Although we windsurfed in Maui, the following information would be useful to kiteboarders as well.

Have you ever heard of anybody getting skunked in Maui in May? We did!

We traveled to Maui to sail Kanaha & Kihei. We rented a van and then rented gear from a local shop. We drove to Kanaha Beach Park and rigged up. During our eight-day stay, we had 12-15 mph side-onshore winds for about two days and absolutely nothing the rest of the week. We did, however, fall in love with our gear. We were riding 284 Fanatic Bees and 6.0 Neil Pryde sails. When we arrived back home, we bought two of the same rigs and we still love them in the right conditions.

Kanaha Beach Park is beautiful and we did have some fun there. It has a good mix between choppy and wave sailing. Kihei had even less wind. As seasoned sports travelers by this time, we filled in the vacation snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, hiking and taking helicopter tours.

We stayed at the Marriott in Kaanapali. The hotel was beautiful and the beach was great. Hotel row in Kaanapali is a wonderful place to hang in Maui. We also visited La Haina to do the tourist thing.

The food in Maui is excellent The fresh fish is some of the best in the world and you can eat a different fish every night. It can be pretty pricey but well worth it.

We have been to Hawaii a couple dozen times and it's beautiful, but for windsurfing, we prefer the Carribean. When we are on vacation, we don't want to have to pick up, rig gear and return it. There are so many places in the Caribbean where we can swap fully rigged gear as conditions change. Call us spoiled, but thatÕs what we like.