OZONE HYPERLINK, a new ram air kite design, with internal zippers that allow the cells to be opened for land/snow use.

Background:-

Already using ram air kites for Snowkiting and Foiling.
Ive previously owned F-arc, OZONE R1's, Chrono's and Frenzy's.
Currently own 18/13/9m ChronoV2UL's and a 7m Frenzy.

Intro:-

Love the Frenzys on the snow & ChronoV2UL's over water.

Both of these models are awesome for their intended use.

The Hyperlink bridges the gap between these models, sharing features from both.

Hyperlink rundown:-

Although I've only flown this kite a few times I feel confident enough to give it a review based on its features and in comparison to other models of the Ozone range.

If money is no object and you can afford to buy dedicated kites for snowkiting and another set for the water then it's hard to beat the specifically designed/tested models.

I Love the frenzy's on the snow, but being Open cell they would sink instantly if crashed over water.

The Chrono's are amazing for foiling, and also fly really well on the snow, but closed cells are harder to packdown and can be a handful in sketchy conditions.

The Hyperlink does Both, it packs down on the snow like a frenzy, and then by simply closing 6 internal zippers you can can change it to closed cell and use over water.

Its also lower aspect and flys more like a inflatable, but better in gusts.

Findings:-

On the snow it packed down perfectly, didn't even have to remove snowboard, but I didn't really have enough wind to give it a good run.

I took it out this week in 35knot at St Kilda on surfboard, I don't think my ChronoV2UL would have flown as well, and I was to scared/cold to find out.

Didnt test 5th line, but it's external rather than the "re-ride" system on the Frenzys.

Summary:-

If you want a kite for snow/land & water than this kite will do it all.

The 9m was confidence inspiring and hassle free.

Real world benefits are in saftey rather than performance.

Conclusion:-

If I didn't already own 9m Chrono I would be getting a 9m Hyperlink.
Infact I'm thinking i'll sell my Chrono before next winter to get one.

If you never ever intend to use over land then these extra features of the Hyperlink are Mute.

Chrono wins for water use.
Frenzy wins for snow/land.

And Hyperlink is really for the crew that want one kite to do both.

Hope ya enjoyed my review.

If your getting into foiling or snowkiting the ram air kites really do work well.

Once your up to speed on ram air kites it's hard to look back.

DITCH THE PUMP

Cheers,

Karl.










ChronoV2UL Vs Hyperlink.

Ive just had my 1st go at snow kiting , was so good !
I used an 8m c4 .
Which is the closest to the c4's feel ?

Ha. You have the exact same MBS board I own
Love it.
I can't wait to try the Hyperlink 12m in the next few weeks on land.
If it can pull harder than the Flysurfer Speed 3 without the lulls and fluffs, then I will be one happy camper for sure.
Great work Ozone... ps... not sure on the closed-open cell technology there in terms of durability. Zips and oceans do not mix - they seize

Specially designed all plastic zip.

Headed back up Falls creek tomorrow for another week.

There is more snow forecast with hopefully some good visibility and wind.

Ive still got this 9m Hyperlink, so ill be hoping to get gather even more experience for feedback.

So far ive flown it in -9 knots and +25knots.

Which I would say is way past either side of it's intended wind range.

Geez it's a stable kite, its handles the extreme conditions really well which is confidence inspiring.

I had to completely flag the kite out onto the safety last week
(don't have the 5th line attached).
It was too windy to stall it out. So to finish my session I snowboarded to the top of a ski run, pulled the chicken loop, quickly wrapped lines up and then folded/rolled kite up around bar.
all while still strapped into snowboard.

Usually this results in a large bridle tangle, but it only took 5mins for me to prepare it for the next flight.

If your looking for your first ram air kite I would definitely recommend the Hyperlink. It's just easy and covers all bases.

Ive also heard a rumour that another snow kite is soon to be released, so if your after a more land/snow dedicated model this is also exciting.

A major difference between snow and water designs is the "aspect ratios".

The "aspect" effects how far the kite will fly into the corners of the wind window.

ive found that on the snow and mountains you don't want the kite to fly right out to the edges, eg a lower "aspect" which becomes much safer, better in gusts and won't drop out if you lose line tension or make a mistake.

With the Hyperlink they have had to try and find a do it all "aspect ratio" that's not too high for the mountains but still better than most inflatables for on the water.

Using a high aspect ram air kite in the mountains can be really dangerous as you can end up jumping way bigger than you intended, or having the kite overfly etc.

If you know what your doing you can get away with high aspect but it can be scary at times and risky.
Also closed cell is way more difficult to pack up as the air wants to stay in the kite.

A great example of stability is that I've flown the Hyperlink now twice in conditions that I would not even consider flying the same sized Chrono.

I really hope I've managed to explain the design correctly? And helped people to make decisions for themselves. Happy to answer questions

If you only ever ride on land/snow then get a dedicated open cell kite, eg frenzy, summit or the new one coming out shortly.

If you only ever ride over water then get a dedicated closed cell that won't sink. (You don't need open cells).

But if if you want to do it all with the same kite then the Hyperlink is for you.

Its also super stable and just makes everything easy, so will also be great for people looking to improve their riding. (Which should be everybody).

ill be looking to ride it unhooked next, so that's my next challenge.

I find learning new tricks on snow/land is good because you can try stuff way underpowered without sinking, and just go through the motions.

Any questions or suggestions?

Cheers,

Karl.

Do you notice any difference in collapsibility between closed and open cell options in super gusty conditions.

That's one feature I notice was superior moving form open to closed cell years ago. The open cell could easily get the air squashed out of it in a gust/lull and cause the kite to collapse. Yet with the closed cell in the same conditions it would hold its air and not collapse.

Yeah, for sure, with all open cell kites they can collapse while flying.

And yeah, it can be daunting at first. but they also re-fill really fast so it's all good.

It doesn't really happen in gusts, more when you lose line tension in an aggressive manoeuvre like bareing off the wind for a big turn.

I think what your talking about is more when the kite first inflates..
You can control this by using the break handle to stall the kite and let it fill with air fully..

This still happenes with closed cell kites, and you usually get a larger power surge when the kite finishes filling and takes its correct shape.

To answer your question, ive flown Hyperlink now in gusty overpowered conditions both on the water and snow, with cells closed and open.
Its handles gusts etc sooo much better than R1 and Chrono.

I didn't notice any loss in performance with cells open, it's just makes it easier to pack up. I could pack it up without even having to take snowboard off.

YOU WOULD LIKE THIS KITE PLUMMET.

No doubt I would. But 99% of my kiting is water or beach. So open cell is not required.

It would be usefull for my yearly pilgrimage to the sand dunes!
Cant justify a kite for once a year use.

Hi,

Now that I'm into hydrofoiling , I'm looking at replacing my 12m single strut North Mono this coming spring. I've been kitesurfing 16 years and last time I flew a foil was a flysurfer foil back in 2002.
I only ride on water, I'm about 78-80 kg. Only HF and surfboard. I'm finding I'm only going out on surfboard when I fly my 9 or 7m kites, so I'll use the foil for only HF on water.
I'd like a kite that has slightly better low end than my 12 mono ( 8-10 knots) and will take me up to 16-18 knots comfortably.
I've heard the foil kites have better high and low end than LEI and single strut kites.
Would you say get the Chrono V2 UL? In 11 or 13 size?
My guess is 11m.

Select to expand quote

TomW059 said..
Hi,

Now that I'm into hydrofoiling , I'm looking at replacing my 12m single strut North Mono this coming spring. I've been kitesurfing 16 years and last time I flew a foil was a flysurfer foil back in 2002.
I only ride on water, I'm about 78-80 kg. Only HF and surfboard. I'm finding I'm only going out on surfboard when I fly my 9 or 7m kites, so I'll use the foil for only HF on water.
I'd like a kite that has slightly better low end than my 12 mono ( 8-10 knots) and will take me up to 16-18 knots comfortably.
I've heard the foil kites have better high and low end than LEI and single strut kites.
Would you say get the Chrono V2 UL? In 11 or 13 size?
My guess is 11m.

It wont happen. A kite doesn't exist that can take you from 8 knots to 18 on of a foil so you can still foil the same style at both wind speeds. Sure you could hold down a 12 chrono in 18 knots on a foil but it would be over powered to hell and back.

For using only for water and foiling than yes I'd say go with Chrono over Hyperlink. Also with your years of experience you will enjoy the higher aspect.

With regard to picking the right size I'd go 13m. One way you can extend the range is to have shorter lines for stronger winds.

I currently own 13m ChronoV2UL and ride it in 19m lines with 4m easy to remove extensions.

Prob my favourite size, but might just be that's also usually the my favourite foiling conditions of around 15 knots.

Im a big boy so Id be on my 18m Chrono in winds under -12knots.
And I'd swap to 9m Chrono at around +22knots.

So you can see it does have quite a large wind window and I have an overlap either side.

You could always consider a 15/11 combo, that would really cover it all.
But yeah. Maybe in higher winds you still prefer inflatable?

Select to expand quote

polykarb said..

You could always consider a 15/11 combo, that would really cover it all.
But yeah. Maybe in higher winds you still prefer inflatable?

You're spot on PolyKarb. That is also my two sweet spot kite sizes, for most winds above 12knots. I've not really kite surfed in below 10knot winds, but on land; yes, I've been as low as 5knots and still able to ride a land-board.
You just can't beat ram-air foil kites for versatility, ease of packing, and better kite control.

I've just got back from another snow kite trip to Falls creek,

Only managed a couple of kite sessions as it was snowing most of the week and visiability was very bad.

Over 2m of snow now, so we should survive first couple of spring rain fronts and be snowkiting past the normal ski season and into October.

ANYWAY, I just wanted to follow up with a conclusion on the Hyperlink for those interested.

What a stable kite, for anybody who wants to move into this type of kite I would say 100% that this is would be the easiest transition. (For use on water).

I ended up flying a few times in conditions that were frankly scary and was impressed.

Massive wind range, way bigger than any inflatable, I'd say It's even bigger than stated on their website.
The marketing is spot on, this really is a kite designed to do it all.

And yes, you could give this kite to almost anybody and they would be stoked with it.

Personally im excited to see the new design for the "Blizzard" snowkite which should be released next month.

Happy to answer questions, and i hope my review has been well recieved and informative.

Cheers,
Karl.

What's the packing and unpacking like in terms of speed/time? Bridles are easy to manage? I personally don't like leaving my bar and lines all connected and packed into the one bag. I prefer to disconnect and reconnect the lines. Cheers

My bar and lines stay connected.

In CLOSED CELL MODE, I would suggest securing a wingtip once you land it... then you can open up the rear zip, fold in half, usually with bridles nicely placed and fold/roll until you reach open zip.. close that up, fold in half over bar/lines and your done.

In OPEN cell mode, as long as it's not to windy you can backstall the kite, and then start wrapping up the lines straight away.. Once you get to the kite there is multiple techniques, but I usually just start with making sure bridle is tidy, and I fold mine up so that it will unroll itself and inflate my itself for next flight.

When you do do it right, you can confidently throw kite down, run lines out and give everything a tug to catch some wind, it then inflates and your gone. Like a parachute.
(IN OPEN CELL MODE).

I guess it's all about confidence/experience but no reason why you need to dissconnect everything.

If your not using the 5th line, add a couple of bits of tape around the attachment points... just to remove possible bridle snag.

ENJOY.

Hey, thought I should add, that Ozone have now released their new snowkite called the Blizzard...

It has the internal re-ride that is ideal for land/snow based riding.

So yeah, I bought the 11m Blizzard, because I like the "re-ride system.

so, dedicated Snowkite's for the snow.

And loving the Chrono's for the water.

If your thinking of buying a Hyperlink for using just on the water, I would recommend looking at the Chrono.



Stoked on the Blizzard too, but I'll review that next year.