Kite: Ozone Alpha 10m (brand spanking new) Conditions: 15 to 25 knot gusty and shifting crosshore wind Rider: 15+ years experience
Testing Conditions: At the recent Merimbula Classic (aka Mambo) I had a chance to fly the Alpha 10m for about 3 hours (thanks Steve). The waves on Sunday were over 6 foot with variable direction and strength wind on a busy beach full of attention seeking Kiters. The sort of testing track that forces you to put a kite through it's paces.
First Impressions: This is the first Ozone I've had a close look at. The bag is very lightweight which would suit travel or quick storage. It's nothing like the industry standard backpack where you have a pocket for everything. If you do need a more conventional bag, you can buy a generic Ozone kite backpack separately. Handling the crisp fabric, it felt top quality, with solid shiny printing of the graphics. Once unrolled, the panel stitching follows unusual arcs toward the wingtips, presumably for load distribution and canopy profile. Other standouts were the diameter of the leading edge bladder which was pretty chunky (for rigidity) and the bridle connection points extended far further towards the rear line pigtails than previous kites I've owned. I'm sure that designing a single strut kite in a bigger size is a real challenge for designers and there appeared to be a number of subtle features which are targeted at overcoming this. One final contrast was the attachment points offer only one setting front and back. I don't recall seeing any options for bar pressure or altering turning speed nor for different wind strengths. This is a set and forget system.
The Bar: It was a 50cm bar with the new chicken loop that you can reassemble one handed. This bar had plenty of sand around the mechanism but all the same the end inserted with an audible click. I showed this feature off to my mate who was helping me rig up and the 3 or so repetitions of deploying and the resetting the safety system were flawless and effortless. We were both left asking ourselves "why hadn't this been thought of 10 years ago"? Oh, and the lines felt great. Noticeable differences between the diameters of the steering and center lines; testament to a company that appears to take a refined approach to design and tolerances.
In flight: The kite was nimble in the air yet sat patiently while I picked a gap between sets and delivered a smooth power stroke on command. I found the bar pressure very similar to my Cab Drifters. I guess you'd call it medium pressure as I've flown heavier and lighter in this 10m size. The bar depower was a little less "on/off" than my Drifter which in practice made very little difference to me becoming quickly accustomed to this kite. Heading out the back I was able to fly alongside Reos in both 10 & 12m sizes. I was pointing just as easily upwind as them. The canopies side-by-side in the sky also cut a very similar outline. Where the Alpha stood out in my mind was in its ability to handle the massive holes and gusts in the wind. At one point I was almost becalmed, but actively sining the kite up and down generated the necessary auxiliary power. During the same session, gusts of 20 plus knots buffeted through. This had me reaching for the depower knob set above the bar through a marine V-cleat. This was the "a ha moment", when I realised that an extra knot on the pigtails would have been superfluous. A minor tweak was all it took. The bar returned to a comfortable reach and the kite motored through unperturbed. At no point did I feel anything that suggested this kite had only one strut. No noticeable flapping or distorting of shape. It felt solid and behaved like a good kite should.
On the waves: Following the unbroken sets in as I awaited my cue of a pitching lip for a bottom turn (riding my less preferred backhand) the kite at times felt a little underdone. Remembering that the wind was really up and down which magnified the closer you got to the beach, it was probably unfair to sheet the blame back to the kite, but I found myself bearing away a little earlier on the wave, just to generate speed so as to not fall of the back of the swell. Once the wave riding began in earnest the Alpha looped, pivoted and drifted like a wave kite should. It also threaded itself effortlessly through oncoming traffic and delivered ample power to get around broken sections. The kites weightlessness in the unstable air also inspired confidence to ride the wave all the way to the beach without fear of a hindenburg backstall into the impact zone. Downlooping off the last of the white water gave a steady release of power to pop over the wash and head back for more.
Verdict: I guess you've gathered by now that I was really impressed with the kite. More experienced Ozone aficionados will be able to split the hairs between the Reo and Enduro, but for me it felt strangely normal and familiar (having neither owned an Ozone nor a single strut kite). I would have loved to have had the time to grab a twin tip and pop a few jumps, just to round out the test, but that's not what Mambo is about. If I was to search for negatives, it's not an extremely fast kite across the wind window nor in speed of looping. But it is precisely this slightly docile nature that aids it's suitability to waveriding. No great need to turn the kite deeper into the power zone. Just the occasional loop when power was needed, otherwise just forget it's even there. It's a plug and play, point and shoot sort of kite with no frills or unnecessary over engineering.