I've been riding the Ezzy wings since January. How this came about is a little bit of a story in itself, so bear with me on the explanation before the review...
I've been living in Hawaii for 27 years, windsurfed since I was 7 (I'm 53 now), kitesurfed for many years. From 1999 to about 2007, I was a team rider for Naish Hawaii (not Naish International). Basically, I got gear at a very good deal then good trade it in for new stuff every 6 months. During those years, I got to know a lot of folks in the water sport community in Hawaii. Fast forward to December 2023, a neighbor of mine and fellow windsurfer has been doing R&D for Ezzy Windsurfing sales for years. He told me David Ezzy was looking for someone on Oahu (less wind than Maui) to give feedback on the wings and asked if I would be interested in learning more. Apparently, David likes to make sure that he has real world riders (intermediate riders like me) giving feedback and wanted to know how some of the wings perform in Oahu conditions (typically 10-20 knots with occasional periods of 20-30 knots).
David and I spoke, he sent over some wings for a "no obligation" trial period. I enlisted another local rider who is a real stand out in the surf and we had at them...
(I'll add the disclaimer here... I ended up liking these wings enough to get rid of my Cabrinha Apex and move forward with the Ezzy. I get a discount, but at this point in my life that isn't the deciding factor for which wings I ride)
Both of us have been winging for around 4 years mostly riding ocean swell that has a crumbly but steep break on an outside reef. Waves and rollers from head to double overhead are fairly common. We had a 6M, 5.5M, and 4M to ride. From the start, both of us noticed a few things.
Positive:
- Very fast
- Point as high or higher than anything either of us have ridden (Armstrong, FOne 1, 2, 3, Reedin, Cabrinha Apex, Ensis). The only one that was close was the Apex, but that wing is a story for another time.
-Very lofty for jumps
-Excellent flagging from pistol grip you can very effectively fly the wing and even power it with one hand while on a wave
-Very stable flagging from LE (also see "what we found challenging")
-Very powerful but still has a massive range: In one single day in the same conditions each of us rode all three sizes. While the 6 and 5.5 were a handful, they remained sailable. Both of us used the 6 and 5.5 in a recent race when it was blowing 15 to 25 knots. I was lit (80kg) but never felt like the wing got crazy. On the low end, I've managed to get on foil with the 5.5, 69L board, and the Armstrong HA680 in 10-12 knots
-Very well made, you can see it in the stitching and design
What we found challenging:
-On the low end, the Ezzy requires a more technical pumping technique that reminds me a bit of what was needed with the Reedin SuperwingX. Once you figure it out (it's not complicated, but takes practice - more on this later), there's a ton of low end, but if you're coming from a wing like the FOne V1 or V2, anticipate needing some practice to get this right. If you're riding on the higher end, it's easy to access power.
-More on low end power... Fair warning, of the people who we let demo the wings, the ones who were coming from wings like the FOne V1 and V2 reported that they couldn't get any low end out of the Ezzy. My counterpart came from the same wings and it took him a session or two to get it dialed. I'm used to the flatter profile so the pumping technique was already familiar to me. Basically, imagine you're holding a broom handle at eye to forehead level, it works best with both hands in overhand grip, you pump in a circular motion and point a little further off wind than you would with a baggier wing design, as the board accelerates you need to steadily turn up wind.
-While the wings are very stable once on foil and/or on a wave, oddly, they are not when standing still or walking on the beach. I found holding it from the front boom handle in pistol grip with the LE resting on your forearm to be the trick. I was telling David about this and he said this is likely due to the flat canopy. If someone hands you one of these wings on the beach and it moves around, don't be fooled, this doesn't happen on the water.
-My counterpart on Oahu has a wild and fluid style for riding waves that tends to look like the direction of the wind doesn't matter to him. For that style, he still prefers the way the FOne v2 performs on a wave, but said the Ezzy outperforms in so many other ways he's ok with giving up a little on that aspect of riding. Plain and simple, he's still killing it on the Ezzy in surf.
At this point, we have ridden the three sizes A LOT and gave feedback that has been incorporated into the wings that are currently being released. The main point of feedback we had was on the 6M and 5.5M was that the LE handle needed to be moved down a bit closer to the boom strut. There was also some input he got from riders on Maui and Hood River that were immediately put into the latest round of production (what is available now).
I just received my box of the production wings and only got to ride the 5M for about 30 minutes. It was blowing a solid 20-30 knots and my arms were getting smoked. I will say this, the new LE handle position is perfect, super easy to go between boom to LE handle. I also noticed, even with the crazy wind, that the 5M seems even more stable than our first batch of wings when you're up and going and it had tons of power.
On top of all of this, if you read the website, David has a genuinely good way of doing business. He runs his own factory, knows a ton about sail design, treats the employees very well, and is conscientious of the impact material choices have on the environment.
In summary, I really like these wings they are fast, lofty, good range, stable flagging from LE or boom, but will require some learning for low end pumping if you're coming from a wing that doesn't have a tight canopy.
At this point in life, I can ride whatever wings I want, but I'm very happily moving forward with the Ezzy.
