Ozone International Team Rider Butch, reports from his recent trip to Hawaii for a TV commercial featuring Land-boarding (KGB) with the Manta II’s and Ozone’s SpeedFying wing the BULLET.

Butch >>
“6 of us had been recruited from across the globe all gathered together in a massive beach side villa in PUAKO, in the North Western corner of the ‘BIG ISLAND’ of Hawaii.

Our mission….. To Stunt Crew a high budget, professional Hollywood film commercial, featuring, for the first time ever on this mind blowing scale, KGB riding in some of the harshest locations imaginable on the Hawaiian islands.

We had a stunt chopper which we harnessed a rider to for the trick stunts in pure Hollywood fashion.

Everything would be shot in High Definition 35mm film with cameras ranging from countless large hand held models and huge tripod cams all the way through to massive truck mounted systems, and hugely expensive helicopter space cams that tracked and followed our every move with absolute precision. Equipment that until now has been unheard of in KGB documentation..

Our Working Stunt Team consisted of

Wes Matewyew out of Ventura ,California
Gabe Shortman from Portland Oregon
Alex Brown from Portsmouth UK
Akoni Kama , Pro Dirt boarder extraordinaire from Los Angeles
Sean Turpin, the newest member on his initiation into the international crew from Hinckley, UK,(Ozone)
and myself, Butch , from New Zealand ( Design-Extreme, Ozone ,GI International)

All brought together by our mutual friend and Ozone International rider Eli Anderson.

We had to justify our position on the team by riding as hard as humanly possible, pushing the limits of our own riding as well as well as that of KGB as a whole. This would be a job none of us would ever forget. Both for the locations that we would ride in,the situations we would find ourselves in, and the endless laughter and solid friendships that would develop over our 8 day stay.

Some of us had met and partied before,others had not, but we all shared the same vision. To take our varied KGB skills to Tinsel town and begin our journey from international kiters to KGB Rock stars!

Welcome to Hollywood Baby!!!!

The whole premise of the commercial was 3 ‘Hero’ characters on an island, driving an old army jeep up through varying stunning rolling landscapes and rock strewn locations all the way to the ‘Top of the world’. In this case, a volcano. They then get out, gear up, and ride their KGB’s all the way back down, blazing through the incredible terrain doing various crazy stunts along the way.

The ‘Heroes’ then come to a 900 foot cliff face over looking the ocean and boost off the edge, soaring all the way down and landing on the beach below, still with KGB’s for the final ride along the beach to finish the sequence. Sounds pretty sick eh?!!!

The producers, FILM GEAR, chose Ozone Manta II kites for the demanding and challenging shoot, as well as Ozone Bullet Speed Flyers, all in the same red/black colour scheme for continuity as they swooped the cliffs in the final scenes, mimicing us and our KGB’s.

We nailed the shoot with style, and the production company are currently editing together the final cut to present to their clients and to release to the world.

We were an integral part of the first ever Hollywood Film Commercial featuring Kite Ground Boarding as its main subject. We killed the shoot!, and cant wait to see the final result!.

Words Butch

Photos Butch & Sean Turpin