Test Time
We are not going to lie, Ozone has always been a firm favourite of ours. This is mainly due to the fact they own their own factory. This leads to a high quality reliable product and continued innovation, as they can design a kite and be on the water the same day.
When we learnt Ozone were expanding the kite factory to now produce boards we were extremely excited.
The conditions we tried the board in were less than ideal but lead to a great test. Wind 28-30knts water was a high low tide at 2m, bringing in quite a bit of chop and an air temperature of 1 degree meant we had to use booties for this test.
Jumping on the board the first thing we noticed was how nice the pads and straps were for such a simple design. They locked us in nicely even with neoprene boots on. The pads have got to be some of the softest we have tried. Only one minor adjustment was needed which was nice and simple with one velcro strap.
The double concave base really channels the water through the board. It’s super grippy and allows you to carve the board with confidence. The Code V1 flew through the chop without a problem. It’s defiantly not as soft as some boards on the market that may have abs tip construction, however there was no sign of slapping and we could still build our speed nicely, and best of all no water spray in the face!
Underfoot this board is lively it feels smaller then it’s size, probably due to the fee-ride outline and the slimmer tips. Going in for boosts you can really hold your edge till the last minute to allow yourself to rocket in to the sky. And there is tons of pop on demand due to a stiffer tip.
Landings on the board are smooth. We had a couple of nasty wipeouts after the kite we were using stalled mid kiteloop, however the double concave running through the centre really helps break the water tension and definitely helped with the impacts.
The Code V1 really points upwind nicely and holds its speed and grip through carving turns.
We asked one of our local riders to give the board a shot and his feedback is as follows
“It feels smaller than it is and has a lot of edge grip. stiff in the right places. And the double concave allows it to leave the watereffortlessly. It felt like I was going bigger than on my Monk”
Special Thanks To Howard Kearley for braving the wind and grabbing a few shots of Team rider Karl Tidy