Ozone Race Team

Adam Koch takes first at North American Continental Course Race in Mexico

2010-03-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

The 2010 North American Kiteboarding Course Racing Championships are finished, and it was Adam Koch riding the Ozone 2010 Edge who came out on top in the mens. The Championship was a part of the huge Regatta Copa Mexico event in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Ozone riders Adam Koch, Andrew Koch, Chip Wasson and Michael Gebhart all placed in the top twelve, well done guys!
Ozone results >>
Adam Koch - 1st
Chip Wasson - 7th
Michael Gebhart - 8th
Andrew Koch - 12th

Billy Bordy Joins Ozone Snowkite Race Team

2009-10-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

Billy Bordy has been deeply involved in downhill Snowboard racing for years. In just a few short seasons he has made his way up the ranks in the Snowkiting world. Training with kites in the summer as a lead Instructor for Kite Utah he has plenty of time to hone his skills all summer before hitting the back-country slopes when Utahs powder arrives.

After charging hard the last few years and proving his dedication to growing the sport, he has been embraced by Ozone Kites and welcomed into the family as a valued Team Rider. Billy's feedback has already been critical in Snowkite specific designs like the Twisted Velocity Kite Snowboard, and the Ozone mafia is glad to have his support to help improve board and kite designs while pushing the current models to their limits.

Billy has stood on the US Open Snowkite Masters podium winning the Men's Winduro on Snowboard, and setting a goal to be one of the fastest wind powered snowboarders in the world.

We are stoked to have such a dynamic personality like Billy flying Ozone colors with the team, welcome friend and we hope to hear more from you soon as the snow falls in your backyard at Strawberry, Utah

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

Seattle launches Course Racing Series

2009-10-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Yacht Club is hosting a winter Kiteboard Course Racing Series. The first race was held October 17th on Lake Washington.
The idea for the series was instigated by Adam Vance and Adam Koch, and supported by many others including Urban Surf, the local Kiteboard and Windsurf shop, and many volunteers.
The Yacht Club played an integral role in this first race providing professional boat support and running a great course.

Adam Koch showed aggressive riding style taking 1st place overall flying an Ozone Edge 13m. With 4 races run back to back with increasing wind speeds, riders were forced to stay on the kite that they started with, despite the stronger conditions. Adam took several 1st place finishes and one 2nd placement, and claimed that he was comfortable on the 13 in those conditions, but he could have done even better on an 11m Edge, as he was more powered than many riders on the course.

With the varying weather in Seattle, the next race dates are still to be announced, but will take place some time in November.

What was great to see at this first race was the amount of enthusiasm for Kite Racing. Only a dozen or so riders were expected to kick off this regatta, yet over 35 registered, with boards ranging from twin tips and surf boards to a handful of custom race boards. This North West race series is sure to raise interest in racing as well as the overall level of the competition.

Cabrinha Race Series Final Results

2009-10-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

The Ozone Team pushed hard all season, and the results show for it.

Geoff Headington battled it out for a 2nd place overall, followed by Chip Wasson in 3rd. Rob Kindt was on their heels and with tie points he placed 6th, bringing 3 Ozone riders onto the top ten podium. Mike Gebhardt was not around for the beginning of the season, but his individual race results showed he could have done well, taking a first place at the last 2 races of the summer.

Final Results are here at the St. Francis Yacht
Club site.

September results from Cabrinha Race Series

2009-09-26T11:25:00.001-07:00

Another round of impressive race results from the Team at last weeks Cabrinha Thursday Night Series, on September 24th. Steve Gibson is flying his 09 Sports and the others are all flying stock 09 Edge kites.

1st Mike Gebhardt
2nd Geoff Headington
4th Rob Kindt
17th Steve Gibson

That brings the current Overall Season Results to:

1st place Chip Wasson with 11 points
2nd place Geoff Headington with 17 points
5th place Rob Kindt with 36 points
21st place Steve Gibson with 123 points

With one more race to go anything can happen, and we could see some exciting changes in the top spots. Check out the St. Francis Yacht Club at STFYC for more detailed results from this season.

Buggy Speed video

2009-08-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to a new video that Eli has posted on Vimeo.

Buggy Speed Video

This was filmed in April 2009 at the Ivanpah Dry Lake near Las Vegas.

Eli hit 68.9 mph during the week of strong desert winds.

Nils Stolzlechner joins Ozone Team!

2009-08-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

I am stoked to announce another strong addition to Ozone's Race Team... Nils Stolzlechner! I first met Nils while attending the US nationals a couple years back. He was a competitive racer that brought his own board shapes to the course. This year he graciously welcomed riders to his current home town of Corpus Christi, where he diligently worked helping to host the US Nationals. His board shapes are as progressive as his riding, and his company NJS designs is known amongst top racers as one of the most competitive boards around. As a racer himself, Nils is able to push and tweak board design to the maximum. We are all stoked to be training and riding with Nils, and working together to push the limits of board and kite design on the race course.

Here is a short bio on Nils.... and check out his website for the latest race boards.

Nils Stolzlechner:

Born and raised in Austria, Nils started to kite surf in 2001 in San Francisco. A year later he figured that building his own boards would be cheaper than buying them. As the course racing events started, Nils started to design specific boards that focused on upwind performance and started his small company NJS Designs in 2007. Currently Nils lives in Corpus Christi, he has two daughters, Alexandra 19 and Victoria 17.

1980-1987 US Ski Team, Ski Jumping, 6th place World Championships 1982, 5th place World Championships 1985

1997 1st place European Windsurfing Championships, Lake Garda Italy

1997 4th place IFCA Windsurfing World Championships, Tarifa, Spain

Kitesurfing

2005 3rd place overall Cabrinha Race Series

2006 3rd place overall Cabrinha Race Series

1st place Ronstan Bay Challenge Course Races

11th place US Nationals

2007 2nd place Ronstan long distance race

3rd UN Classic

15th US Nationals

2008 7th US Nationals

8th World Cup, Sylt, Germany

5th Ronstan Long distance race

27th World Championships

14th place currently in the World Ranking IKA for Course Racing

Here are some results from his recent board designs:

1st Place US Nationals Mens Overall 2008&2009

1st Place World Championships Mens Overall 2009

2nd Place World Championships Womans Overall

www.njsdesigns.org

WELCOME NILS!!!

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

Snowkite Masters Video 2009

2009-08-13T10:00:00.000-07:00

During this years US Open Snowkite Masters, there was a film crew roaming about gathering footage for an event DVD. The videos are on line and have been broken down into specific races. Check out the YouTube links below or check out all the vids at www.Kitesites.com

Snowboarder Kiter X http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMkFEHbEG7A

Kite Skiers Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBZi3lZSeoA

Womens Skier Kiter-X http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBZi3lZSeoA

The Winduro Race http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woiBi-GQOsI

Full length DVD will be available this fall. Check in with Windzup for details.

Chip Wasson 2nd Place World Champion Course Racer

2009-08-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Congrats go out to Chip Wasson for pushing hard and making his way onto the podium at the World Championships.
Chip trained hard and pushed himself to the edge on the course, maintaining a strong lead, and holding a solid 2nd place throughout the week long race.
He spent a lot of time developing custom fins that definitely gave him a technical advantage on the course. Combined with the fast upwind speed of the Ozone Edge kites, he was able to charge hard and stay ahead of the fleet.

Way to go Bro!

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

World Championship Course Racing

2009-08-13T09:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year a group of talented athletes came together to form an Ozone Race Team that would compete in the growing number of course racing events that are taking place across the USA this summer. Spearheading the project was a veteran Ozone racer, Chip Wasson, who felt that a cohesive group of kiters working together could better reach the goal of progressing techniques and equipment. Together the Team has pushed each other, increasing the individual performance of each rider throughout this season and representing with strong results at many races. Along with advancements in board design and fin shapes, the feedback from the team has already helped to improve the strength of Ozone kites thru new sewing techniques and is furthering the overall performance of the Instinct range. I recently had the pleasure of joining the Ozone Race Team while on a trip to San Francisco, during the Kiteboard Course Racing World Championships. Sharing the beach with so many professional kiteboarders was definitely a treat, and the respect and tenacity that the Ozone boys shown definitely made me proud to be a part of the Ozone family.

The Races for the World Championships were held at Crissy Field, near the Golden Gate Bridge in California’s San Francisco Bay. The competition was hosted by the St. Francis Yacht Club, whom also hosts several other races including the Cabrinha Thursday Night Series, the SF/UN Classic and the Bridge to Bridge race. The St. Francis is known for holding quality regattas and was eager to host this prestigious event that is governed by ISAF sailing rules. With several Committee Boats and a strict Skipper, the races were world class and run clean. Starting on a Tuesday, there were three days of racing to determine overall points, which would then divide the racers into two fleets, gold and silver respectively. Friday and Saturday offered up another half-dozen races to further spread the fleet’s points out and determine who truly could stay ahead of the pack. The top ten racers were then put head to head on a short course, with a double point system that could shake up the winning circle.

From day one Ozone Edges were in the top 10-15 placements, with Chip Wasson holding a tight 2^nd thru most of the courses and even taking a first with a nice lead. Hot on his heels was Olympic medalist Mike Gebhardt and local charger Geoff Headington, who each battled to stay in the top 5 positions during several days of racing. Mike eventually pushed ahead of Geoff to take tenth position and gained the opportunity to race in the final Medal course. Mixing it up with Geoff and Mike was Rob Kindt, who took a solid 4^th early on, and maintained a strong position that led him into the gold fleet for the finals. Steve Gibson flew Ozone Sports on the course, which gave him the needed grunt to power downwind. On his final race Gibson dug deep down, listening to Chips voice of encouragement in the back of his head, and he charged into an 8^th position win with the Silver Fleet. During every race, all of the gentleman on Ozone’s Race Team flew proud and strong, riding elbow to elbow with the finest Kiteboarders on the planet. It was an amazing event to witness, and as exciting as racing can be, especially when you are rooting for such outstanding riders that continued to push harder and harder during every marathon session.

This race went beyond kites and riders and pushed the current limits of board design and fin shape to their fullest. Throughout the week athletes switched up gear dialing into wind conditions, body weight and riding style. Most interesting was fin placement and shape. From large rear dual fins to quad set ups of split sizes, there was a myriad of options, many of which were good on only one tack. While Chip had trained and specifically tuned his fins before the racing, many others were still changing set ups trying to eek out an advantage possible. Rob switched from fins with foils on both sides, to single sided foils that allowed him to climb upwind better, and not bog out on the downwind run. Board design is peaking right now with these new shapes and fins, and it seems the next step is pushing the limits of race specific kites. The benefit will be for everyone, as a race kite needs to be great at everything from cranking upwind, delivering power and staying stable downwind… With the help of the Ozone Race Team and master designer Rob Whittall, next years Edge kites should be sweet.

There were over 64 competitors and the final Race results can be found online at the St. Francis Yacht Club website and on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/SFKiteworlds or www.StFYC.com

Congratulations go out to the entire Ozone Race Team… I’ve raised my glass and you should too… Here’s how our boys did at the World Championships for Course Racing:

2^nd place Gold Fleet, Chip Wasson

10^th place Gold Fleet, Mike Gebhardt

11^th Place Gold Fleet, Geoff Headington

24^th place Gold Fleet, Rob Kindt

10^th place Silver Fleet, Steve Gibson

Eli's fleet of Yakuza GT Race Kites

2009-08-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

Eli Anderson's new fleet of Yakuza GT race kites have arrived. Eli has dialed in a stealthy buggy capable of mach speeds, that he has been training with on the Oregon Coast. When the wind goes Nuclear he's ready to head inland to the wide expanse of the Alvord Dry Lake, where he will continue to attempt to brake the Buggy Speed Record.

At the NABX event this year Eli hit the low 60 mph range...he's looking for 75 mph and gunning for 100mph.

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

Summer Race Results from California

2009-08-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

It has been an active racing season in California this summer. The Cabrinha Thursday night races kicked off early and will continue on into September. So far the Bay Area boys are doing well with several top placement finishes.

Recently the SF/UN Challenge showed that the team was ready for long distance races, with Chip, Geoff and Rob holding strong leads in the top 3 positions along this arduous course. Rob was so far ahead he missed the mark and had to take an official 4th position.

Congrats to the boys as they keep pushing and training hard!

Windzup,
Brian Schenck

Ozone Race Team launches Blog!

2009-08-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you for tuning into the new Race Team Blog. We will be posting news and stories along with photos of the Team here.

We will post of upcoming races and events, along with recaps and updates.

The Team covers several mediums, from surf to snow.
On the water, course racing is rapidly growing with more venues hosting races this summer.
On the snow riders have been competing in Kiter-X races along with distance courses. Pushing individual speeds and distance is a daily goal.
On land, buggy racing is most popular with cours racing, speed and distance challenges. Currently the Kite Buggy offers the fastest potential kite speeds...followed by Ski racers.

Please keep checking back in, we will be filling this site with as much Race Team Content as possible.

Windzup,
Brian Schenck