Wingsurfing is a comparatively young sport, but the specialisation of products is already progressing. There are now wings for waves or freestyle - but also all-round wings that are designed to cover a particularly wide range of uses.
What makes good all-round wings?
Most wingsurfers want one wing for everything! All-rounders should therefore work in a wide range of different conditions - for relaxed freeriding on flat water, for first tricks and jumps and also for surfing swell or small surf waves. Different factors are important for each area of use, which we will briefly explain below:
Freeride suitability
The term "freeride" stands for uncomplicated take-off, relaxed and sporty flying and typical foil manoeuvres such as jibes, tacking and foil 360s. For a wing to be suitable for freeriding, it should offer enough power and be easy to get up to the required take-off speed. In the air, it is above all an even distribution of pull on both hands that decides whether you hang relaxed on the wing or have to plough unnecessarily. Good freeride and all-round wings should therefore have a stable centre of effort and offer the option of moving your hands sideways in terms of the grip system - fixed grips or boom systems often have an advantage over narrow handles in this respect. Whether you need a window in the wing for freeriding or not is something everyone should decide for themselves - there are good reasons for both. If you want to share your opinion on this topic with us, you can find HERE a small vote on the topic "Windows in the wing - yes or no?"
Wave suitability
Wings should fly as neutrally as possible behind the wave - this is also known as "drifting" or "flagging". Wings with a slightly wider wingspan usually have an advantage here, as they position themselves stably in the wind current and do not swing back and forth uncontrollably.
Freestyle suitability
Freestyle is developing extremely dynamically, with new tricks and jumps being created almost daily. For a wing to work well for freestyling, light weight, compact dimensions and a direct connection to the wing are crucial. Wings with an extremely large span, high dead weight or indirect handles are less suitable in this respect.
All-round wings - spoilt for choice
We have filtered out the best all-rounders for you from all the wings we have tested. These wings may not be absolute top class in each of the three areas of "freeride", "wave" and "freestyle", but all in all they offer the widest range. So if you want to cruise in flat water, practise your first jumps and tricks and occasionally ride steep swell waves or beautiful lines, you can easily do this at a high level with the following all-round wings.
One final note: Although our test crew spends a lot of time on the water, it is hardly possible to test all brands and models due to the flood of new products - especially not if you follow our maxim and want to put every wing on the water in as many different conditions as possible. The following list is therefore not exhaustive and there are certainly other models on the market that deserve a place in our hit list of the best all-round wings. Furthermore, the following overview, sorted by year, does not represent a ranking, it is merely a alphabetical sorting.
The best all-round wings of the 2025 season
The top all-round wings of the year 2024
The top all-round wings of the year 2023
The best all-round wings of the year 2022
The best all-round wings of 2021
HERE we also present the best wings for wave and freestyle - take a look!
Manuel Vogel
Editor surf
Manuel Vogel, born in 1981, lives in Kiel and learned to windsurf at the age of six at his father's surf school. In 1997, he completed his training as a windsurfing instructor and worked for over 15 years as a windsurfing instructor in various centers, at Kiel University sports and in the coaching team of the “Young Guns” freestyle camps. He has been part of the surf test team since 2003. After completing his teaching degree in 2013, he followed his heart and started as editor of surf magazine for the test and riding technique sections. Since 2021, he has also been active in wingfoiling - mainly at his home spots on the Baltic Sea or in the waves of Denmark.
