I would just like to thank Darren from the Australian Kitesurfing School for his prompt assistance with a recent incident that occurred. The end of my bar pulled free resulting in my kite crashing in waves and being destroyed. Darren gave me a demo kite to use in the meantime untill we could speak to consultants from Ozone Kites. The matter was dealt with promptly and professionally by both Darren and Ozone and within 24hrs I recieved a brand new kite, bar and lines. I am totally stoked with the outcome and looking forward to flying ozone once again.[/b]

Why? I know Robbie and know how much he loved his kite. I can imagine he would have been pissed off when he trashed his kite but genuinely impressed with the service he received and can see no harm in him giving credit for good service where due.
Good onya Darren, Ozone and Robbie.

Hi Kitedevil,

The bar end/winder pulled through the rivets and came off. Rob had been riding all day at Wedge and had been out throwing dozens of serious loops in the morning and was wave riding in the afternoon. He'd had a massive day and true to Murphys law, Rob went for one more wave .....

He looped the kite down the line and the bar end came off diving the kite into the water right in front of a wave. Rob tried to wind the lines in the water but was thrown through the lines by a wave which tangled the lines around his lower torso. A large wave hit the kite with tension on all lines and the wave pushed through the kite blowing out a large panel, damaged the bridle and attach points on the leading edge.

I gave Rob my demo kite to ride whilst we sorted it out but it wasn't necessary, he had his new kite within a day. I photo'd the damaged kite and bar end and emailed them straight to Ozone that evening. The following morning I had an email giving the OK to warranty replace the entire kite and bar/lines. It was a brilliant result which came with incredible speed.

Rob came over the same day and picked up his new kite. He even got the colour he originally wanted which I didn't have at the time of initial purchase.
Ozone really deserve some credit here as this is probably one of the fastest warranty replacements in kiting history. From time of sighting the kite, we had approval and a new kite ready for him to pick up just 15 hours later.

The kite and bar end is being sent to Ozone for analysis by their designers.
I'm not going to speculate as to what happened to the bar end, thats for the pro's. The bar end used on all 09 Ozone kites is also used on many other manufacturers bar ends and has been for years. In all that time I have not seen a bar end fail. Go figure!

If you own an 09 Ozone bar, just have a look at the bar end to make sure there is no cracking or tearing of the bar end plastic. I haven't seen anything on any of the other bars we have and I've heard nothing internationally. It should be part of your everyday inspection/preflight check of your gear, just a general eye over everything.

Good winds and thanks for the kudos Rob.

The same thing happened to me with a Flysurfer Speed. The bar end came off and a heap of lines parted... real ****fight. Also the general workmanship of the kite is very shoddy.

The kite was less than 6 months old but was a demo so Flysurfer Australia would not cover it. To me its a dangerous issue but to them- no problem!

I guess the moral of the story is don't buy from guys who don't support their product. Sounds like Ozone do :)

padraig78 said...

The same thing happened to me with a Flysurfer Speed. The bar end came off and a heap of lines parted... real ****fight. Also the general workmanship of the kite is very shoddy.

The kite was less than 6 months old but was a demo so Flysurfer Australia would not cover it. To me its a dangerous issue but to them- no problem!

I guess the moral of the story is don't buy from guys who don't support their product. Sounds like Ozone do :)

I don't know which Flysurfer you're talking about, but the Flysurfer that built my Psycho 3 did a good job with quality workmanship. The kite is quite durable and I haven't needed any support, but I've heard that people who have needed it have got it.

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=50336

Certainly a lesson for other brands out there, I'm sure when upgrade time comes Ozone are gonna get the first look. Its good to see there is still such a thing as customer loyalty.