Johnny Heineken and Ken Adgate reap the benefits of Ozone’s soon-to-be released, all-new high performance wing as they finish first and fourth at the St Francis Yacht Club’s 2023 Spring Wingding Regatta in San Francisco
EVENT: 2023 Spring Wingding Regatta, 14 – 16 April, 2023LOCATION: Saint Francis Yacht Club, Crissy Field, San Francisco, USAALL EVENT IMAGES: Salty Brother / St Francis Yacht Club
Johnny Heineken
All photos: Salty Brother / St Francis Yacht Club
Three days of short course racing on the San Francisco city-front saw Ozone team rider Johnny Heineken truly dominate proceedings with 14 race wins (from 14 races!) using Ozone’s all-new, soon-to-be-released Flux V1 wing! He was joined in fourth by fellow Ozone rider, Ken Adgate, who was also blisteringly fast with Flux across all races, missing out on the final podium by just a single point.
Originally through sailing, then for kiting and now also in winging, when it comes to proving your mettle against some of the best and most committed windsport racers in the USA, nowhere holds more credibility and professional standards than the St. Francis Yacht Club race series events.
Having progressed through the dinghy sailing ranks at the St. Francis yacht club as a youngster, Johnny Heineken went on to become a world champion in kite racing. He now channels his passion for speed into wingfoil races, which have exploded in both appeal and stature within the foil scene in San Francisco.
The Spring Wingding Regatta was the Pacific Coast Championships and has become a must-enter event for the sport’s leading racers, with over 60 of America’s most prominent wing racers in attendance.
Johnny took bullets in every race while Ken Adgate narrowly missed out on the podium himself. Both riders were ecstatic to have benefitted from the Flux’s immense performance, allowing them to win across a wide range of conditions; from lit on the 4.3m to utilising the immense light wind power of the 6.5m when the wind dropped back.
Ken: “The racing was really fun and we were so happy to have had the 6.5 and 5.7m Flux models shipped over ahead of the official product release. If we hadn’t had them, Johnny wouldn’t necessarily been in trouble, but I probably wouldn’t have made it into the top ten. Ozone’s did very well on the podium. The Flux was probably the best upwind all weekend and overall around all courses it was surprisingly good. They were really fun to ride, too. The 6.5 is very powerful, but did surprisingly well super overpowered.”
The Flux is an all-new model to be introduced to the Ozone wing line-up in May and Johnny and Ken rode the first fully signed-off versions from the factory, shipped quickly to them ahead of the important race weekend.
And what an impact they had! The cat is well and truly out of the bag about the upcoming Flux V1 release.
Although the Flux hasn’t been designed specifically for racing, the resulting benefits of blending the best leading edge materials with the expert aerodynamic knowhow honed from almost 25 years of paragliding and kiteboarding wing production have led to this.
NO ONE WANTS TO BE LEFT BEHIND – THE FLUX V1
Johnny, San Francisco swells / Photo: Abner Kingman
It can be a mind blowing task to understand the performance possibilities in a rapidly evolving sport like wingfoiling. Flying fast, bred to shred and toned and tough from tip-to-tip, the all new Flux V1 has been designed with cutting edge materials, perfectly oriented to deliver extreme aerodynamic performance.
Whether racing, jumping, ripping waves or freeriding the open ocean, the Flux is supercharged with incredible air speed, power and handling for the greatest sessions imaginable.
FULL RELEASE DETAILS COMING IN LATE SPRING!
(Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of our website for all updates!)
FLUX COMING IN HOT FROM THE FACTORY
Johnny and Ken were riding the fully signed-off final versions that will be available to the public in just a few weeks time. This is an excellent example of how Ozone benefits from the unique production flexibility that comes from the careful management of its own factory in Vietnam.
Ozone don’t release new versions of each model every year; instead products are set free onto the market once all designers and the R&D team are agreed that big improvements have been made.
Once agreed, there is very little lag time between a product being signed-off and then released publicly, because all equipment that comes out of the factory is made to order. As a result, there are no big warehouses of pre-made stock sitting idle for months that need to be pushed to market before a new product can be released.
Ozone deliver products within 15 – 30 days of order, allowing shops to carry just the right amount of gear they need to sell over the coming month. Once a new product is signed off, it can be in a customer’s hands just a month later.
“That’s incredible real time development and maximum gains for both our shops and distributors as well as Ozone customers.”
Iain Hannay, Ozone Kites General Manager
Congratulations to Johnny and Ken for a fantastic result – hopefully the first of many this season for all Ozone wing riders and racers!
Find more details of the event on the St. Francis Yacht Club website
