Ozone Frenzy 5M, 7M, 9M & 12M

A sheetable kite aimed at the boarding side of the market, primarily marketed as a snow kite though it performs well no matter what board you ride.

The build quality is what we've come to expect from Ozone, top quality Galvanor (silicon impregnated cloth) is used throughout the 5 & 7m sizes, the 9 & 12m kites have a Galvanor topskin & Skytex lower skin to save weight. The line set is top quality Eldrig line & the bar is Ozone's own.

Packaging
The frenzy comes ready to fly. The line set is 360kg Eldrig line & is colour & number coded. The kite comes in a well made rucksack that has compression straps you can just about fit a board under. There are also some loops to attach the bar to. A repair patch & instruction manual comes with all kites. Ozone's usual Velcro tab located in the center cell keeps the bridle tidy.

The bag could be a little bigger but as long as you're methodical about putting it away its not a problem. One thing that puzzles me about manufactures current obsession with rucksacks is the zips? Sail cloth, thin bridle line & zips aren't the best combination & while the latest offerings from Ozone & Flexi look great in there backpacks you do have to pay attention when putting them away. Getting the kite caught in the zip might not be physically painful but it will almost certainly cause some mental scaring.

Out of the bag
The first thing you notice is how slippery the Galvanor is, its quite a heavy material but has excellent porosity & stretch quality's. The surface coating really does make keeping the kite clean very easy & water just runs off. The usual Ozone mylar reinforcement is also present on the trailing edge & round the cell openings.

Attachment of the lines is very easy thanks to the numbered tabs on both kite & lines. The bar has a permanent loop & chicken loop installed & a effective safety system that can be used with a wrist leash or attached to your harness so you can unwind the lines after a spin with out tangling the leash up.

Flying
Put on the leash & hook in to the chicken loop & your ready to go. A small tug on the top lines gets the kite in to the air & already were noticing some differences to other kites. The kites doesn't inflate that quickly due to the very narrow opening in the leading edge. This is intentional & allows you to launch in the center of the window when very powered up, though in the lower wind ranges you sometimes need to sheet the kite in & out to help it inflate.

Once in the air the kite slowly inflates as it rises up with very little drama even in the higher end of the wind range for each size. This is also an advantage should you manage to luff one. (You have to try hard & its usually down to an apparent wind luff).

Because of the rate of inflation the kite doesn't suddenly go from no pull to max power allowing you time to recover & make sure all your the bits are still in the right place. As the kite reaches the top it's usually fully inflated & ready to go. Power for size the frenzy doesn't match up to a traditional foil like the Blade. The 9.5m frenzy pulls about as much as a 7.2m Blade. However the power delivery of the frenzy is far friendlier than a Blade & the 9.5 will depower down to appox the pull of a 4.9. Unfortunately comparing the kites like this should be taken with a pinch of salt cause they really are poles apart when it comes to power delivery & feel.

Once your moving the Frenzy gains power & the difference in grunt becomes far less noticeable. One things for sure, I'd rather be maxed out on a frenzy than a Blade any day of the week. The kite is amazingly stable, all the usual tricks that usually result in a luff are just shrugged off with suprisingly little drama. You can cause the kite to luff in the lower wind range but as the wind increases the kite becomes more & more stable & after a certain wind strength its like someone's switched on the turbo & the performance goes though the roof. Just send the kite up, sheet in & up you go. Once airborne the kites very resistant to mistakes in input & has a superb glide to it.

Even in light winds you can get some real long jumps going. Unfortunately the Frenzy's low wind performance doesn't match its abilities in a good blow. While the kite works in light wind, it's not easy to get going. I need at least 8-10mph of wind to get easy park & ride style flying with a 9.5 & jumping starts about 12-14mph when on a very quick surface. In the light stuff the frenzy just doesn't say it, your constantly wanting more & trying to bully it round the sky isn't that effective. The kite gets very tippy(the tips fold up) & tends to run out of go at the sides of the window unless your very careful about where you put it.

I've yet to try a 12m Frenzy so this may solve the problem, all the early reports say the 12m works very well but I've yet to get a go one so I'll hold judgement till then.

Bad points
Light wind performance. The chicken loop cleat has a habit of fowling the leash, be very methodical with how you set them up. I have found that with a waist harness on the chicken loop line is too long. I didn't have a problem with the lower hook on the seat harness but when using my waist harness either the chicken loops to long or my arms are to short. I've since shortened the chicken loop & it's all fine again.

Overall
Well, when the wind has reached the minimum for the size your gonna fly I think there one of the most amazing kite I've ever flown. So stable they're giving me bad habits. Lovely boost, wicked glides, massive de-power & a safety system the works, what more could you want?

Well, possibly a bigger one but as the 12m's are filtering in to the UK that won't be a problem for much longer.

By : Steve Burgoine