Dahab? I went there for a week in September and another week in early October. It was crap. Well, not crap, but not as good as I expected...

The wind there is extremely gusty. It's pretty bad close to shore because of the wind shadow caused by the hotels close to the beach, and is only any good once you are outside in the speed strip.

I found that in Dahab I had to ride a larger board than I would in the same wind strength here, as I needed the volume to coast through the lulls.

The first week I spent at the Harry Nass centre and found the lack of cammed sails meant the gusts were difficult to deal with. The way the kit hire works over there also meant that I had reserved a board that turned out to be too small, and had bugger all chance of getting one more suitable.

The second week I spent there I was at the Club Mistral centre, and even though it was in a poor place to launch from, the fact they had a range of cammed sails made it much better.

I am very wary of the wind strength reports that I read from over there. They mention how many days it reaches a certain wind strength, but they don't tell you how gusty it is and how short the typical sailing time is. I found that if you started sailing at 9am, it would be over by 1 or 2pm. You could see that once the wind started dipping around that time everyone in the speed strip would start heading back to shore as they knew the wind was due to die very quickly.

Did you have any no-wind days? I think I had 3 in the first week, and another 3 in the second week. It wasn't really what I was expecting of this location after hearing all the hype.

I have heard that Margarita is good, but I haven't been there. I just hope it turns out better than Dahab!

Yeah i was at the Harry Nass centre, the one right at the end of the bay. Zone 1 i.e the bay was pretty gusty, but I only ever sailed in zones 2 and 3 where the wind was much cleaner. And as most of the guys were using slalom gear I had my pick of wave sails and boards which was good. I was there in june, which is one of it's windiest months and it never really went under 25kts. You went in sep. and oct and I think the wind gets a little flukey then. I guess for me Dahab was good in that i went for 7 days and it blew it's ar*se off for 7 days - which is always a good thing on a windsurfing holiday. My mate went to Turkey for a w/surfing holiday to the company's so-called 'high wind resort'. He was there for 2 weeks, the temperature never went under 40 C and the wind never went over 10knts.

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Originally posted by matcham

I went to Essouira in Morocco in the height of their windy season in July. Planchemag reckons it's one of the top 20 spots in the world (Margarets is Australia's only contribution) but I'm not so sure - you just can't beat any Aussie beach when the wind's up. Great place to visit though and there are hire places with decent gear right on the beach.

Check out the Club Mistral site for overseas holiday destinations - they seem to be in all the groovy places.

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Hi Matcham.

I am starting to worry about how some of these destinations match up to the advertisments/reviews. It's good to hear a response from someone local that's been there.

Club Mistral have got a setup in Dahab as well and it was nice, but the conditions were not so great for our trip. It is great being able to swap gear on the beach, but being off-shore in flukey winds at Dahab means that that may take a while to swap the gear.

Do planchemag do an english version?

Has anyone on the forum been to Margarita or Vass in Greece? Anyone else been to Turkey?

I've been to Margarita. Spent a week there. Had wind everyday, mostly sailing around 5.3m2 (bearing in mind I'm only small), and the locals were saying it was lighter than usual. They had a shed full of sails below 4m so I believe them. Normally the wind is in by midday (or earlier)and you can sail till 5... well if you don't get too distracted by the cheap drinks between the gear shed and the water. The sailing is mostly bump and jump (decent wind ramps when it gets really strong), and freestyle is pretty big there as its Ricardo's home town. The local kids are really good. No real waves to speak of...

Night life was good fun, with lots of bars on the beach and in the little town there. Its only $1 for a cocktail... If you want a real big night out its a short cab ride to the bigger town and the clubs.

So all in all, I had a good time there. The locals are really friendly (I had no problem staying there by myself.. couldn't say the same about Caracas though)and know how to have a good time. When it comes to the sailing though.... its different and fun but I can think of better sailing spots in WA.

One word!

MAUI!

.....in June!

Well I guess for many w/surfers Maui is a natural choice, but I've made a number of assumptions based on what others have said:
- it's pretty expensive
- bad crowds
- wind can be really flukey, u could go and get nothing
- locals not that friendly

As I said these are assumptions so would be happy if someone could contradict me cos I really wanna go!

Cool thanks for that Divaldo. Did u do much wave-sailing there? Also what about flights - did u fly direct from SA - if so what's the flight time?

For a party as well, you could consider the canaries. July - August for best winds, but not always too much in the way of waves around then.

I'll second the shout out for Maui.
This seasons gear and a car was $100 a day, unlimited miles.
That was 2 sets of kit, 2 boards, 4 sails, 2 booms etc.
Spreks and Kanaha are great places to sail if you like the flat water, or want to get an introduction to waves (June-August).
Get a Safeway card and you can save heaps on food.
Accommodation varies, but probably avoid the backpackers as there have been a few problems of late.
Maui rocks