It’s always great to see a new brand entering the fray, and the guys behind Odo have a heap of relevant experience and have focused hard on getting things right from day one. They have a small but very well thought out line up, and we’re excited to see what they get up to over the next few months.
So, Odo will be a relatively new brand to a lot of our readers. What can you tell us about the brand and your philosophy?
Indeed, the brand is new to the market. Odo Kiteboarding was launched in June 2018 but the very initial phase of the project dates back to January 2014 when a team of riders shaped the first Compact Series Surfboards. The Odo Kiteboarding team is made up of people that have long time experience in relevant industries close to kitesurfing. So we have 30 years of experience in the hi-performance superyachts sailing industry and have made use of this and of high tech materials and special construction techniques to design top quality and high performance products, to let riders enjoy the wind and the water in the best way. All our products are designed to combine performance with aesthetic, and have been prototyped and tested at a local, European and worldwide level by a range of riders for over three years.
So the Odo 2019 collection is upon us. Can you run us through the kites that you have released and explain a little bit about each of these?
Odo Kiteboarding is releasing two kite models made with proprietary design to cover the vast majority of the market needs. The YO kite is more oriented towards strapless freestyle, wave, hydrofoil and the school segment, and the K1 hybrid kite is more focused on freeride, freestyle and wave. Each model is available in nine sizes (from 4 to 12m) and in blue, red or green colorways.
Can you give us some more details about the YO?
The YO has great stability, uncompromised upwind and drifting characteristics paired with an excellent depower system which make YO kites the choice when it’s time to ride waves. The intuitive bar feeling and predictable flying position will be beneficial both for skilled riders and for beginners still taking their first kite lessons. Thanks to the leading edge design, the YO kite also guarantees a quick relaunch. The excellent pop that YO kites deliver is useful to learn or improve strapless freestyle and to progress during each session. The YO kite also performs extremely well in the low end wind range which allows the rider to maneuver quickly in the waves with a smaller kite or to be used for hydrofoiling.
And the K1?
This is the most versatile kite in the range that, thanks to its hybrid design, will allow the rider to use it for different purposes. Its intuitive and soft bar feeling combined with a progressive power delivery, high turning speed, top stability, great depower and excellent upwind performance make the K1 suitable for freeride, freestyle and wave riding. K1 kites have been engineered to let the rider control the unhook pop with the certainty of having the right power at the right time, and K1 hang time performance will help the rider in the hooked tricks as well.
These fly on the Quick Vario bar – what can you tell us about this?
The Quick Vario bar is a 4-line adjustable width bar equipped with high quality materials of which 70% are made in Italy. The bar is embedded with innovative materials and functional conceptions from the sailing industry: titanium fittings to avoid the degradation from the salt, low diameter flying lines (1.5 mm, 450kg breaking strength) from Liros to decrease the friction of the lines against the air, thus increasing the bar control and feeling. The EVA injected technology handles are made to guarantee the best grip and comfort while riding, while the quick release reduced size increases the bar stroke. Our QR cup has a special design that helps activate it immediately if required. And it comes with the freeride/freestyle setting (for a hook harness) or with the wave setting (for a rope harness). The flying lines are 25 meters in length (22 meters plus 3 meter length extensions).
Then you have a complete lineup of surfboards – what is on offer here?
Yes, so the strapless surfboard range is made up of four models: Compact Series, Compact Pro Series, Classic Pro Series and Gerrie Series. The Compact (5’0’’ 5’2’’ 5’4’’) and Compact Pro (5’0’’ 5’2’’) are cutting edge products for the riders that want to learn or to progress into strapless freestyle and waveriding. The deep single concave bottom design of the Compact and Compact Pro guarantees acceleration and quick planing and a lot of fun in all conditions. Classic Pro and Gerrie Series (both available in 5’8’’ 5’10’’ 6’0’’ sizes) are focused on waveriding mainly. The Classic Pro is ideal for waves up to medium size while the Gerrie surfboard is for big waves or for riders that prefer a smaller volume board. For all four models the special deck design features a structural beam and lower lateral deck area that have been engineered to increase the resistance to longitudinal forces and at the same time to increase the foot contact with the board. Thanks to this design the rider will enjoy a superior board robustness paired with unmatched riding comfort and board control when pulling freestyle tricks.
What is the layup of the boards?
The boards are made with EPS high quality core, epoxy resin, bamboo, carbon and cork reinforcements. With the lamination, two bamboo layers are added on the deck of Compact and Gerrie Series while the Compact Pro and Classic Pro are a bit lighter and are laminated with one bamboo layer and one UD carbon tape. In all the surfboard range, two cork reinforcement areas are placed in the front and back heel impact areas to reduce the shock of the impacts.
And what are you planning to release over the coming months?
To complete our range, we will soon release two models of twintip boards, and we are also working on a hydrofoil project to be released in 2019.
How has the launch gone so far and have you been pleased with what people have had to say?
As usual the launch of a new brand is challenging but we are happy for what has been done so far and excited about the future: people that tested our products during the demo days in Spain, France and Italy are extremely satisfied about their ease of use, performance, design and safety.
This article originally appeared in TheKiteMag #28. To subscribe, go here.
