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The wife has booked us for a 2-week trip to Hawaii in August, but for some reason she thinks it'd be fine to just do the Big Island, not Maui (we've never been to Hawaii at all).
A pretty decent Internet search has really turned up very few clues. Has anyone been recently? Are there decent spots? This A-Bay, for instance...and any rental operators you'd recommend? I'd settle for anything, it doesn't have to be world class.
i'm really thinking I'll have to just go to Maui... 
I think you need to negotiate at least a week on Maui.....Its got the wind and the good rental places also lots of other non windsurfing activities.
Maui is actually genuinely heaps nicer than the Big Island, not just for windsurfing but for pretty much everything.
You gotta change your plans!
For the Big Island it's a take your own gear situation, or it was in '08.
Not done Maui, but Kailua on O'ahu is off the hook and has a couple of rental options, they can even come pick you up from Honolulu or Waikiki.
I did some island hopping back in 2012 ... with two little kids in tow. We spend 6 days on the big island mainly to do sightseeing. Spend 3 days in Kailua and 3 days in Hilo. The Kailua side is dry and desert like... the Hilo side green and tropical.
Apparently there are places were people windsurf north of Kona airport around the Marriott resort and in Hilo Bay. From memory it was pretty windy most days... but in my opinion you go to Big Island for different reasons.The biggest attraction is Kilauea and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Best place to stay for that is Hilo IMHO... that way you can go out at night and see the lava lake. Next on the list is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park... It's a Hawaiian cultural site. Good time to go is late afternoon. The light of the setting sun is pretty incredible there.
South Point Park and Mau Forest Reserve in the South are like nothing I have seen anywhere else before. The drive from Hilo to Kailua-Kona via Mauna Kea on Route 200 is pretty impressive as well. As is the area around Waipio Valley in the North.
Maui in August is basically guaranteed 4.7 days, world class equipment, and even some early north swells if you're lucky. Big Island is really nice for diving,snorkeling, and general sightseeing type activities. If you end up on O'ahu shoot me a message and I'll give you some info on gear and where to go. Good luck!
If the wife is really wanting a tropical vacation, then Maui over the big island no problem, the big island reminds me more of southern California w/o all the people and traffic. Maui is way more lush, but it's more crowded than the big island, but many good reasons for that.
The big island is most famous for having the best diving (scuba mostly) on the Kona side, and lava flows, out of all the islands, other than that, ehh.
I've got two life long friends on the big island and they always say, "why don't you ever visit?"
My answer, "you're on the wrong island", they live there because it's cheaper, and they don't windsurf.
Wait, you can always swim with the dolphins at the Waikoloa Hilton located north of Kona, but bring $$$$, if that's your thing.
I live on Kauai which is a good place to kite but not windsurf. I have been to the big island but have no real desire to go back.
Hilo gets 150 inches of rain a year, people just walk around in pouring rain all day, kids playing soccer, it's as if they are ignoring it, surreal.
Most of the island is beset with vog which is volcanic smog. Look out to sea and you cannot see the skyline, it's all fuzzy. When it's real bad it burns the eyes and people have respiratory problems. They have given up trying to combat the invasive fire ants and noisy coqui frogs. Because it's the cheapest island to live there are many poor people and some areas are lousy with hippies.
North of Kona are some of the most beautiful white sand beaches and coral reefs in Hawaii. The volcano is pretty cool but that's about it.
You need to go to Maui.
