This is an "unboxing" and quick living room rigging of the new 2018 Ezzy Lion 7.0

I really like my Ezzy 8.5 Lion3 and the idea was to replace my Ezzy Cheetah 7.5 and 6.5 (which I wasn't a fan of) with just one 7.0 2-camber sail. The 8.5 and 7.5 were competing for my time on the water. Roughly, at my weight and with the boards I'm sailing, my 8.5 will span from 13 to 16 knots and the new Lion 7.0 will span from 16 to 19 knots. So I will loose the range that the 6.5 gave me, but past 18-19 knots, I will be sailing smaller board and 5 batten sails will be more adequate in the chop and swell than a cambered sail. With large size sails though, I think the gap between a 8.5 and a 7.0 of the same sail type is forcing a deliberate choice. This was a theory I didn't believe in 2 years ago. I thought that more options was more empowering. It might not be necessarily true for me, especially at my level and with the limited amount of time I can go sailing. Trying to "simplified" a sail quiver seem to be making more sense. Let's see in spring if I'm right!

Awesome! Can't go wrong with an Ezzy. I'm a sucker for black sleeves. I love in house rigging!

New sail music



We'll have to race next year. Me on my 6.9 Tiger with RRD 108, and you on your new 7.0 Lion with 115 Naish.

I see where this is going! Cambered sails, semi-pro slalom boards...there is a new racing star rising ...up north over Sheboygan.
Look what I’ve found , 1500$ :
shop.wind-nc.com/products/125-goya-windsurf-bolt-pro-2017-board
I would recommend you this instead, but I know it’s too late now:
shop.wind-nc.com/products/sealion-xl-ahd-windsup-windsurf-fish

Ady wrote:

Don't show him that. I already got my doors taken off by Rich's Volar.

Then maybe you might want to take a closer look yourself

Ady wrote:

I think he's simplifying his Green Machine(AtomIQ 124) set-up. Then going to 5 batten wave sails for his Naish(Freestyle Wave) 115.

Ady, I've been biting my nails ever since then you linked the Bolt with a 25% off! Do it? Don't do it? Ahhh, this is torture.
Initially, I thought of the SB Futura to replace the AtomIQ, but that wasn't in the plan before 2019...

Reid, Thanks for the kind comments. Yep, the idea was to simplify...initially. But then comes Ady, complicating thing a bit more!
I do need to come down south for a good spring day of sailing with you guys. I've have this goal 6 months ago and did nothing. Got to do it, oh yeah!

Gregory wrote: Where does this leave the 9.4 V8 and the Falcon?

For me personally, the issue with speedy boards has been thebup and downwind reaches on Lake Michigan -outside sheltered waters like the Wall. It is delight to sail fast on a beam reach between the swell but it gets hairy and exhausting to keep the board in control when you start crossing the ridges upwind which you have to do most of the time. Sometimes I miss my Firerace 112 235/70 on Wolf where you have chop only at most, but I dont miss the stress of it on the Big Lake. And I think the Bolt will be stressful when you get overpowered. Something the testing team from Windsurf mag have also observed . I had a similar experience with my Firerace-these boards ride high and feel small when not planing/not as stable as the Atom and more difficult to put on a plane/ and they start to feel big and flighty quickly when the wind increases /unlike the planted low ride of the Atom/ all this translates to less range /compared to the Atom/. If you have a large fleet of boards and a van to carry them in, then range is not an issue, but if you are a minimalist-something that most windsurfets become sooner or later it seems-then range becomes paramount. If you decide to specialize in racing boards on the other hand, then I guess you can be a minimalist too. The other main factor is affordability-the more stuff you can afford the harder it the choice becomes

Just one more random thought in case you are not tired of me already. You probably have seen already that 2018 Starboard AtomIQ is are now merged with the Carve line in what has become the CarveIQ line. This is something that they should have done early on IMO if they were as bold as Fanatic are. Instead they struggled to place the Atoms within the model range shifting them from near slalom shapes for advanced riders with the first generation then to more classic freeride-esque to please the intermediate crowd with the second generation and now in the third generation they split them in 2 groups-the smaller performance sizes for the advanced and the bigger sizes for intermediates . In fact the 104,114 and the 124 look so good on paper that they may cannibalize the Futura sales next year. I hope they don’t decide to do something stupid with them by the time I decide to replace my Atom. The 2018 shapes, specs and especially graphics and colors are amazing! I love them!
PS: on top of everything they are fitted with a tuttle fin box now so you can use a pro slalom fin if you want more speed

Agree. The SB Carve is interesting and is beautiful. Is this what you want to replace your Atom with? As far as handling chop, I'm thinking that the 125l Bolt's 73cm width would be easier to keep under control than the 81cm width of my 124l Atom, isn't it?
Regardless, I'm not likely to buy anything right now anyway (Unless I can score the 127 SB Futura Carbon Reflex for $1,700 or less, but that's probably not going to happen!)

Ady wrote:
For days with steady 11-12 knots with gusts in the 13-14 knots.
Also for moving around and sail moves at low speed but this time with the 5.7 Revo in conditions below 11 knots when I'm getting bored on the beach.