EH Ovando 7m review
So the day finally came, the wind was about 20-25 knots, quite gusty. A day like this i would normally go out with a 9m or even a 12m kite, but I thought it could be fun to see what this Ovando were capable of doing…
Once in the air I had major problems already from the beginning. This day was gusty and the wind was suddenly dropping for a short moment now and then. This is something that I normally doesn’t bother me, or rather the other kites I´ve been riding usually don’t give a fuck about gusts, they just shake a bit and the next second they’re ready to go again, this was not the case with the Ovando… I figured out that the Ovando is not a kite that is allowed to stand still, not even for a second. Gusts are literally spoken deadly for the Ovando. The Ovando has a very low angle of attack and also a flat profile. These two factors in combination with a quite low aspect ratio makes this kite one of its kind. The Ovando is super fast and the lift is incredible! My weight is 187 pounds and I was almost airborn a few times when I just was standing in the water! The backside of the low angle of attack and the flat profile is that the kite can’t handle gusts very well. Once the lines slack the kite will dive straight in the ground. So you really have to keep the kite in motion by all time, else you’ll crash it.
This day most people were riding 9’s. One guy was riding a Slingshot Fuel 13m. He was a bit over powered, but still. I never thought it would be able for me to ride with this 7m Ovando, but I thought that I might as well try since I had the kite up in the sky. To my big surprise I easily got up on the board with decent power. The kite is so fast so it´s a pleasure to ride this kite, making kite loops and quick turns was a piece of cake. Riding the Ovando was like driving Ferrari on the highway when everyone else is driving in slow motion!
Jumping was also possible this day, no mega jumps, but still good jumps considering my weight and wind speed. The fact that the kite is fast of course gives you the possibilty to increase the power in the kite by the induced wind you create by flying the kite like a mofo in the sky.
The bar
I would say that the bar is ok. The depower strap is easy to reach, and the bar is quite comfortable. The lines felt a bit thin, but perhaps are they super strong. I´ll soon try this kite again when it’s blowing more, I really look forward to explore the jumping capabilities of this beast and we’ll then see if the lines will hold or not. I think they will, it´s probably just that I´m used to more reinforced lines, such as those on the Slingshot RPM.
Overall
The Ovando is definitely not a beginner kite, but if you learn to master it I think the Ovando is a really fun kite! Lightning fast and totally different to all these low aspect “toy kites” that you can park in the sky which can be nice sometimes, but maybe not so fun. The wind range is also a big plus. I think this 7m Ovando is equal to a 9m bowkite.
Video
Stay tuned more the next review 🙂
EH Ovando 9m review
I had a short session on a EH Ovando 9m today. It was one of those days when I normally wouldn’t even bother to pump my 12m c-kite, but since this was a one time opportunity I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to see what this Ovando was capable of. To my surprise it went well to ride with my 139cm board and I soon realized that I there was no need for this huge board, so I switched to my 131cm board. At the same time the wind picked up a little and I had one of my most powerful sessions ever, I even had to pull the depower strap a little bit!
Hard to say how much is was blowing, but I think I started with only 5 m/s and probably around 8 m/s at the end of the session.
Didn’t evaluate the kite when it comes to water relaunch, jumping etc since I was busy handling the power, but I hope to be able to find that out soon.
I´m not the guy that hype kites and I´m usually quite critical to kites in general, if there is nothing special about them, then I don’t see the reason to come up with things such as easy water relaunch, good bar grip, nice colors, one pump system, just to make the kite sound descent. But this time I don’t feel that I´m exaggerating when I say that this is the most powerful 9m kite I ever tried!
I think this 9m Ovando can be compared to any average 11m kite and this 9m Ovando is perfect for me a day with descent wind and my weight is 85kg. So if you consider buying an Ovando I would suggest you to go one or two sizes smaller than you planned to.
Good wind!
/EH kiter