Rider: 78kg, intermediate
Style: Freeriding
Weather: 15-26 knots
Build Quality: 10/10
Satisfaction: for twintip freeriding: 7/10 (I give the 2011 C4s 10/10). For hypothetical surfboard action, it ticks all the boxes the surfboard guys talk about, so how about a 9.5/10 (to leave room for next year's refinements).
Disclosure: Ozone and SHQ team rider, I usually ride C4s.
Took the SHQ demo for a spin at Brighton today. I was riding a Nobile 50fifty and it was an ugly gusty Northerly.
This kite is very light, as you'd expect from a medium aspect 3 strut, pulley-free minimal-bridle Ozone creation. It's construction features all of Ozone's top notch materials with reinforcement where functional, and nowhere else: elegant simplicity.
On the water: Clearly I was riding in conditions far windier than surfboard riders would on a 10m, and I was on a twintip, so this review is far from the context for which this kite was designed. With that caveat, read on ...
From the first dive I was aware of the turning speed of this kite. It is incredibly nimble and responsive to minimal steering input and as such not really suited to beginners, but will amply reward riders with a more nuanced touch.
Power is moderate for a 10m, and the further in you pull the bar, the more grunt is accessible. Bar pressure is moderate, but tapers off quickly as you sheet out, and would be far less in the surfboard-appropriate windrange.
Compared to C4s which eat gusts easily with fractionally harder edging, the Reo needs to be sheeted out a bit, but again, small bar movements produce significant changes in angle of the kite, and therefore power. I could stay upwind easily in the lulls (estimate:15knots), and had no problems holding it down in gusts of 26 or so.
The big surprise was when I sent this baby and found myself 5 or 6m up, and with some floaty hangtime. The kite was easily and precisely redirected as I came in to land and found the power to get me up to speed as soon as I touched down. Compared to the C4 I'd say it's easier to time boosts on the Reo, but when you get the C4 right, it does go bigger, but needs to be steered more actively to bring you down softly, while the Reo just floats you back down.
I deliberately crashed the kite several times in the wind shadow at the bottom of the beach. Even in the holes it just wouldn't stay down. Whether at the edge or in the middle of the window it was ready to relaunch faster than any other kite I've ridden. Impressed!
Downloop transitions were a doddle as it turns fast but doesn't generate much power when looping compared to the C4s.
So, would I recommend this kite for twintip riding? No, as the C4s are more precise and stable when under high loads and at high speeds for intermediate to advanced riders, and the catalysts have a larger, more-forgiving depower throw and more sedate turn speed for beginners to intermediates.
Would I recommend it for surfboard riders (even though I'm not one)? YES as it is easily steerable one-handed, relaunches in a flash, turns very fast even with the bar a fair way out, and has grunt on demand but can be shut off with a small amount of bar movement. And, to the extent that I can tell on a twintip doing fast carving transitions, it just drifts in a stable position even when you ride at it as fast as can be.
In short, other reviewers' (WA crew) experiences were in line with my own and with the Ozone spiel. This is a focused and refined wave kite for intermediates and above who want a dynamic and responsive power source for surfboard riding.
