Hi,

I have used ezzy sails & masts since about 2000. I am still using my old Waves SE's, as I was overseas for a few years, and so they are still pretty new. I bought a new Panther 3 last season with a view to buying a new quiver of them. But, I was very disappointed with it, its too deep and clunky - rotates really hard, you can remove this with outhaul, but then the sail feels dead. I prefer to use my old Wave SE instead (same size). Anyone else not happy with the way Ezzy are taking their shapes? And before some smart arse says you rig it wrong, been shown how to by graham ezzy and another ezzy sponsored sailer, so they should know. Just doing a scan of the water, you seem to see fewer ezzys than before nowadays, are peopl just voting with their wallets?

any comments?

stevh,

I found the opposite, Ive had ezzy sails and masts since bought quiver in 2005, 2007, and the first model wave panther. I think they have got better every year in small steps, then massive change for the better for the panther and have been riding a mates panthers 2 & 3, being the best sail ever. Fact my ezzy masts are over 6 years old and have servived many a beatings, others wouldn't, eg np.
My other favourite sails are blades, feel lighter but not as built proof, and now have both in my quiver,but ezzy are still the king.
As far as durability, tuneability, power and value nothing else comes close.
WA and east coast of aus, the spots i have been to are full of these ezzy's, for the above same reason, strong and powerful.

The sails that arn't popular are north and np, who could justify the cost for one wipeout to trash all that monofilm.

my 2 cents.

I'm with Nerdburger on this. Like you I've sailed Ezzy's for ages, but I think that they have improved a lot over time. It seemed to me that the big change came with the 2007 SEs that were much draftier and powerful than their predecessors, but could be tuned very well using the outhaul. When I moved from SE to Panther, 2 changes were obvious to me in the larger sails: a) the big ones felt smaller than their equivalent SE (probably due to reduced boom length?) but just as powerful. In this way I gladly swapped a 5.8 SE for a Panther 5.5, which felt more like the old 5.2. b) The tuneability introduced in the SE was even more the case in the Panthers because these could now be sailed deep and drafty if necessary, without feeling like bags of s hit.

As you move down into smaller sails these changes feel much less obvious to me. For example I couldn't really tell the difference between SE 4.7 and Panther 4.7, and I ended up keeping my old SE 4.2, and am perfectly happy to use it when the wind is up (in other words I don't hang onto the Panther 4.7 until it is way overpowered).

Recently I bought a Panther 2 5.8, but apart from the looks I can't really tell the difference from Panther 1. Panther SEs look nice too, no idea if they feel different.


Cheers, Jens

jens / nerdberger - thanks for the comments. Are you both big guys? Im under 70kg, so maybe thats why we see the same things in the sails, but you guys like it , id prefer something softer. I also play about in light winds, so thats when I really notice the deep draft being an issue (heli tacks, upwind 360's etc). cant dispute the wind range of the ezzys though. as I just killed by 5m SE at gnaraloo, and the 4.2 entered a terminal stage of illness, looks like I may have to invest in some new ezzys! cheers steve

I'm not interested in freestyle stuff (as you seem to be), and don't really wave sail so that might affect your perception of these sails, and my comments. I really like my Panthers. The feel suits me down to the ground. I like the light weight, grunt, and stability; and the rotation in gybes seems effortless to me. There is only a juicy little "thunk" as the battens pop through - sometimes it's imperceptible. I went the whole hog and bought the ezzy mast to suit and feel it's worth every cent.

They are great rough water / bay blasting sails with very satisfying top end and, I find, a good match with a FSW type board for general blasting about.

I've had 07 and 08 wave SE's and then the first model Panthers and I did notice them getting a bit draftier over that time, particularly down low in the sail, I didn't find it an issue. I don't think you'll find a stronger wave sail with a bigger range than an ezzy, the top end stability is ridiculous. For pure blasting and vanilla wave sailing they are awesome, couldn't rate them high enough, however if you start getting into moves where you have to blade the sail through the wind they begin to show their achillies heal, the fact they never really go neutral.

For this reason and weight (not that ezzy's are really that heavy) I changed brands last season as when I started trying some of the more technical freestyle moves it makes them much more difficult. Not saying they can't be done, look at Graham Ezzy but it definitely makes them much more difficult; if you also look how he rigs his sail, he rigs it with heaps of outhaul = flat = less 'pop' when the battens flick over.

So basically if you just want a bombproof sail with a huge range stick to the Ezzy's, if you are into learning freestyle and new school wave moves i'd consider something else as personally I found these things far more difficult on an Ezzy. There's always a trade off though, you'll definitely lose top end with any other brand imo and I don't think anyone else makes a tougher sail.

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steveh said...

jens / nerdberger - thanks for the comments. Are you both big guys? Im under 70kg, so maybe thats why we see the same things in the sails, but you guys like it , id prefer something softer. I also play about in light winds, so thats when I really notice the deep draft being an issue (heli tacks, upwind 360's etc). cant dispute the wind range of the ezzys though. as I just killed by 5m SE at gnaraloo, and the 4.2 entered a terminal stage of illness, looks like I may have to invest in some new ezzys! cheers steve

Hi Steve,

I guess I am- I weigh in at ca 94 kg. However, as CJW said, Ezzys are quite tuneable through the outhaul: the more you flatten them, the lighter they become. I find them pretty sailable thoughout most of their outhaul range; it's only when I flatten them with almost all my strength that they lose it and become really twitchy.

I reckon outhaul setting is actually really important in these sails. This is really well illustrated at South Passage, Lano, where the break really consists of 2 waves: an outside onshore peak, and then (all being well) the better quality inside wall which is much more offshore. In the outside section there's often not much wall to initiate a turn from, and you appreciate the power of a drafty sail to provide the torque to get you moving here. Then when you enter the offshore, inside section you want the opposite: a shallow draft that can pierce the wind, and not feel heavy in the really tight bottom turns you need to do in the pocket here. What I like about my Ezzys in this situation is that I can easily adjust the outhaul out there, bascially to run the minimum draft I can get away with.

Cheers, Jens