With developments going rapid in the world of wingfoiling, I like to have close eye at small brands aswell.
The brand Five -o Windsports from Maui Hawaii had caught my eye for quite some time. As I went to Puerto Rico last winter, which is a territory of the USA, I decided to get in touch. Lucky as I was, they actually had a teamrider present, which lent me a Dynamo v1 prototype 5.3 for over a week.
Why did I want to test their Dynamo wing so badly?
Some really good guys and girls are out there rocking this wing. Doing some tricks with so much more speed and they appeared to have so much control, also when playing around in the waves. The really cool thing is, in this wing they are not just using Dyneema materials for the Leading edge, enabling high pressures up to 17psi, but also Dyneema materials for the whole canopy. This makes the wing extremely light, cut and tear resistant and very durable. The Dyneema canopy should not, or almost not stretch with time. Resulting in a wing where there is no performance loss during its period of use. As I like to use my wings powered up, on quite a lot of wings, the material of the canopy will stretch. Something that should be avoided, especially on expensive wings in my opinion.
Five-o windsport doesn’t come with big marketing. And they are not saying that much about their innovations. But I did wonder how this canopy would perform in a little puncture and tear test. You can find it further on in this video, with very interesting results I’d say!
Anyway, after using this wing for a week in Puerto Rico, I was convinced this is one of the best wings out there. I got two wings a 3.4 and 4.3 myself and been using them for 2 months now in the Netherlands. Time to review the wings!
The looks of these wings are very basic. But simplicity can be a very positive thing. The Leading edge and Strut do look, although very thin but very solid, have a premium look and feel to them. The canopy material is something different. When not in use, it looks kind of like ‘crepe paper’ and doesn’t look fancy at all. But then….. you lift the wing and you know it is something special. The weight is very low! 1.53kg for the 3.4 and 1.8kg for the 4.3. And that is including the handles.
The wing uses valves that almost any pump out there will fit, it screws on with the point sticking out on each side.Not my favorite valve, as sand can blow in and in the cold they are harder to unscrew, but it works. The 3.4 can be pumped up to 15psi and the 4.3 to 12 psi making these extremely thin leading edge and strut very solid.
It comes with a good wrist leash, but the bag that could have some upgrades to make it a backpack for easier carrying to the spot.
Performance of the wing
This wing excels in the handling during waveriding. It feels so light and it just follows you along with so much ease. It is very stable, yet it turns along when you want it to do so. Also, because of the really thin leading edge and low profile, it is much easier to ride waves upwind, adding less resistance. This thin LE also makes it possible to perform tack and do upwind wing moves easier, in powered up conditions. When starting the wing I did have to keep it on a short leash. If I did not keep the wing close to me when getting up on the board, it would flip around very quick.
Mentioned before, the wing hasn’t got a very deep profile. In really low wind you do have to work a bit more to get this wing going. However, once it goes, it stays on foil easier. Also because of the very tight airframe, it is very easy to pump around with this wing. Using the right technique, you can still get on foil easy in low wind conditions. Short and quick pumps are key.
The high end range is where the wing excels and the reason why I first got the smaller wings of this brand. The wings behave so well in powered up winds. And I believe they will remain to do so after many sessions, without any materials deforming.
At the canopy towards both tips of the wing the wing does clapper a bit. It’s due to it’s design, releasing the air of the wing. It’s noticeable, but it wasn’t irritating me.
In theory this wing should be very quick. I can’t say I have tested this as I only used the wings in waves. But performance in the waves and doing tricks it was already going fast on everything.
When I tried the 5.3 I did a lot of jumping. And these jumps where quite high. To go high, going fast does help a lot as you can transfer the speed into a more powerful take off.
Talking about the handles..
Yes they are not solid handles or a boom which is currently the main trend. They are very stiff ‘soft handles’. I think if everyone would have had the correct soft handles from the start, it wouldn’t have been such a thing. If they are well made and positioned correctly, soft handles actually work perfect. But most brands did not do a very good job on those all the time. Also, with everyone having different lengths of arms and all, it does make them more difficult to position perfectly? For the Dynamo wing I found for me the positions of the handles was perfect on the 4.3. The front handle on the 3.4 wasn’t positioned perfectly for me. Then fatigue in the hand and arm does come to play.
So in the end, although their soft handles are really good and stiff giving a lot of control. It is safer to go for longer solid handles or a boom I’d say. Though I’m still not 100% sure about booms in big waves, especially during wipeouts.
The front handle is made of the same handle material as the main handles and works very well. After a long session the knuckles of my hands do get damaged a bit, as they hit the seems of the materials from time to time.
How strong is the Dyneema canopy material?
I did a very unofficial test. Comparing the ripstop canopy material of an Ozone Flux, with that of the Dyneema canopy material of the Dynamo wing. Reall simple, using clamps on one end, putting tension on it by hand on the other side, hitting with nice pointy foil tip.
The result was quite interesting. I needed to hit it quite hard to make the ripstop rip. But after a couple of attempts it did. Then I tried making the whole larger by hand. The whole in the ripstop would quite easily get larger using just a bit of strength.
The cloth of Dyneema was smaller. But I hit it as hard as I could with the front wing. It would not go through the material. Then I grabbed a small and very pointy screwdriver, this would pierce the material. However, the wholes where small. So I was going to try and make the whole large by hand, and it would not.
Although this test wasn’t performed with the complete the same conditions for both clothes, to me it proves enough. The Dyneema cloth can handle sharp foils much better!
Conclusion
If you want the lightest of wings, with maximum performance on the wave, control in high winds that makes use of cutting edge materials. Have a look at the Dynamo wing from Five ‘o Windsports. For me, the 4.3 & 5.3 have been the best waveriding wings out there to date.
Especially with a version 2 on the way, this brand is one to keep your eye on!