When I first arrived in 1990, Maui was a sort of a windsurfing mecca — actually, some would say THE windsurfing mecca. Of course, I have a somewhat biased view of these times, since my family moved to Maui because of windsurfing.

The entire North Shore, from Kanaha Beach to Ho'okipa, seemed to be filled with Maui cruisers (rarely seen these days), piled high with windsurfing gear. People from all over the world would come to Maui for the year-round wind, and especially the legendary winter waves. The highlights of the season were the wave-sailing contests, when the world's best windsurfers descended onto Ho'okipa's surf, flying into the air and carving up the waves, just yards from the hundreds of spectators lining the beach. In fact, I'm not even afraid to admit that my one and only speeding ticket (so far) was rushing to the Aloha Classic after school one year.

In the early '90s, the prize money for the biggest contest, the Aloha Classic, reached $180,000 — enough to make a nice payout for the winner. Last year, the event didn't even happen, and its resurrection seems less and less likely as time goes on.

There are still windsurfers at Ho'okipa on most days now, so maybe the question isn't where the windsurfers went, but where the contest money went. There also seem to be fewer and fewer windsurfers out, but I think they are still on the water — just branching out to surfing, kitesurfing and stand-up paddling.

As a former windsurfer myself, I can vouch that stand-up paddling (SUP) is much easier to learn than windsurfing, and takes about 10 less parts to assemble. Maybe soon we'll be looking out for the Aloha Classic — SUP Edition!

Liz Smith lives in Pa'ia with her husband and young daughter. She recently started her own public relations company, Liz Smith PR. Read her blog at http://valleyisleviews.honadvblogs.com.