Hey Flying High,

The Ozone Zephyr is pretty damn awesome. Myself, and little John and anyone else who cared to ride the demo Zephyr's today at Pinnaroo had a great session. I think the rest of Perth had a bit of a shocker. We have ridden on the Zephyrs quite a lot this year, much more than I would have ever imagined. It's all about time on the water rather than sitting on the beach waiting for a few more knots.

We rode right through the day up until around 6.30pm despite light winds and the lack of white caps. I ride the Zephyr from around 8 knots on a race board or the Airush Sector 60 and can be well powered in these conditions. It is possible to ride in less wind than 8 knots, but you need a little 8 knot gust to get you planing, then it's all good to sail through the light bits.

I also have no problem holding onto the Zephyr in 22 knots on a race board and probably up to about 24-25 on a twin tip. It wouldn't be my choice to rig it for 20+ knots, but if it picks up, there's no need to panic, just trim it in a bit.

It really is an awesome kite! I'm sure you could get a ride on one at Kitepower in Syd.

The Light is finishing up this year and will be replaced by a new model sometime in January.

Cheers,

KH

Here's a few pics of 8-10 knot blasting, well powered! You may notice the absence of any decent whitecaps, you will see the odd wavelet cresting, but only small. You may also notice that this is the Indian Ocean and you are looking upwind where whitecaps show up most easily, not some offshore gimmick photo. Whitecaps start to form at 8 knots!

In these photo's I rode upwind faster than Mikey (Photog) could get upwind to the point for his vantage point in the dunes. Board is the North 2010 Race LTD and I weigh about 95 kilos with kitesurfing gear on.

Sasha said...
What size ?
Ta,alex.

The Zephyr comes in any size you like as long as it's 17m.

ozonekites.com/products/water-kites/zephyr

hi,

i have owned a few big kites. i had the contra 17m which was such a pig of a kite. i traded it for the T3 17m (many people don't know they made one this big). It's certainly better than the cab but still hard to fly in very light winds and getting upwind is a struggle.

Main problem is firstly that they are so slow to turn it is hard to keep the power in the kite. second issue is that due to size there is just so much more kite in the powerzone that the pull down wind is great and it's hard to make headway upwind - especially if the wind is light and you need to keep the kite moving.

I have virtually given up on 17m kites but if the Ozone solves these issues then maybe i might have a look.

Final question, what is it like to jump? i find it hard to handle for this because if you time things wrong you get into serious trobule - expecially if there is a little more wind.

kimpa said...

Final question, what is it like to jump? i find it hard to handle for this because if you time things wrong you get into serious trobule - expecially if there is a little more wind.

Hi Kimpa,

The Zephyr jumps pretty well actually, it responds really well for a big kite and jumps are usually around the 4-6m height but looooooong and floaaaaaaty. It's very easy to redirect.

You are right, most old big kites pull downwind pretty badly, but this kite goes upwind like all other Ozones (extremely well) that's why you can hang onto it easily when the wind picks up, you just boost bigger!

Throw out your old ideas on big kites, this one ain't the same.

KH

I've not tried the Zephyr but believe it's pretty good - for an LEI. But really, you can't beat a Flysurfer for light wind. I kited in about 10knots in some chop at Queens (Redcliffe, Qld) last week. There were 4 kiters having a pleasant cruise with some floaty jumps:
1 * 19m Flysurfer Speed 2 Silver Arrow;
1 * 19m Flysurfer Speed 2 standard cloth;
my 17m Flysurfer Speed 1.5 and a
Flysurfer 15m Speed 3.

There were a couple of LEIs pumped up on the beach. Though I stand to be corrected I think one of the LEIs was a Zephyr (someone who was there - Henry/Jon? - please correct me if I'm wrong).

I know Flysurfers scare lots of kiters. And we all know that a light wind board is probably more important than a light wind kite. But, if you're serious about wanting to kite while your mates are on the beach waiting for wind, you'd be mad not to consider a Flysurfer.

The EH Ovando flogs other pump ups hands down and you get to ride a smaller kite.
Other than that a large Flysurfer always does the trick.

The Zephyr is comparable as low end to a Speed 3 15m Normal.
I know as I tried both of them back to back...

I also had it back to back with a Light XC14m and it give you at least 3 knots more in low end.
When my friends was struggling to stay up wind by moving the kite I was fully power.
The kite turn pretty well and I have been using for wave riding in light wind no problem.
I double the number of session In the water since I got a Zephyr.
If you are over 90 kilos you really need to give this kite a go.
Bye Jankie

You can demo Flysurfer @ Kitepower Sydney

LUCAS123 said...

i flew a 12 mtr 2010 naish torch the otherday in 8-12 knts and was powered enough to unhook and pull some moves and it didnt turn slow for a big kite either, 14 or 16 mtr torch would be awsome light wind kites

Since when is a 12m a big kite??

felixk said...

Bigwavedave said...

LUCAS123 said...

i flew a 12 mtr 2010 naish torch the otherday in 8-12 knts and was powered enough to unhook and pull some moves and it didnt turn slow for a big kite either, 14 or 16 mtr torch would be awsome light wind kites

Since when is a 12m a big kite??

And since when is a torch a light wind kite?

ditto
14m torch needs at least 12-13 knots of Darwin's wind to start having fun for a 70kg rider on a 134cm Thorn

LUCAS123 said...

i flew a 12 mtr 2010 naish torch the otherday in 8-12 knts and was powered enough to unhook and pull some moves and it didnt turn slow for a big kite either, 14 or 16 mtr torch would be awsome light wind kites

It sounds logical, but it is not true. Just because a kite is bigger, it may not be a better light wind kite, and it may not necessarily fly upwind the same degree as her smaller sisters. Some of the larger kites that I demoed during the last few years needed considerable wind to move close to the edge of the wind window. The Ozone light 15 or 14 (?) m I tried last year was the most impressive for light wind. But the Flysurfers seem to be winning the light wind game on my local.

Flying High said...

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
I dont know too much about the foil kites other than what I have read on various forums, they sound exciting but there are not too many around where I kite. I also think it is difficult to find a demo in Sydney.
Again the EH Ovando looks great but the distributors are in Qld so a demo is difficult.
I will definitely demo the Ozone Kites in the new year if KP in Sydney have them available and make a decision then. The Zephyr sounds pretty good at this stage.
One last question, the replacement for the light is that going to be a entry level, light wind or surf orientated kite

Kitepower Sydney has demo Ozone Zephyr and Flysurfer 15M Speed3 and 12M Speed3 as well as Psycho4 10M, we also have demo light wind boards.

The new Light will be called the Catalyst, it will be an allrounder with an orientation to surf. The Zephyr is the go for light wind conditions if you want a poump up kite, it turns well and can be relaunched down to around 8-10 knots.

The Flysurfer Speed3 15M has approx the same power as the Zephyr, but has an easier upwind quality, and a better feeling top end. Both kites have huge wind range, I weigh 75kg and can hang on to either kite to over 20 knots on a TT, but would rig down by that time to something smaller if the wind was sustained 20 knots+.
Self launching and self landing on both kites is super easy.

I have a used 14M Light XC that I am selling, and I also have a demo 17M zephyr to clear too.

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

Zephyr...... the best light wind kite I have flown.

8 knot days aren't so bad now. 10 -12 knot days so much fun

The Zephyr has opened up so many more kiting opportunities for me now. :)

totally stoked!!

Dont think you can compare the 13 to the ozone 17....

Im about to order a flysurfer 19m speed 3 DE, I think this would be the best light wind kite, the ozone 17m sounds nice although you cant beat foils when it comes to light wind and they wont fall out the sky so easy.

I was out kiting here in Dubai and was on a 15m R&D and a door board 166cm /48cm (hired the gear) most other guys were on 12 to 15m kites, and everyone was walking about 150m after each 2-3min run out on the water.

The wind meter read 8-13kts. .

There was a speed 2 on the water and a speed 3, they were jumping and cutting hard up wind with regular sized twin tips - the guy on the speed 3 was even doing kiteloops.