Ok first of all you need to be careful what you read. If you were to check out the Australian Govt.'s travel warnings, these are some of the places they would list as risky:

London
Thailand
Philippines
Bali
Egypt
Fiji
Turkey

So really they are almost meaningless. Sure you could get blown up as bombs have gone off in these places, but firstly what are the chances of it happening to you and secondly how do you know the 'safe' place you end up going isn't the next target for bombers or a tidal wave. At the end of the day you need to do a bit of research and use your noggin. So yeah don't travel to Colombia to do some jungle trekking, but Egypt is fine, Fiji is also fine. I lived there for 8 years and I know that the local Fijians do not have a problem with tourists. Also the numerous coups they have had have been practically bloodless (one guy sprained an ankle tripping over his rifle). I went to Egypt 6 weeks after the bomb went off last year killing 28 people (not 100% sure of this number). And security was extra tight so in some respects its a safer place to go than other places.

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Originally posted by Zed

Ok first of all you need to be careful what you read. If you were to check out the Australian Govt.'s travel warnings, these are some of the places they would list as risky:

London
Thailand
Philippines
Bali
Egypt
Fiji
Turkey

So really they are almost meaningless. Sure you could get blown up as bombs have gone off in these places, but firstly what are the chances of it happening to you and secondly how do you know the 'safe' place you end up going isn't the next target for bombers or a tidal wave.

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I will say one thing about Egypt, and that's if you don't want to interact with the locals, then you could just as easily spend the whole time at the resort. You don't need to visit town at all, and in the case of Dahab if you fly direct into Sharm El Sheik, you don't even have to worry about being hassled.

Given that you are staying at a resort that is pretty secure itself, the chances of trouble are pretty slim. I imagine this probably applies to a lot of resorts around the world.

Fiji is pretty good as far as the locals go. They don't seem to have a problem with tourists and I guess they like the fact tourists are adding to the economy. A bit more wind and a bit less coral would be better though.

I don't know what the windsurfing is like up in Cairns in winter, but I went up there about 3 years ago and the weather is nice and it is windy enough. There were heaps of kites out when I went there and only one windsurfer. This was at Yorkeys Knob.

I was more concerned about crocs than anything else, but I don't think they really are a problem in the open ocean. I had to go to a croc farm to see one in the end.

Supposedly Club Vass in Greece has a very social atmosphere. For somewhere closer, what about the Cocos Islands?

vary rarely and mainly over summer when there is bugger all wind and they move from estuary to esturary looking for a feed. Sharks eating crocs??? we dont get great whites up here... besides the water is too dirty so you wont see the one that eats you.

yes lots of wind here over winter especially at green great windsurfing out there.

kite numbers are dropping also :-)

I was at Keppell a couple of years ago. They had one starboard start rigged on the beach with a tiny sail and no sign of any other gear. It got pretty windy so I thought I'd find out about the rental arrangements. The girl at the sports centre told me I couldn't hire it because the wind was forecast to exceed 20knots that day and they weren't allowed to rent sailing gear if that was the case.

I'd be surprised if you would find any group lessons or many, if any other crew to hang out with. The wind in the area was great though - I was working and can remember being driven nuts letting all that wind go to waste. So you could probably have a good holiday there but would have to take your own gear. It'd be worth researching though because the resorts are all on the north and western part of the island and it is difficult to get to other parts of the island - long walking tracks that you would not dream of humping gear along.

Whitsundays? I took my gear with us on a decent sized cat that we sailed around the islands. I had a couple of amazing days sailing, including one in the mouth of Hill Inlet at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach. The problem was that I was the only person on the boat who was sailing and it was difficult to strike a balance between keeping the cat out of the wind (uncomfortable for the unappreciative) and me having good wind to sail in.

The main resort is Hamilton Island and their sports centre had a few boards, but mainly older and big slalom style boards. It wasnt windy when I was there so I didnt even look into it. Again, I'd be surprised if there were group lessons. The other Whitsundays option is South Molle island which is more backpacker oriented, and given that many backpackers are Euro's they may cater to the windsurfing fraternity a little more. But I havent been there so you would have to check it out.

The other thing to watch is airlines. My advice is never ever fly jetstar if you are going to carry excess luggage. Virgin is heaps cheaper and they will actually let you load a board which is longer than 2.5m (this is becoming less of an issue, but at the time mine was 262cm).

good luck.

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Originally posted by Zed

...but careful of the locals, I met a couple of Queenslanders once, scary people. I'm not saying don't interact with the Queenslanders just get your innoculations, keep your distance and don't feed them...

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Now if you were to talk about the "Armpit of the World Nightclub", funny thing, we said the exact same thing about the tourists when I lived up there