I was afraid that if I tried the Pyranha Ozone at Lee Valley I’d want one. I tried it. Now I want one. For those of us who don’t know, the Ozone is Pyranha’s latest release and replaces the Inazone in their “freeride” (river-play) category; in layman’s terms, freeride means you can perform modern freestyle tricks like loops, cartwheels and blunts while also speeding through rapids and performing downriver moves. Here’s what got me hooked…
Looking very much like a Jed that’s been run over, you wouldn’t think the Ozone would be any good for freestyle (especially if you’ve tried the Inazone which looks superficially similar), but I can tell you that you’d be wrong about that. The Ozone is 46 cm longer than the Jed but that doesn’t make it any less easy to throw around, this is because it’s only got marginally more volume despite the extra length – a recipe for slicey ends and easy initiation. The volume distribution in the Ozone is also a bit more central in comparison to the Jed and Inazone which makes for extremely smooth transitions between ends and great balance during cartwheels and split-wheels. In a typical playboat you’ll find the bow harder to slam down and the stern will come through much more easily (and therefore faster) during a move like a cartwheel, this means you speed up and slow down during the course of the move which makes it harder to keep your rhythm going whereas in the Ozone you could keep cartwheeling for days because both ends are much more equal volume-wise. In the Inazone there was more overall volume and this was spread out to both ends, considering the Inazone was longer anyway this made initiating cartwheels very difficult and hitting the bottom very easier; in contrast the Ozone is much more slicey and has a slight scoop (similar to the Jed) at both bow and stern which helps you to initiate ends and makes it easier for the flow to catch your bow once the rotation has started.
“If it’s so slicey surely you can’t get aerial?” you might ask… well, actually, you can go huge in this thing. You might need to hunt for a reasonably deep feature but most people would consider Lee Valley shallow and I was managing to loop it regularly without hitting bottom, the trick is to plug gently further back in the foam pile. Due to it’s length the Ozone is slower than the Jed getting vertical on loops and other aerial tricks but this actually works to it’s advantage giving it tons of air and snap when it finally releases (whereas the Inazone really didn’t like the idea of leaving the water) so if you’re worried about learning new-school tricks like how to phonics or lunar orbit look no further, in fact it might make it easier to learn some tricks due to the slower initial rotation which gives you extra time to think about paddle placement, body rotation and edging.
The Ozone has a couple of other tricks up it’s sleeve too: it’s speedy, tailey’s like a dream and boofs with ease. What more could you want for river-running? The Ozone has that extra speed that the Jed and Inazone lacked meaning that unlike before, where you “deliberately” endered, now you can actually make it over a grade 3 feature – the slicey ends and playful feel make it really easy to lift your bow over the foam pile and it just skips over the top so you can avoid that end-of-day beatdown you really weren’t looking forward to. That speed also means you can finally catch that tiny elusive wave at your home spot and makes downriver moves like wave-wheels and kick-flips much easier because you can properly take off the lip of the green wave rather than kind of flop and fall on your face. Being slicey at both ends the Ozone loves to tailey, I can genuinely say that this is the easiest boat to get vertical on an eddy-line that I’ve ever been in and it can just keep it up; it’s stable once vertical and much easier to control in contrast to a playboat which you have to force to balance, have no fear though – the Ozone has more than enough volume to run rapids without making things a bit too fun so if you’re looking for something more playful than a Rexy or a Ripper to spice up your local grade 2 or you want to send some grade 4+ even harder than before, look no further than the Ozone…
It’s at this point in the article where I should probably complain about the outfitting or criticise the Ozone’s performance in some way, but honestly there isn’t anything to really complain about. The price is quite steep because it’s just been released (~£1,185) – but that’s true of all new designs, the stock colours (Jaffa Cake, Orange Soda and Blue Crush) are all quite nice (especially now Pyranha have started including coloured handles and outfitting trim as standard) and in terms of performance they really hit the nail on the head; if you don’t believe me then I suggest you have a go yourself and I’m sure you’ll realise what I mean pretty quickly…
To conclude, as an all round great boat to river-run or use for freestyle you couldn’t go far wrong with an Ozone; Pyranha have made a huge step up from their Inazone (which I tried for an hour beforehand) to create a kayak I think anyone could have fun with, so if you’re thinking of getting a freeride kayak and are considering the Inazone instead, I think you’re making a mistake and would recommend at least trying the Ozone as I’m sure that even 30 minutes on the water will make you change your mind. Speaking as a person who mostly does freestyle I was pleased to realise that with a bit of perseverance I could perform most of the same tricks in the Ozone that I could in my Jed but with downriver handling similar to my Rexy, so whatever your ability or discipline preference I guarantee that there’ll be something to like about the Ozone.
You can check out my Instagram video in the Ozone below, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog if you’d like to be notified about any new posts…
Patrick Kyak 