“People” by Ozone: Torrin Bright, Product Manager and test rider

August 24, 2022 / Kite Race Snow Wing

Torrin Bright, Ozone’s product manager and test rider, joined the brand as a 19-year-old in 2009. A competitive kitesurfer in course-board racing and freestyle, the New Zealander began as a kite tester working with Ozone founders, Matt Taggart and Rob Whittall. Through several roles, he worked his way up to product manager about five years ago. Based in Tauranga, New Zealand, he is responsible for all Ozone’s expanding line, ranging from kites and twin-tip boards to a new range of hydrofoils. Here, he explains to Ian MacKinnon how his early role as a product tester has proved invaluable for his position as product manager.

How did you come on board?

Back then, the Ozone guys came down to New Zealand. First, Matt Taggart and then Rob Whittall. I went up to Raglan and started riding their gear. I was sponsored by North (now Duotone) at the time. When I got to know the guys a bit better, I was helping with the C4 kite. The first project was testing the C4 with Rob. We went to Fiji for a month in the New Zealand winter, June and July. We were testing and trimming, to see what changes could be made to change its characteristics. By November that year I was on a full contract as a product tester and working on website management. It was awesome to get on board at that time. That was nearly 13 year ago now. It’s been great.

What does the role of product manager mean with Ozone?

There are two parts; one being product management, the other product testing. Product management is project management, managing and overseeing development and time-lines. Someone comes up with an idea. Collectively, but mostly with the general manager Iain Hannay and sometimes with the board of directors and the designers, we work on a design brief. When it’s set and signed off, we start the project—sourcing materials and designing. Pretty much from start to finish, I’m making sure all these things are on track and on time.

I’m also involved in testing prototypes. Once we get a product close to completion, we start to look at the production side. I ensure everything’s happening to spec and to plan. That involves being in constant contact with Parapex, our dedicated production facility in Vietnam. They do an amazing job and we have some awesome people there. They’re actually project managers at their end. We learn from each other.

Once we have production samples we—the design team and project management—test them and sign off on the production spec. That’s quite a big one, and when we all go out and have a beer.

Tell us about your end-to-end involvement for a specific product. The newly-launched Apex MA Range of foils is a good place to start as one of Ozone’s newest products. Talk us through that.

The Apex MA foil range is an interesting one. It’s new, but it was a long-term project to start a foil programme at Parapex. It began with the Apex V1 kitefoil. The entire production process, from CNC-ing everything, laminating everything, heat presses, screen presses, everything was set up in Vietnam.

But when the second round of [Covid] lockdown began, I was stuck in New Zealand and couldn’t go anywhere. Until then I’d really been only testing boards and kites. But I teamed up with Rob [Whittall] and Tibo [Dos Santos, Ozone foil and board designer] to test the foils. The rest of the team in Mauritius and Europe were heavily involved too. When we in New Zealand felt we had something interesting, we’d get some made and send them to the others for feedback.

Ordinarily, the prototypes are made in the Vietnam factory, but in this case it was different?

The boards and all the production is done in-house. The team in Vietnam are trained for prototyping and production. But in the case of the foils it was a bit different. Tibo was involved with setting up the foil factory at Parapex, which was a mammoth task. Because of Covid restrictions he was doing it all over Skype video calls. So, the foil prototypes were all made in New Zealand. Tibo was using 3D printers, gluing shells together and making all the moulds. Tibo was making the foil prototypes and we tested them together in New Zealand. We’d do a lot trimming, fine tuning, hacking and sanding of foils, until we got to the point where it was worth investing money to send them to the rest of the team for feedback. We were mainly working on the 1250cm²and 1500cm²front wings to validate them. Then we started expanding with the smaller sizes and also the 1800cm². It’s loads of fun using these foils for various sports. I did a little bit of foil surfing during testing to see how they work in different conditions. I did some tow-in foiling, and even some wakefoiling behind a boat. Tibo was kitefoiling and I was wingfoiling in different conditions.

Explain the design brief for the MA Range and how it was reached?

All foils have to be fun to ride. To be able to get going they have to have good lift at low speed. You don’t want to have to pump the wing like crazy and get frustrated not getting on the foil. We wanted a good amount of glide and ‘pumpability’, but we didn’t want to go crazy high-aspect. We wanted a range that is user friendly but, in general, not beginner wings (the 1800cm² and the 1500cm² for lighter-weight riders wing are the exception). In general, intermediate to advanced riders will be into these wings.

We wanted something super-manoeuvrable for its size. We wanted riders to be able to push the wing without it holding them back. Or it providing too much lift when banking on the turn and so that it foils out. That was a key thing. It’s not ridiculously high-end, nor has it incredible speed performance. These foils are more about manoeuvrability and carving and pumping and turning. When you’re on your wing it’s just a fun ride, with the ability to carve some turns.

How does you role as product manager fit in with the factory in Vietnam?

I haven’t been to the factory for three or four years, partly because of Covid. So it was awesome to go back there recently. The team there do an amazing job. You can just jump on a Skype call or send specs and they’re on it. So we don’t need to be there all the time. The latest trip with the hydrofoils came up because we were expanding the range; more fuselages, more rear wings, more front wings. With a bigger team we wanted to do a bit more training and sign off on the production process, but not the wings themselves.

We went away with some production samples to ride them physically and sign them off. With samples, we all ride them and pick over them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure all the specs are what they should be.

One of Ozone’s most iconic kites is the Edge. The Edge V11 was launched recently and repositioned as boosting, megaloop kite to satisfy the growing Big Air market. What was your input as product manager?

Pretty much on the Edge V11 it was Rob Whittall, Dom Zimmermann [head of design] and myself. We were testing, and if we had something we felt was worthwhile we’d send it to team riders for their feedback. The likes of Jamie Overbeek in the Netherlands. He’s an amazing up-and-coming rider. Actually, he’s a good example of what we like to do at Ozone. As the brand has grown we have new team riders who have skills in special areas and we try to utilise those. The Edge, lots of people love it. It’s a crowd favourite for freeride, high performance, boost and loop. The Edge definitely has power in the new Big Air game.

Talking of Jamie Overbeek, he was using an Ozone prototype at the Hydrofoil Big Air Worlds in Tarifa, where he took second place. What was that?

We’re working on some new stuff with Jamie—a kite even more tailored towards Big Air and megaloop. It’s an all-new design for Kota, or Kota-aspirational riders. We’ve been working on it since the beginning of the year, or more specifically Dom Zimmermann has been. I was in Mauritius with him, and once we had something promising we sent them to Jamie. We’ve had some good results. Of course, we’ve still some refinements to make. But that kite’s looking good and we may have something ready by late Q3 or Q4.

With existing products, though, Ozone’s uses a “version strategy”. How does that work and what are the benefits?

We run a “version strategy”. Many others in the kiting and foiling industry have adapted that approach. We work on the product and when we feel we have made a performance improvement or a materials improvement, a change that’s positive for the customer, then we release it.

With the “version strategy” there are no annual releases. For the customer it means that second-hand products hold their value for longer. Shops also don’t have stock that has to be discounted towards the end of the season because there’s going to be another one available soon. So, it’s utilising the designs and the products for their lifespan and that’s better for the Earth because we’re making less stuff. The ultimate goal is that people can use and enjoy products for as long as possible.

You’ve been in the business with Ozone quite a long time, what still excites you?

My favourite part of the whole thing, and the thing that still gets me kind-of stoked, is when we get to take our production samples and sign them off. That’s when we get to hand them to the public and see our customers enjoying them. They may not be aware that we were involved in creating them, but we see them on the beach enjoying them. That brings back the feeling of being involved and getting people stoked on the sport. Because, in the end, that’s what we’re there to do: to have some fun ourselves and get others having fun too.

In particular disciplines, I like surfing. So, surfing with a kite is my favourite thing to do when it comes to kiting. With winging, that opens the doors to a different kind of feeling, which is fantastic. One summer, I just surfed with a foil, and then got into winging as well. It’s a good way to mix it up and do all the sports.