece if they get a heavy wipe out. Some of the carnage I have seen at places like Margaret River or Gnaraloo in big surf makes you wonder how anything survives.

Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..

^^^ Are u finding the JS all crease badly just behind your front foot? I've done a lot of them. Shame when aussie built becomes just another GSI clone.

I've never creased a board and did the nose of my Hyfi Nitro within a month - about 10 inches from the tip! And the repair guy decided to spray the crease with a thick black line, So now I have a cross under my nose when I'm paddling.

So are Naish made at Cobra?

Select to expand quotekateontour said..

Mark _australia said..

^^^ Are u finding the JS all crease badly just behind your front foot? I've done a lot of them. Shame when aussie built becomes just another GSI clone.

I've never creased a board and did the nose of my Hyfi Nitro within a month - about 10 inches from the tip! And the repair guy decided to spray the crease with a thick black line, So now I have a cross under my nose when I'm paddling.

So are Naish made at Cobra?

Naish WIndsurfing boards are made at Cobra - not sure about SUP, kite etc...

Select to expand quotephiln said..

The only comment I'll add is that my Quatro boards have been above average strength compared to other brands I've owned.

You'd hope so... last I checked they now retail for $4,299 here in Australia or around Euro 2,600. That's a lot of money when you consider how quickly they drop in price. Try and sell a 3 year old production board. You are lucky to get $800 here in Australia.

I'm getting ready to order a new board and I'm looking at a Goya Airbolt which I believe is a Cobra build. The other option is a Tabou Magic Ride. I believe that one to be Kinetic. Now, here's the thing, it appears the Goyas are, at least in material and design choice, top of the line Cobra spec... Hopefully the build quality matches that. Then, Tabou, doesn't really have a whole lot of representation here in the states... but they appear to be quality builds from all I've ready. With Goya though, I can easily phone them on Maui and get support. With Tabou, the distributor in Florida seems to be really good... even though they don'y focus on Tabou and mostly sell other brands.

Select to expand quoteeluviis said..

I'm getting ready to order a new board and I'm looking at a Goya Airbolt which I believe is a Cobra build. The other option is a Tabou Magic Ride. I believe that one to be Kinetic. Now, here's the thing, it appears the Goyas are, at least in material and design choice, top of the line Cobra spec... Hopefully the build quality matches that. Then, Tabou, doesn't really have a whole lot of representation here in the states... but they appear to be quality builds from all I've ready. With Goya though, I can easily phone them on Maui and get support. With Tabou, the distributor in Florida seems to be really good... even though they don'y focus on Tabou and mostly sell other brands.

My first Goya Bolt 135 from 2019 looked good, but on closer examination I noticed lots of pin holes on the rail edges around the tail cutouts, and the material around those pin holes flexed under thumb nail pressure. Contacted BigWinds and they arranged for the return, while Goya sent me a replacement that was perfect. That board has taken many impacts from the mast (put on a custom nose guard right away after the first minor mast nose ding, barely noticed it) and the foil box has handled many impacts and is still solid. My only complaint is the concave deck, but a 3/4" mast base shim eliminated that problem.

Select to expand quoteeluviis said..

I'm getting ready to order a new board and I'm looking at a Goya Airbolt which I believe is a Cobra build. The other option is a Tabou Magic Ride. I believe that one to be Kinetic. Now, here's the thing, it appears the Goyas are, at least in material and design choice, top of the line Cobra spec... Hopefully the build quality matches that. Then, Tabou, doesn't really have a whole lot of representation here in the states... but they appear to be quality builds from all I've ready. With Goya though, I can easily phone them on Maui and get support. With Tabou, the distributor in Florida seems to be really good... even though they don'y focus on Tabou and mostly sell other brands.

Taboo are made at Cobra as far as I know. What is your source showing they are made at Kinetic ?

You can ask me...

I do support work for Tabou/GA (teamrider) and i can tell you that our boards are from Cobra.

At Cobra you can choose from different materials and lay up's and in our case Fabien says which ones he wants them to use. So every brand that let Cobra produce there boards can mix materials and lay up's to there preferance, thats why some Cobra produced brands are a bit stronger or lighter then other Cobra produced brands.

It's no rocket science though because Cobra helps with there know how etc etc

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