Ozone_zephyr_17m_2010_review

 The Ozone Zephyr 17m Lightwind Kitesurfing Kite 2010

The Ozone Zephyr is a light wind and race specific kite from Ozone Kiteboarding. The kite is new for the 2010 season and our demo rocked up a couple of weeks ago.

From getting this kite out of the bag you see the quality Ozone pride themselves with. The kite comes in an Ozone branded stuff sack which is inside a decent lightweight rucksack with compression straps. In the bag you will also find a repair pack, stickers, instructions a safety leash and bar pocket to stop the kite getting wet and sandy after a session.



Besides the fact the kite is 17m it is fast and easy to set up, There is no options on the lines so its a case of larks heading the lines onto the kite. All adjustment for back line tension and trimming is done on the bar. This feature also means you can adjust the back line tension on the fly out on the water or if your passing the kite around to different riders.

On the first day of flying the kite it was being used on the landboard in light winds. The kite has a firm bar pressure which builds as the wind picks up, Once the kite is flying it generates power quite quickly through apparent wind which helps it in the lower end of its wind range. The kite remains stable at all times where ever you put it in the window.

Relaunching the kite varies a lot between wind speeds, the more wind the easier. Relaunch is not instant like some of the newer kites on the market but this is mainly due to the size. When the kite is leading edge down on the water pulling one of the outside steering lines will slide the kite to the edge of the window, maintaining tension on the line the kite will eventually flip around and re-launch.

 

Ozone state the windrange as 6-20knts for this kite, at 11 1/2 stone and on a 128cm/38cm board I was staying upwind in around 10knts, I would not take this kite out in lower than 8-9knts, even with a door as the kite is still relatively heavy in the sky. I was also flying a Flysurfer Speed 3 15m Deluxe back to back on the same day which has a few knts lower end than the Zephyr, The speed however is £575 more complete!

This kite really seems to come to life in around 15knts, in these conditions the kite will easily park and ride, the turning speed becomes faster, more direct and the kite is overall more of a pleasure to fly. The kite turns faster than expected for a 17m and is still usable for popping over waves and carving with a downloop. Impressively the kite will also downloop out of jumps high up in the window without a massive amount of downwind pull whilst in the air. The kite does not generate a huge amount of pop so jumps will never be ground breakingly high off flat water but there is plenty of float for pulling off some old school moves or rotations.

During one session I took the kite out in around 20knts, Other other kiters heavier than myself where flying 9.5m and 11.5m Best Kahoonas, a 12m Vegas 09 and an 08 9m Fuel. Even in this wind speed the kite remains solid and manageable in wavey conditions, The kite rockets upwind and you can literally glide off the wave faces. The kites speed through the window really accelerates in higher winds yet edging hard upwind against the power with the kite low kills off a lot of the power smoothly and quickly.

In lower winds the kite also unhooks well off the bar without any adjustment (depending on how it is set up) because it is such a power house it is great fun for popping raileys and other low kite tricks from without any chance of accidentally moving it or redirecting it by mistake, common error whilst unhooking on 7's and 9's!   

• Overall Ozone have manufactured a very solid and stable contender for light-moderate winds or heavier riders and managed to keep the price compareable to other kites on the market. It doesnt have quite the same amount of low end or hangtime as some of the larger depower foils on the market but this can be justafied with the price differences. It is safe to say we are keeping our Zephyr on Demo so give us a shout to see where we are riding next!
  

Video Below: A couple of shots of the detail and quality put into the Zepyhr, shot on a very low wind day where we couldn't get it in the sky!