Ozone Frenzy 12M

A thing of beauty, a thing of excellence that can instill so many inner feelings of happiness and joy is one way to express the feeling the Ozone Frenzy 12m envokes deep within me....

The Ozone Frenzy is a 4 line depowerable foil aimed mainly at the boarding side of the market however i found it to be a great kite for general flying and teaching my mates to fly.

Packaging :
The kite comes compete with everything that is needed to get up and fly and packaged in a lovely rucksack. The rucksack has excellent padding on the back as with the straps. There are velcro strap on the outside to hold the bar and strap on the front of the bag which are very handy to attach you board or harness to. The bag is of a decent size and as long as you pack up you kite neatly one should not have any problems getting the kite in the bag, even with the 12m.

My only grumble about the bag is the zips and you must be very careful not to catch the bridle or sail cloth in them. Overall I must say the bag is the best i have seen offered from many kite companies.

The high quality red coloured lines are perfectly matched with this kite, they are durable and at 360kg breaking point i doubt there is any chance of them snapping. To compliment these superb lines ozone has given us a rather comfortable bar, with its slim diameter there are no chances of getting a blister.

The high quality red coloured lines are perfectly matched with this kite, they are durable and at 360kg breaking point i doubt there is any chance of them snapping. To compliment these superb lines ozone has given us a rather comfortable bar, with its slim diameter there are no chances of getting a blister.

To further provide excellent service and quality ozone has provided the buyer with sail material incase of any accidents, bridle line, a manual and a sticker.... what more could you want?

Taking the kite out of the bag :
Once you have gotten over the kites pure beauty you will notice how well constructed this kite is and the quality of the material. The kite just uses durability with there being mylar reinforcements on the leading and trailing edges. The bridles are neatly attached with Velcro strap in one of the cells and this really does help in stopping bridle tangles. To set up this kite, things couldn't be simpler. The lines are number coded so all one has to do is match the numbers on the lines to the number on the bridle and on the bar.

The bar :
A top quality product I can say with safety everywhere. The bar is of thin diameter allowing your hands to just mould and become one with it. In the center of the bar there is a block and the depower line runs through this. Attached to the depower line is a chicken loop with a very effective quick release and above the bar there is clamcleat which allows for easy power adjustments. There is also a rather long harness loop, which seems to be the fashion at the moment. Attached to the leader lines is a highly effective safety leash.

Flying :
To get up and flying is a simple task that I could even get my pet monkey to do. Firstly attach the safety leash to either you harness or the wrist leash then hook the chicken loop onto your harness hook. Step back, sheet out slightly and the kite shall begin to inflate slowly rising up the wind window. The leading edge of the kite is thin so inflation does take a few second but its thinness in there for a reason.

The movement of the kite riding up is smooth with no sudden power bursts, there are no surprises in launching such as no power straight onto max power in a second unlike many other kites out there. This is a particular advantage in higher winds. Once inflated the kite shall sit at the top with hardly any input from the flier.

I shall talk about this kites low wind performance first as these have been the primary winds that I have been using her in. This kites low winds performance is what I would describe as "sublime". From 5mph this kite has a satisfactory pull and you are even able to scud in these low winds. Often the mistake many people make with the frenzy's in low winds is to have her on full power believing this shall create more power, this however is wrong. Keeping this kite on nearly full depower keeps its speed through the air high thus creating a fair bit of pull. The speed of this kite surprised me with it being 12m. It turns much faster than many foils in the 7m range thus meaning some pretty sweet airs are at your grasp.

Some say that below 5mph this kite will refuse to fly due to its size and weight, all I can say is Your wrong. The low wind record so far for me (windmeter readings) is 3.2 With the kite on full depower and a knot placed a quarter of the way on the depower line stopping the bar form going to the chicken loop the kite will fly in 2 line mode and surprisingly it has enough speed to produce pull. You are still able to jump in very light winds due to the kites speed and to do this you must do a pendulum jump. As the kite reaches the zenith pull in the brakes and you shall get lifted and fly like Mary Poppings with a nice soft, landing.

Its is possible to board on the very low end of this kites windrange and this may take some practice, your main aim is to keep the kites speed up so a push start on the board helps and as long as u keep the kite depowered you shall be cruising nicely. As the wind picks up to around 10mph this kite really comes into play. Long floaty jumps are forever at you grasp and with no effort at all. You are able to practice new tricks without fear of being dropped like a stone. Even if the wind were to stop there is sufficient sail area to make your landing soft . The kite excels with an atb in these winds, you can cruise at high speeds, boost high and pull of the tricks you want then land safely back down to earth.

The jumping technique is still the same as in low winds, depower the kite and swoop it upwards and pull the bar in for a surge of power and you'll be flying. You may think that as the wind gets strong you fun has to end with the kite being a 12m, I think not! The depower on this kite is just fantastic and you can comfortably hold her down in 15 mph, and in these winds you shall be boosting super high and long. If the wind further picks up and you are beginning to struggle on full depower, do not worry. For you can decrease the power even more by pulling on the toggle and using the clamcleat. Just superb!

I mainly use this kite for kite atb however I have used it to kitesurf with and it suits this job perfectly. I can have her depowered on land then power her up for some action on the water. Even in winds of 10 mph or so I can still go crosswind and practice some downwind tricks.

The only bad points I could say about this kite are the zips on the bag, and some may find the depower range a little too long for there arms...

Overall :
I can say this is one hell of a sweet kite. Could it be the perfect kite? Does that exist? Well I believe Ozone have nearly got there...

By : Mabster Balmain