I'm thinking of doing a family trip to windsurf Santorini in Greece.
Is it good?
is there a good hire place or is it BYO?
any tips on spots, wind or tuition would be appreciated
Santorini is all about the crater and the town of Fira. Not the best for windsurfing IMHO. I caught a fast ferry from Paros for a day trip so didn't have any windsurf gear with me. From memory the wind wasn't as strong here as it was further North around Mykonos, Paros and Naxos.
That said there is apparently some windsurf rental place at Kamari. Do a search on Google, the one I found was 3sxsports + fun. Haven't been to that beach or seen the rental place so can't give you any info.
When and for how long are you going? It might be worth keeping an eye on forecasts. It's possible to do a day trip up to Paros by fast ferry. Only problem is the windsurf spots on Paros are on the East side of the Island. So either try and get a lift with one of the rental places or hire a scooter in town. Ferry gets in at Paros town on the West side.
When I went during August I sailed 3.5 in the South of Paros for 6 days straight. North of Island was 5.0 wind during that time.One thing to note about all of the Cyclades is that the ocean is filthy as. Any bafter a few days of wind. The worst I seen was Ftleia Beach on Mykonos. Awesome for wind and waves but one day we had a large amount of tar being swept in... apparently from ships clearing out their oil tanks or something. Stories differ as to where the position is coming from. I remember a German guy coming off the water with a brand new custom made covered in thick tar.
South facing beaches are generally not affected by the pollution problem and also get more wind.
As Stehsegler said, Santorini wouldn't be the best place to sail although it's a fanstic island to see.
A trip to Paros or Naxos is a good idea if you want to have a few days windsurfing.
On Naxos the beaches where you can rent are well accessible, Flisvos Club rent equipment at St. Georges Beach (waves, but nothing compared to ocean Swell) and at the lagoon nearby (Great Freestyling and Flatwater Blasting), which are both a five minute cab ride from the port, you might even walk there in an hour. If the Meltemi isn't very strong, take another twenty minutes bus or cab ride down to Mikri Vigla (There are rentals there as well), as it's stronger there more often than not. If you want to sail there ,make sure you know to handle some chop.
Best time is from end of May to beginning of October.
Pollutionwise, I beg to differ with Stehsegler. Having spent about fifteen moth-long stays on Naxos, I usually spend the rest of the year dreaming of the clear turquoise water and the white beaches. Can compete with Esperance but is much warmer.
My ferry has already been booked for August.
How can one attach pics here?
Cheers,
Sven
Spent 2 weeks on Naxos last July. 10 min walk from town to lagoon. Was fantastic in lagoon. Made me a bit lazy as could stand up almost everywhere. Spend your time on Naxos and then take a. 2 day trip to Santorini. Mykonos was way overrated. Think schoolies for 25 yr olds. Also sailed on Paros. Bigger swell in channel and more exposed. Used a 4.2 sail. New Golden beach on Paros is more isolated and you really need a car to do any site seeing. Bus is infrequent. Water was glorious 24-26 degrees. Naxos is where the Greeks go to holiday. Less tourists but lots of Scandinavian and German sailers. Would go back in a heartbeat. Wife and 19yr old daughter loved it. They could wander about town whilst I sailed. Nice food. Used gear from a 4.2 sail and brand new 78 let JP freestyle wave to 7.8 on 130 ltr board over the course of 2 weeks. Sailed 13 days out of 14. Also perfect conditions to learn for kids with little sails and big boards. Got gear at Naxos surf club. Smaller than flisovos and better service. All brand new gear each season. 
Select to expand quoteZeeGerman said..
Pollutionwise, I beg to differ with Stehsegler.
Maybe to do with the location of Naxos. I remember the worst places were Prasonissi on Rhodes and Ftelia Beach on Mykonos.
@Stehsegler: sorry, I might have overgeneralized a little:
beaches facing towards north tend to collect more rubbish than others, and obviously Ftelia seems to be worst in this respect, but holidaymakers can clearly expect to find beaches that don't leave anything to be desired. Given that Yuppy is from Victoria, he might even be a Pookipa regular and would be relieved to find fantastic water quality in comparison.
@Lucdown: you were clearly very lucky to score one of the windiest summers ever last year, which oddly as well sported comfortable water temperatures. Last August I only had a handful of days on which I used the 6.4 or couldn't be bothered to do so, teaching my kids to sail instead. The remainder of the four weeks I spent there, I used anything from 3.8 to 5.6. So, yes, it's worth a visit.
In other very windy years, water was only a little over 20, while in years with not enough high pressure over the Balkans the island can be in the lulls for a fortnight or so with many other days you can sail further south and despair at the lagoon. You would then at least be rewarded with water so warm it won't cool you down.
The summer wind in the Aegean sea is the Meltimi and blows from the north from June onwards but is particularly strong in July and August before it switches off in September.
Ftelia beach on Mykonos can collect rubbish as it's at the bottom of a deep horseshoe bay that will pick up and flotsam and jetsam blown of the mainland to the north. Most beaches are regularly cleaned, but Ftelia is less of a tourist beach so maybe it gets left.
I haven't heard of tar being an issue but if fishing boats illegally clean their tanks at sea then that will come ashore somewhere.
We go to Ftelia because it's said to be the one 'wave beach' in Greece, albeit with an onshore wave.
The Meltimi wind benefits all the islands in the Cyclades but Paros, Naxos and Mykonos are the better known ones for windsurfing. I haven't heard of a windsurf hire place or school on Santorini, but it's a stunning island to visit anyway, and scenically it's a bit different from other Greek islands because it's more volcanic - and therefore with less beaches.
