Snow Kites Ozone

Ozone Snow kites!

The Ozone Philosophy

Since the birth of Ozone we have always realized the importance of continually striving to improve the performance and durability of our products. Our products are not just things we sell to make a living they are a part of us. From design to production we do our utmost best to ensure that we have done everything within our power to produce cutting edge products that are a pleasure to ride and own.

One of the reasons we have this philosophy is that most of the Ozone crew are either riders or pilots. We use our products and we are very critical of their performance because we want to have top quality products and performance as standard. On the design side we have years of experience, Dave is an aeronautical engineer and Dav and myself have had many years flying top-level competitions, test flying and designing. We all have a common interest in aerodynamics and share excitedly the visions of the future.

Our CAD design program has been specifically designed for us, we have the possibility to modify the program to be able to accommodate new ideas and different ways of doing things. It is very important to be flexible on this front so as not to stifle design and imagination. There are many parameters that we can modify separately and accurately, from the profile thickness and shape to minute variations in sail tension, everything is possible.

Hours of testing are put into each product and it is during this testing we get to see exactly how our ideas really perform. With every prototype there is something to be learnt, sometimes good and sometimes bad but every bit of information is useful to build a better product. We have riders round the globe sending feedback to us letting us know how the kites perform given their conditions. No matter where or what kite I put up and ride I am immediately assessing it’s characteristics and the possibilities of improvement no matter how small. I push myself as a rider so that I can interpret what our test riders feel. I ride overpowered, underpowered, in rough nasty conditions and light wind so as to cover as much of the kites potential as possible. I do this so I can form my own opinion of the kite and then we discuss and contemplate with our riders to create the best result possible.

Development is the most exciting part of the sport for me personally. I enjoy riding very much on water, snow and land but that is just part of my enjoyment. Developing a kite from an idea in my head to actually having it my hands and riding it in real conditions is what truly makes me happy. It’s also very satisfying to see people having a blast on something that you have designed. Design, Development and testing never stop. We often get asked if there is something new coming, you bet there is, we have restless minds and as one job is finished the idea is already born of how to make it better.