U-Turn Oxigen Pro 5m & Standard 3.2m

If buying your first kite seems like a minefield, it doesn't necessarily get easier when, feeling a bit more confident, you decide to take the next step from your Buster, Beamer, Bullet or whatever. The choice is just as bewildering but at least by this point you should have an idea where your priorities lie i.e. board / buggy / lift / speed / depower and so on. I'd already decided that boarding was my thing and since depower seemed out of my price range, almost inevitably thoughts turned to the purchase of a Flexifoil Blade.

It's the kite that gets mentioned again and again as an essential for boarders – alongside tales of huge jumps and dire warnings of how it will hurt you if you if you're careless or unlucky. None the less I decided to see what the hype was about and was able to pick up a pristine 2nd hand 4.9 Blade III from another racekites member. I spent the latter half of the year flying it whenever possible and it was good fun. Sometimes exhilarating, often a bit scary but I'll start by saying that not long after my first U-Turn flight, I sold the Blade and my 3m Ozone Samurai and bought a 5m and 3.2m pair of Oxigens. The Blade and Samurai are both great kites with diehard devotees but I don't regret the change and will try to explain why, for me, the Oxigen was a better choice.

U-Turn are a German company with a pretty low profile in the UK , they don't have any big name riders or major advertising campaign although the company founder is apparently well known in the paragliding world – the other half of their business. The product range has 4 models from a 'novice' foil to an all out race machine with the Oxigen is placed as their intermediate all-round traction model for buggy and board users, unusually being available in 2 specifications labelled Pro and Standard. I bought a 5m Pro and a 3.2m Standard which covers the main wind range I encounter up on the North East coast.

One of the features of the U-Turn range is that although supplied as fixed bridle kites they are designed to be convertible to depower from the outset. How well this works I can't say as the final depower kit is still to appear on the market but will add an update when it becomes available.

Packaging

Packaging and presentation is fairly no-nonsense. No fancy rucksacks or glossy brochures to bump the price up, just a ripstop stuff-sac, a plain paper manual, a couple of stickers and the kite. All U-Turn kites are sold kite only although they do a full ready-to-fly kit for £70. I've just fitted a set of 25m lines (190kg / 110kg) and flown them on Ozone handles and a 65cm Flexifoil bar. A minor gripe here – the 3.2m came with a smaller stuff-sac that is only just big enough for the kite so the handles or bar have to go outside.

Design and Build

Overall impression once laid out, is of a neatly made, medium aspect shape with a straight leading edge curving towards the tips and a curved trailing edge. With the 5m laid centre to centre on top of a Blade 4.9 you can see the difference in wingspan, tip shape and overall aspect.

Unlike the multi-panel designs found on some kites, the 2 colour pattern with the U-turn trademark batwing / claw' looks a little unsophisticated. On the 5m Pro the blue is very blue indeed and combined with the red markings, pretty bright on the eye. The Oxigen standard has the same design in red and yellow with a white underside. I'm not hugely keen on the colour combinations but in the air, the translucent blue Pro looks great, especially on a bright day when it is illuminated by the sun.

The only other graphics on the foil are a small label and “www.u-turn.de” screen printed on the underside, just so you know you're flying german kit.

Construction of the Oxigen is much like other high quality kites : good materials, double stitched seams and very tidy all round but it has a few features worth highlighting. One of the less obvious of these is the use of a stiff plastic material (mylar perhaps?) in the leading and trailing edge ends of the ribs, presumably there to maintain a good profile in these important areas. There are 21 cells on both sizes with the 4 cells on the wingtips being closed. The leading edge intakes are D-shaped and have a narrow tape reinforcement around their edge, they are smaller than those I've seen on Ozone and Flexi kites but seem to function just as well.

One of the almost hidden details are the wingtip dirt-outs. Inside the velcro opening is a little 'chute' which can be pulled through, preventing the velcro from re-closing, this serves the dual purpose of a blowout valve and can be left open during flight.

What separates the Pro from the standard model are the materials used for sail and bridle. The standard uses a 44 g/m2 ripstop nylon whilst the Pro has a lighter 40g/m2 nylon fabric with a water repelling coating as used on the Nitro racekite. Water splashed on the Pro beads and runs off quickly but it's not as if the standard material is spongelike. Water still beads on the surface rather than soaking straight in. Comparing the two side by side, the pro material is more translucent and silky than the 'crispier' standard but doesn't otherwise appear radically different.

Out of curiosity I weighed the 2 kites before attaching lines and the results where interesting if not entirely conclusive. The 3.2m standard came in at around 850g and the 5m pro at 910g, this means a 7% increase in weight for a 56% increase in sail area. Obviously a direct size-for-size comparison would be ideal but it might give an idea of the material difference. U-Turn claim the lighter material mainly aids lower wind performance and for this reason I decided to save a bit of money and go for the 'heavier' standard 3.2m since it would be flown in winds 15+ mph.

The most noticeable feature of the pro kite is the bridle, which aside from being made from sheathed Kevlar rather than Dyneema - is rainbow colour coded as an aid to fitting the de-power kit. Once again the standard of construction is evident in the neat stitching of loops, attachment points and brake power-ring attachment. These are part of the bridle design and include rings near the wingtips which act to pull in the wingtip edge when under tension. Again, the Standard is identical in construction but with a sheathed dyneema bridle, this is also colour coded with flecks in the sheathing.

It's hard to fault the kite's build but perhaps one area where it might be improved would be if the trailing edge were taped. However if you don't drag your kite around on the ground this shouldn't be a big cause for concern and it may save a little bit of weight which could benefit the larger kites. Compared to the mylar tape reinforcement found on Ozone kites the leading edge looks a little vulnerable, this is something that is only likely to be tested in a big crash which I'm happy to say I've avoided so far.

Flying

On setting up the first thing I noticed is how well behaved it is one the ground – no bouncing around and little flapping with the brake lines pulled in. Even in high winds the 3.2m stays stuck to the ground although it feels a bit reverse-powered up so a firm staking out is required. On launch in moderate wind the kite needs to be 'pumped' or snaked up to the zenith as it doesn't inflate and power up straight away. This makes downwind launches a bit less hairy although as I discovered in high wind, it is still best to launch to the side - firing the 3.2m straight up in 20+mph wind lifted me clean off my feet in a classic superman to faceplant. Lesson learned. In a light wind a tug on the main lines prior to launch makes the kite sit up and it can then be lifted off quite easily as described.

Once inflated the Oxigen forms a very stable foil with little input required to keep it stationary. In variable winds it holds inflation well and even if overflown or luffed it resists folding or bow-tieing – something that I found frustrating with the Blade. The leading edge tends to hold its shape quite well in a luff and I wondered if this is due to the stiffeners or the smaller intakes retaining the internal air for longer.

Powering back up is a bit like launching, the kite will semi inflate before filling up completely which is useful to prevent being dragged over the front on a board. This characteristic does mean that light wind flying requires you to keep the kite moving as a collapse will take a bit longer to recover.

Although landing the kites is very straightforward they need a good bit of pull on the brakes to stall them so it's important that kite killers are attached near the end of the brake leaders. On stalling, the kite will fold its trailing edge in and reverse down to the ground with minimal flapping or spinning about.

2 line steering is responsive and progressive with the 3.2m flying well on a standard safety bar. The 5m is controllable but both kites really benefit from a little brake input to get the best out of them so I prefer to fly them on handles. With some brake on the turn, both sizes will pivot beautifully on the wingtip, retaining power and only folding a tip occasionally at the edge in lighter wind. I have tried the 5m on a cross-over pulley system on the bar and, although it needs fine tuning, the turn rate was improved.

Using the brakes also brings more out of the Oxigen as the wind picks up, these kites move pretty quickly through the window so some active flying is sometimes required to keep them in the sweet spot. Applying a bit of brake to both sides slows the kite down but gives a small power boost and can also hold it back from the edge. The manual mentions that adding an extra knot on the brake leader to increase tension can help stabilise the kite in gusty wind, I tried this on the 3.2 and found it helps stop the kite from overflying but restricts upwind ability so left it set up as normal.

Power delivery is smooth and strong, it comes on quickly as the kite accelerates but with less of an aggressive snap than the Blade. Now I realise that this is the main reason for the Blade's 'legendary' status but I suspect for many flyers, myself included, it's not necessarily desirable. In gusty winds it can make a Blade downright dangerous due to the quickness that it can deflate and then power up. For the Oxigen to be less demanding in this respect may mean a trade-off in pure performance but I believe it's worth it. I'm certainly a lot more confident flying and trying new stuff under this kite than always feeling a bit on edge with the Blade.

In terms of stability and ease of handling the Oxigens are not massively different to lower aspect kites like the Samurai and Bullet and in lighter winds would not cause a new flyer much difficulty. As the wind picks up they remain controllable but start to show an edge in performance, particularly on crosswind runs when you get that great 'hooked up' feeling as the kite accelerates in the apparent wind. Upwind performance is also a notch above and its possible to get a good angle against the wind with both sizes although the 5m pro seems to sit a bit further forward in the window. Consequently it needs a little more attention to stop it overflying.

It's not possible to make a comparison on the Pro vs Standard specifications without testing two of the same size side by side. What I can say is that the 5m Pro will launch, fly and remain stable in very light wind when my 4.9m Blade would have to be worked hard to keep it aloft. It doesn't generate much power at these windspeeds but it helps to keep it flying when the wind is a bit on-off. If I'd had the spare cash I might have bought a pro 3.2 but I don't feel the standard material (which is as good as most kites) hampers this size much at all.

My jumping technique on the board is somewhat in the early stages but I found it relatively easy to get lift out of the Oxigen, the 5m being more progressive than the 3.2 which as mentioned earlier, caught me out in high wind. Those with more technique could get more out of it I'm sure but building up a bit of speed and then directing the kite up results in a progressive lift that inspires confidence when you're just starting to try and get off the ground. If however you're looking for lift above all else then you'll probably be best served by a Blade or similar more freestyle oriented kite. If you want lift but not too much then Oxigen would fit the bill.

U-turn point out that the Oxigens are designed to lift at the upper end of the wind range but even when moderately powered up there is noticeable pull at the top of the window. According to the windrange chart for a 75kg flyer, the 3.2m starts being useable for traction at around 20mph. I've found this to be a conservative estimate and at this windspeed my 80kg have been well powered up for beach cruising on the board.

Summary

The may not have the kudos of owning a big brand foil but if you're prepared to look beyond that you'll find a product that is of equallyl excellent quality and in my opinion equal or better value for money. As a comparison here are some prices of a range of similar sized kites, bear in mind that the Oxigen price does not include lines and handles so you will have to factor in around £50 for those.

Flexifoil Bullet 3.5m £245

Ozone Samurai 3m £245

HQ Crossfire 3.2m £185

U-Turn Oxigen Std. 3.2m £181

U-Turn Oxigen Pro 3.2m £223

Flexifoil Blade III 4.9m £375

Ozone Riot 5m £356

HQ Crossfire 5m £239

U-Turn Oxigen Std 5m £209

U-Turn Oxigen Pro 5m £293

These are all recommended retail prices and shopping around will often find you a better deal, I certainly paid well below the RRP. Kites can be bought direct from the distributors in Glasgow if you can't find a stockist and I've found them to be very helpful with quick delivery.

As to advantages of the Pro spec material over the Standard, I'd really need to fly the same size kites - (preferably in drizzle!) - to make a proper judgement. Given how little wind the 5m Pro needs to fly I would tend towards the lighter Pro spec in the larger sizes and would like to add a 6.2m or 7.8m for light wind flying in the summer.

To conclude, I'll admit that the fact they are a bit outside the mainstream does add a little to the appeal, especially at my local Flexifoil dominated flying site. This is superficial stuff though and means nothing if they weren't great fun to fly. They have the right balance of handling and performance for my level of riding and where I want to progress to. I'm certain that anyone trying one out would be similarly impressed.

By : jomoj