Hi, I live in Bowen just north of Airlie and for your sake I hope I'm wrong but I don't know of much around, you might try the island resorts for the resort gear but I think that would only be hourly rate. Nothing in Airlie istself, possibly Mackay I think has a windsurf shop, I don't know if they hire, sorry don't even know their name, Ive always got direct from Brisy.
Theres a couple of Mackay Guys on the forum that might know of more, hope you get lucky.

Rob,

I did the exact same thing about two years ago... jetstar are the pits. I ended up re-booking and flying up with virgin and then freighting my stuff back (to the gold coast) via Q-rail - they were the cheapest. I didnt have time to organise freight for the trip up.

The big issue for me was that jetstar have a written policy saying anything over 2m cant be loaded - it all goes into containers that are 2m long - and if you're decent enough to look into it you make the phone calls to see what the deal is you realise you cant carry your gear. Imagine turning up for the flight and being told you couldnt take your gear. So you can appreciate how peaved I was on the return flight when I saw people loading gear that was well over 2m in length - including a canoe!! Sometimes it pays to be ignorant.

Anyhow, other than my obvious beef with virgin the trip was fantastic. I sailed in Hill Inlet which is definately the most spectacular place I have ever sailed - northerly & need to be in the upper half of the tide. Also recommend the lagoon to the south of Langford Island - lower part of the tide gets dodgy here too.

As far as gear goes, the only stuff I saw on the islands was older longboard style - and this is Hamilton Is where the demand for gear would be the greatest.

Enjoy..

I used to hang out in Airlie in the late 90s. My mate had a beach hire business, mainly cats and jetskis, but he also had a few slalom boards and rigs as he was into it. He sold the business to someone else, who may still have the windsurfing gear stashed somewhere. Worth a try if you're desperate - find the bloke hiring stuff from the beach and ask what he's done with Troy's windsurfers. He might let you take one for a couple of weeks, as I doubt he'd be hiring them out to the average Airlie punters.

Hi rgeerdink,i was down on South Molle a few years ago and they would not hire out any windsports gear if the forecast is over 20 knts,never mind that it is only blowing 10 at the time.My son who has sailed dingys and windsurfers could only look on the whole place with distgust.The gear was all old crap that had spent years lying around on the beach.I have sailed out of Arlie near the yacht club ,it can get very gusty with bullets of wind coming down the inlet.Have a look on the notice boards in the backbackers joints some people try to sell off gear before they leave,I picked up 1 board 4 sails 2 masts 2 booms harness and a gear bag for $400 all from some guy from usa who had come over from Arouba.Any way good luck.