Maui SUP/Surf & Car rental tips?

[Turtle]

Hello,

My wife and i are coming to a vacation on Maui 25. october to 3. November.
We are staying at Lahaina. Do you have any tips on SUP/Surf board and car rentals.
Would need a car with roof racks for boards. Car rentals can be a nightmare dealing with a bad rental company.
The big car rental companies don't usually offer roof racks?

Also if you have any tips on good and easy SUS spots near Lahaina.
We are both quite novice in waves. I have mainly experience in wave windsurfing.
I compete in SUP Racing and actually won the plain tickets from National Championship competition here in Finland.
So i have done my share of flat water paddling  Wife is also an avid flat water paddler. Now in Maui mainly waves and maybe a guided downwind run? Also interested in possibility to swapping the rented boards to surf boards on some days.

This subject must have been covered here a few times but could not find anything with search.

All help appreciated.

-Turtle

[covesurfer]

Check with Manaloa Rent a Car and Kimo's. I'm pretty sure you can get something with racks from these guys.

808 Boards in Napili is awesome. They have a good selection of Bill Foote standup boards for rent and will even deliver them. I don't know about surf boards. 808 will let you swap boards if you want to try different stuff out, I think.

[Bulky]

Hey Turtle--

Made the same trip last year and started a pretty good thread here: http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,26093.0.html

You don't need to worry about dealing with racks from car rental companies, most places that rent you a board will provide you with everything you need--and even tie them all down on the roof for you.  Most of them also deliver.  We rented from Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport and reserved before our trip for a discount. They're right outside the airport so it was a quick and easy to pick up boards on arrival and return them at departure.  As I think the thread above says, we were at Puamana which was fun and consistent during the summer, not sure about the fall.

Have fun!

[covesurfer]

Unfortunately, Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport is out of business. They closed a couple of months ago. Big loss for everyone, that was a great shop.

[Bulky]

Unfortunately, Hawaiian Island Surf and Sport is out of business. They closed a couple of months ago. Big loss for everyone, that was a great shop.

Bummed to hear that.  If there's one place you'd think a Surf shop could make it...  Funny, they haven't taken down their website yet.

[Tom]

Hey   Cove ,  thanks   for  suggest   for   Manaloa, saved   me  a hundred   bucks 

[Tom]

Hey   Cove ,  thanks   for  suggest   for   Manaloa, saved   me  a hundred   bucks 

[Cardiff Sweeper]

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[Turtle]

I will check these out. Thanks for the tips.

-Turtle

[digger71]

Congrats on the trip Turtle!

Some great advice so far and I will add what I can. 

Rental car: A van is nice so you can lock up your SUS boards or regular surf boards.  If you are going to have longer boards on the roof check with where you are staying and see if there is room to store them or if the parking lot is secure.  Either way a set of locking straps like http://kanulock.com/ is worth the investment if only to keep the tweakers honest

I've rented from Manaloa and they deliver your vehicle to the airport which is nice.  It will be in the short term lot and they send you a code to open a lock box - pretty sweet.  Also if you rent a van they will take out the back seats so you can store boards.  Ask them about racks.

Maui Van Rentals is pretty good as well http://www.mauivans.com/
Almost all their vehicles have hard racks - try to get one with factory racks AND Thule racks, as the van's with only Thule's are limited on the width you can set the racks.  Not an issue with a 9' board but not something you want with a downwind board.

If racks aren't that important, you can get a good rate with National Car Rental using the United Transportation Union contract id 5005467.  Use it all the time in HI and never have an issue.  You can get by with soft racks on almost any vehicle as long as the roof is long enough, but I prefer hard racks if I can get them.  A 17' board going 50 mph with 30 mph wind will get your attention!

[SUP Sports ®]

We've had good luck renting Maui beaters from these guys...once had some gnarly ice tweakers think we were locals 'cuz we didn't roll the windows up...;-)

http://mauicarrentals.net

This Buick wagon was classic...but, doubt that it's still available...;-)

[Turtle]

Thanks guys!

I will check if the hotel has board storage possibilities.
I think my wife needs a 9'8 long board to bee comfortable.

-Turtle

[TeddyLee]

Recently I have been checking new sup and surf spots in Hawaii and tried Ala Moana and Pua'ena. Those were really good ones which I found through Goflow mobile app for finding spots and reporting - very useful actually!

[exiled]

Recently I have been checking new sup and surf spots in Hawaii and tried Ala Moana and Pua'ena. Those were really good ones which I found through Goflow mobile app for finding spots and reporting - very useful actually!

Man, if owned a smart phone I would be spamming that thing with bogus reports so hard. I'm surprised it works.

[PonoBill]

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Geez Cardiff, don't you know that spot is called "secrets"?!? Of course the fact that it shares a parking lot with Baby Beach makes it one of the island's most visible "secret spots", but gee whillikers, what will the traditionalists think.