G'day Coast,

I was over there about the same time last year.

I would recomend if you can to take your own gear. If I ever go again this is what I will be doing. For the hasstle you go through packing and carting your gear it is far easier than hiring. Plus once I went through all the rigmaroll of actually being able to hire it (I had to demostrate that I could kite, which is fair enough) it was expensive and they work on Hawaii time and when they say meet you at the beach at 1 they don't turn up till 3. The gear, to say the least was not good, they gave me an old kite and a delaminating board so that wasn't much fun either.

Maybe I had a bad experiance I'm not sure. I did talk to a few of the locals and they wern't very impressed with the attitude of the shops schools either. This was on Oahu, I'm not sure about Maui I didn't get over to that Island.

In saying all that though kiting over there is awesome. Locals were cool, water was warm and clear, windy all day long.... heaven.

If you want to know anything else let me know.

Cheers

Thanks Snoopy,I will have my wife and three kids, so for the sake of my sanity, I am trying to keep the amount of gear down. I would definitely prefer to hire gear over there. Also, we are flying Jetstar, and was surprised to find that you cannot purchase food onboard. You have to pre purchase at a cost of $56/person/sector!! I booked through Qantas, and these days, there is not a huge choice of airlines to Hawaii, unless you want to spend an absolute fortune.

coastflyer said...
Thanks Snoopy,I will have my wife and three kids, so for the sake of my sanity, I am trying to keep the amount of gear down. I would definitely prefer to hire gear over there. Also, we are flying Jetstar, and was surprised to find that you cannot purchase food onboard. You have to pre purchase at a cost of $56/person/sector!! I booked through Qantas, and these days, there is not a huge choice of airlines to Hawaii, unless you want to spend an absolute fortune.

no worries,

I will try to find the name and number of the shop I hired from and let you know.

Hey Coastflyer,

I was in Maui for two weeks in early Jan, it was super windy. The guys at Niel Pryde just on the Hana Highway were really good. Shops open every day and its only 3 minutes drive from Kite Beach. Advantage is they will know just what size kite you need for that particular day and it will be very nearly new and work perfectly. You can change over as much as you want to. Even getting to the beach and changing your mind, going back to the shop to switch kites just takes 10 minutes.

I hired my board from the Naish pro centre just across the highway cause it was a better board for the conditions. Again, gear there is near new - super good quality and you can change it over whenever you need - tt one day, Naish skater the next - same price.

Ok - it is expensive which is a bummer. The economy is really busted over there and everyone is on the make. But how's this, I go to pay the Niel Pryde guys after 5 days of kite hire and it's like $300. So I say, waive the hire fee, give me 10 percent of a new switchblade and pack it up for me in a box and ill take it home - and they DID!

Bottom line - great experience hiring on Maui. I wouldn't lug gear over there. It will inevitable be wrong for the conditions you get anyway.