Flew the 2008 13m Edge 2 today, wow! Super smooth, super stable, jumps were elevator quick up with ridiculous hang. It was 17-22kts, it turns a bit faster than last years (and it was good too). The new bar setup feels and looks much more organised than the 07s with the beal line being ultra smooth through the bar. The bar feeling is ridiculously good for an SLE, very responsive, with no pullies and a little bit more bar pressure than 07, just right! One pump is a great improvement and there did not seem to be any downside. Upwind was excellent. There is a bit more depower on the bar this year but still that nice ozone static pull. Almost no stall this year which will be a big improvement in the waves. Bag is improved with nice features, like seperate internal bag for kite, a bar sleeve and oh a kite size on the outside of the bag! Only negatives, I put my kite away afterwards and put it in its nice internal bag and then in main bag, just the way you are meant too then pulled the main draw string to tighten over the top and it immediately ripped a square patch straight through and 2 inches down either side this will need more reinforcing. The last negative on my third jump of the day(it was fairly onshore) I thought I was a really good distance from the beach I went up a long way, sent the kite forwards and back more than once and got that 2nd boost from another gust coming through and nearly landed on the beach! This is a glider not a kite!!!
Ben TasKite (Dealer so biased I guess, but try wiping the smile of my face its not money its amazing!)

Hi Guys,

Finally we had a short session at Point Walter with a rather uninspiring 12-15 knots of up and down Easterly. Wind maxed at about 15 knots and at a minimum was around 4 knots.

I didn't care, I had new kites I had to try. When I arrived there were a lot of kites out and only one or two people holding their ground upwind. I grabbed the 13m Ozone INstinct Edge II as my weapon of choice as well as a Sport II and a Light II, 12m. I also grabbed the Airush Exile board.

Tech specs

Body Weight - ~89 kilos
Kite - 2008 Ozone Instinct Edge II, 13m
Board - Airush Exile-L 135 x 47
Water conditions - smooth to small chop
Wind conditions - 8-15 knots with gusts and holes.

Rigging was easy, straight out of the bag. No surprises and connect by numbers. Typical Ozone quality with bag design and all compoonents. Internal bar pocket, inner bag for kite, repair kit of (Tear aid, canopy cloth in all canopy colours and a dacro LE material as well as alcohol swabs and spare bits for one pump).

The new bar is a far cry from the previous 07 offering with a very functional and tidy setup, nothing blowing around in the wind and super easy to use. The new Megatron Chicken loop is simply sweet, easy, safe and perfect for unhooking as well as hooking. The plastic over the beal line is gone and it slides effortlessly through the stainless centre hole. The smooth composite bar ends with EVA foam padding are a welcome improvement.

Ozone have removed the big clunky swivel from the front lines and instead the swivel is down above and part of the chicken loop and is super easy to manually twist about. I really liked that!

Flag out line is press buttoned to the centre line setup so it doesn't float about. I liked that too as last years seemed to flap around and get in the way a bit. It is easy to reach for a self landing and can be set up on either front line. The trim setup is similar to last years, super easy to use and a firm cleating each time it is set, very user friendly.

I set the back line adjusters to shorten the back lines by a couple of inches for the light wind use and was ready to launch.

The kite inflated really quickly due to the narrow leading edge and super thin struts and it easily pumped up to 9 psi. It felt like it wanted more but I thought I'd try it at 9 to be safe. One pump is nice and simple and the little neoprene socks on the crimps are same as last years but dont roll back and get scrunched up (if you know what i mean ;-).

The 5th line bridle at the kite looks really complex but is actually easy to rig, it just looks a bit spider web like. Aside from this, it all attached same as last years.

I had an assisted launch and immediately brought the kite up and noticed the nice light bar pressure and how quick the kite reacted to the bar input. After a couple of minutes on the beach I grabbed the board and headed out. The wind was still light so I walked upwind a bit and dived to start. The power was smooth but very noticeable. I allowed speed to pick up and then just rode out getting a feel for the kite. Occasionally needing to Sine the kite in the lulls but not coming off the plane. Wind speed was around 12 knots.

I turned for the beach and was surprised how easy it was to hold ground. Admittedly the board did help in this department. NExt run was a bit windier and upwind became laughably easy. I decided to try a jump after a few runs and had read a lot of posts on this machines abilities in this department, so I prepared for disappointment. In the light wind, first jump was only a couple of meters and average hangtime, but then again most other kiters were walking back upwind and no one else was even jumping.

Next jump was in about a 15 knots gust and I coule feel the pressure as it came up to 12. I tried not to over send it like on my first jump (hard to get used to the quickness of steering) and managed a huge jump of around 5-6 meters but the hangtime was insane. It hauled me up quickly to height and I just hung there. Redirect and a smooth landing, several other jumps were a bit higher and each time the hangtime was ridiculous.

The turning of the kite is crisp and swift for such a high aspect beast and the bar pressure required for a turn is light. Holding power is light bar pressure and depower is about 65 - 70% so it is not a kite for noobs.

I didn't try the relaunch as I just wanted to ride but will test relaunch when the wind gets up into it's range. I held ground easily in around 11 knots and was jumping in around 12-13.

I simply cant wait for a windy day to really send this kite. At last a kite that I feel will deliver scary big jumps. Everyone who rode the kite was really stoked with it and considering the light wind we were riding it in I took this as high praise. I reckon in 15-20 knots, this kite would blow minds and words wouldn't do it justice in 20-25.

Come and see us for a demo if you want a ride on this or any of our other kites. I reckon it'll really surprise every one that rides it.

Good winds,

Just wait till it's gusting over 25... OMG!

Tomorrow showing up to 40 knots ... I should get some time with wind over 30 knots ....its gonna be sick............ board meeting tomorrow around 2 at queens.

Definately the best big kite i have ever flown... Its was smooth, fast, jumps like a machine in the lightest of wind... I never really enjoy flying kites that are generally over 11m but i could not get of this kite yesterday in wind from 10-16 knots (im 68 kg).. It even handled unhooked tricks without any problems!

Yeh i havent tried a hi aspect kite yet ....guess im gonna have to try the o8 edge and sport together as i spend 90% of my time in the waves now.
Yeh they r built so well ey ...i flip flopped my 9m in 1.5 m waves covered in sea weed about 150m drag to the beach (didnt need to pull safety i just unhooked)
untangeled her and she was fine not a scratch

KiteDevil said...

Yo JiP! Yeah I've gone the 9m and 13m Edge and 7m Sport. Got out on the 9m yesterday while benk was on his 13m (boosting LARGE). It looked windier than it was as it only got to 23knots in the gust and a steady 16-18ish, but I still had great fun on the little 9m. I'm 100kg wet and ride the 136 Recoil by LF.

As far as wave riding it's not terribly forgiving if you dive under it and can't get the lines tight again quickly. Being so long it tends to want to give up on life and roll over. Reaching up and pulling a rear line can save it if you're quick, but i've only had it out in onshore winds and waves which is less than ideal for roundhouse kinda stuff. I think the light would be better suited.

The 9m edge vs 9m sport 07: it's faster, jumps higher, floats way longer and lands even softer. A small bar input will turn the kite a little, then it will carry on straight ahead immediately, no 'turning' lag as such. Feels similar to the sports but less forgiving to running under it, it is high aspect ya know.

Construction: One thing of note, I dropped my new 9m Edgey baby infront of about 12 one foot waves (I got carried away on a wave) and got dragged to shore submarining. nice . I thought it would have ripped in half but no it was cool. A bit of rooting around with the kite on the rocks and I relaunched the wet precious with the front lines through the back. still worked fine and had a great sesh.

Later on I landed Bens 13m and proceeded to run under my 9m in a lull jumping rocks and sticks n **** (not thinking to well ) and watched it fall into the boobyallas! ****! After much extraction work and swearing I got it out with only a few marks where the screen printing had scratched off.

Built tuff the old girl is, I gave her a nice introduction to the world and even got to use the QR in anger/fear of boobyalla grating.

Gotta treat 'em mean... grrr [}:)]

PS: I thought it was damned cool that two large guys could be out on a 13m and a 9m at the same time and both having a ball.