Please Jim, can you fix it for us to live here!

We have reached Maui, the promised land (and water) - home to the most famous windsurfing locations in the world. Geek warning - non windsurfing followers will find the next bit impossibly dull.......

The car rental company had arranged for us to have a "mid sized" car ready, but the person in front of us got there first, so we were given a Lincoln town car. This thing is huge, and is the typical all american motor, with wallowy suspension and handling to match. Needless to say it needed some accessories, so it was off to the windsurf hire shop to kit it out.

Fbi car under cover

My windsurfing brand allegiance stayed true, so I collected my kit from the Naish centre - a "Global wave" 87Litre board and 5m and 5.7m "session" sails. Sadly the godfather himself (Robby Naish) wasn't there, I imagine his wind and kitesurfing empire leaves him little time for shop work!

After a quick lunch, we headed over to Kanaha Beach park for what was supposed to be my easy introduction to Maui windsurfing. I rigged up the 5.7 in my customary "rig just a bit bigger than everyone else" mode (I have been eating holiday buffets recently), and headed out probably just a little overpowered. This place is such an amazing location, the wind is constant (ish), the water is almost bath temperature, and there is flat water around for an easy launch, but waves by the reefs if you want some jumping on the way out and wave riding on the way back in. I stayed out for a couple of hours, getting as many waves as I could, but had to come in as my fitness let me down, especially after getting a rinsing on a couple of the bigger waves. Following some of the other sailors, I reckon the biggest waves were close to logo high (2.5 - 3m approx) - which I guess is normal round here, but for a UK sarf coast sailor like myself, they are a bit of a shock. The waves also move completely unlike UK waves - when you fall in you get dragged around, where back home you mainly bob up and down.