A password will be e-mailed to you.

Sizes Available: 5, 7, 9, 12m
Sizes Tested: 5, 9m

OZONE Says:

The design brief was outrageous””develop a kite to bridge the gap between inflatable and foil kites while making it excel on water, snow and land. The Hyperlink is a true multipurpose foil kite; it brings together the performance of a foil with the feeling of an inflatable. One kite to cover almost every aspect of Kiting! Free ride, hydrofoil, boost and float, air style or unhooked, backcountry snow missions, you name it and it delivers.

The Hyperlink is unique, it’s the first foil kite to be as dynamic and fun to ride as a performance inflatable. With an unparalleled level of stability, handling and bar feeling the Hyperlink takes it to the next level. With an innovative valve design it can be ridden on the water, snow and land safely, as a Closed Cell or Open Cell kite.

We know many inflatable kite riders can see the advantages of high performance foil kites such as the Chrono or R1, however the bridle lines and complexity can be daunting. The Hyperlink is simple and user friendly, the mid aspect ratio and minimal bridle plan makes taking the jump from inflatable to foil kite easy! No matter how hard-core inflatable you are, now is the time to expand your universe. Take that step into the unknown – the reward is more adrenaline, more riding time and a new feeling!

Visit for more info: www.ozonekites.com/products/water-kites/hyperlink-v1

Our Testers Say:

“I foiled, surfed and twin-tipped with this one and it did it all. The lines felt really long, which is to mean this needs 18m line lengths to feel like a 27m inflatable. Bar pressure was medium plus but delivered surprising performance from a small foil package. Extremely stable, excellent boost/hangtime, goes upwind well and relaunches really well for a foil kite.” // Davey Beard

“This was my first time flying a foil and I picked up the hang of it super fast. Very light in the air, very responsive, excellent upwind ability, good lift and hangtime. This kite was super light and quick; it sends back into the window well with a little more bar pressure than most inflatables.” // Chris Myles

Meet Our Testers

TKB Says:

Do you recall the raging debates on kite forums in the early years, typically titled ‘LEI vs Ram Air,’ pitching the theoretical efficiencies of foil kites against the user-friendly handling of inflatables? This topic was probably one of the most passionate discourses in kiteboarding history (other greats would be whether Aaron Hadlow’s handlepass ring was cheating or whether board-offs with a board handle as opposed to the much more stylish rail grab should be scored the same or even allowed””we digress).

As we know today, foils eventually found their niche in racing and inflatables have dominated everything else, but someone at Ozone got the funny idea to finally muddy the waters with a hybrid; a foil that will try really hard to fool you into thinking you’re flying an inflatable. The Hyperlink is a medium aspect foil kite with a wing span much narrower than the race kites that have been entering the market. The Hyperlink boasts a simplified bridle arrangement, but honestly to a born and bred 4-line kiter (most of whom snarl at the sight of a 5-line setup) this will still seem daunting. As our testers experienced, once you master some simple rigging/management practices the spaghetti is something you will learn to ignore (your mind learns, yes it looks like a giant mess, but have faith that technique keeps it all lined up). When it comes to inflating the kite, no pump is required and it’s much easier to lay the kite on the ground, open some apertures and watch the kite handily inflate itself. When it comes to launching, it’s far more user-friendly and less technical than getting a race kite inflated and in the air. What we learned about the Hyperlink is that it indeed has ripped off the snappy steering response and faster and tighter tuning of an inflatable””which makes it a much easier transition for the average freeride kiter. While this kite initiates a turn like an inflatable, it still generates power like a foil; it likes to create the bulk of its power from the motion of moving across the window and perhaps that is the feature you want from the foil side of the marriage. When you do steer the kite you can feel that the kite is stalling/braking one side of the kite while the other accelerates to accomplish a turn, so it’s not a replica of inflatable steering, but a much more responsive and tighter version of the inflatable. Much of the sheeting on the Hyperlink happens in a fairly narrow length of travel on the bar and like all inflatables, it can be stalled if you massively oversheet the kite before the kite is moving across the window. The big upside to this kite is that it gives you access to a ton of power with an extremely light sail plan, and equally as notable, this kite will deliver explosive lift for exceptionally high airs in a package that is far easier to operate than a race kite.

What would you do with a kite that stays afloat in the lightest wind, delivers a ton of range and steers like an inflatable? We would stay out much longer on our foilsurfing sessions after all the other inflatable kiters had the commonsense to go in. If we were to guess the ideal end users for the Hyperlink, the first is probably the racer types out their that might add one to their quiver for those days they want to do something other than go in a straight line (read waves and carving) but without crossing over into the dreaded inflatable territory. The second group of kiters would be anybody in the snowkite world that also crosses into the water, and probably the biggest group would be freeride foilboarders and light wind specialists who often find themselves in the lightest of conditions but still want a responsive kite that allows you to carve, surf and jump when the wind would otherwise force you and your inflatable to mow a straight line.

The Hyperlink is marketed with the Foil Contact-Water Control System which features Ozone’s latest bar design, but the bar we were given for the test was a bit different in form, but same in function. The Foil Contact-Water Control System is a fixed length bar (38, 45, 50, and 55cm lengths) that utilizes a single center line safety depower, plastic coated depower/throw line, a low V and an above bar depower Clam cleat with a power adjuster toggle with a magnet built in to keep it stowed while riding. The center lines end in larksheads for rigging purposes. The push away quick release features a hand operated quick release swivel that doubles as a travel guard. This bar comes with a floating brake that drapes from one outside line to the other and can be used to reverse hot launch or kill the power in the kite when needed. Since the bar ergonomics we tested is no longer in production we will refrain from commenting on its comfort.

Visit for more info on the bar: https://www.ozonekites.com/products/control-systems/foil-contact-water-control-system


 

Want more gear reviews all in one place? Read detailed and objective reviews on the 30 kite models and 33 board models that Tkb and freeride testers reviewed for the 2018 Freeride Gear Review Guide.