An Obsession With Quality

David Ezzy is one of windsurfing’s pioneers; a Ho’okipa stalwart who has built a brand around his passion for windsurfing and obsession with quality. From sailing the biggest days to designing innovative sails, everything is done with pure dedication to his craft. His son, Graham Ezzy, gives us a candid insight into David’s life.

- Graham Ezzy, David Ezzy & Josh Angulo

My father is a serious man. Ever since I was a little kid, he has had the same daily routine. He wakes up in the dark at 3 o’clock in the morning. In these quiet hours of night, he works behind his computer designing windsurfing sails. At sunrise, he starts a 2 hour exercise routine. After that, when I’m waking up, he eats breakfast. He works a bit more, and then goes windsurfing in the afternoon. He brushes his teeth after every meal. And he is in bed before 21:00. This is his life every single day of the year. My father is David Ezzy, a pioneer of windsurfing and founder of Ezzy Sails.

He’s not religious, but people often think that he is because of his ascetic life. There’s not much time for socializing when you wake up at 3 every morning. His dedication to sail making is a kind of religion, and it has not left room for much else in his life. He’s the kind of man who would rather do things the hard way because that feels more right than something easier, even if the results are the same.

PRINCIPLES AND PASSION

But that’s not the whole story. His soul is stretched between principles and passion. His love for windsurfing is a blinding, life-changing love. He dropped out of his final year of university to move to Hawaii to follow his windsurfing dreams. He gave everything up to do so. His own father was so disappointed that he stopped speaking to David for years.

David grew up in western Canada, and he loved freedom. His heart was in ski racing, flying down the icy hills alone, until he found windsurfing as a teenager, and that became all he wanted to do.