Ozone Cult 4.5M

This all started when I decided I wanted a fun kite for those days when my race kites were just too much like hard work. Static flying on holidays, and a bit of buggy-use when the wind and location didn't suit my regular quiver.

This coincided with the release of Ozone's 2007 range, and a trip to Atmosphere Kites soon resulted in me walking away with a shiny new 4.5m Cult. As usual, got a little bit of advice and insider info from Al - one of the benefits of a bricks 'n' mortar kite shop 😉

So, the package: nice rucksack with side and front pockets, Ozone 180/110 lines, handles and kite killers, instruction manual (full colur, nicely written and presented) stickers, a genrous ammount of adhesive ripstop for small repairs. Oh, and a kite. Won't go on about Ozone build quality. It IS the best out there. End of story. The kite is in Ozone's own fabric - lightweight but very damage-resistant. All vents are reinforced with mylar, everything is double-stitched, and the accuracy is incredible. The bridles are more heavy-duty than those found on the old Samurai or Yakuza - more like those on the Frenzy, all very neatly sewn and assembled. Much fewer bridles than the Samurai, about a third less I think, and shorter too. Internal bracing helps maintain the sails shape. The handles and lines are standard Ozone spec, with a connecting strop. Kite killers look great quality too - but I removed them immediately. Personal preference. Price-wise this sits in the mid-range along side the likes of Flexifoil's Rage and Peter Lynn's Reactor. Not the cheapest, but you can really see where your money has been spent.

Set up is very straightforward - all lines and leaders are numbered to ensure idiot-proof assembly. With the handles staked, the kite sits up, about 60% inflated, ready to go. No signs of bouncing or wanting to self-launch, which was nice.

First flight was at my local spot (Welsh mountains) in slightly higher and gustier winds than I would have liked, but you know how it is - new kite, got to fly it! I'd already been told by Al at Atmosphere that this kite was designed to flown on the main lines, with brakes just for reversing, landing and speeding up the turns. With my race kite background, and tiny attention-span, I completely forgot this advice, and tried to fly it like my other kites - little bit of brake tension almost all the time. In the gusty inland winds, this is usually a good approach.
The Cult didn't like my style. It flew, but was a little sluggish and seemed to have quite a narrow window. Not what I was hoping for. Remembering the advice, I relaxed pressure on the brakes - and everything changed. The kite became much more responsive, with a very wide window, and exceptional stability at the edge of that window. I could get it to overfly by really trying, but the collapsed wing reinflated quickly, and never showed any tendency to bow-tie. The very short bridling may be helping here. I felt very 'connected' to the kite. It responded instantly to any inputs, and you could 'feel' what it was doing - especially at the edges of the window. You get advance notice of a luff, and so can respond to it. Given the wind conditions I didn't really chuck it about to much, but the power was clearly there if wanted. With the kite at the zenith, I got no sense that it would loft me unexpectedly - but I suspect there is a little lift there if you work the kite.
Landing was very straightforward. The Sammi, and especially the Little Devil used to need a little practice to land well - minimum braking was the key, too much and they'd spin wildly. I tried landing the Cult both ways - gently and with full brake. Both times it came straight down - more flapping with full brake as you'd expect, but no hint of spinning.

I've yet to try this in the buggy, but with a medium aspect ratio and fairly slim profiles, I expect it will do well.

Truthfully, I have yet to fly this kite enough, or in a sufficiently wide range of conditions to provide a final assessment. BUT this was the most enjoyable first flight of any kite that I can remember. The speed, power and performance will certainly satisfy all but the most hard-core kiters, but the stability and direct control means that I would have no hesitation teaching a newbie to fly using these kites. Certainly the beginner who is serious about progressing in the sport should consider the Cult as a real option - one which they won't outgrow anytime soon.

I'll post updates to this once I've had a little more flying time with the Cult, but on first impressions, this seems like a really, really exceptional kite.

By : andyc