East Coast Bays:

Location: between 10 and 20 minutes north of the city.
Wind direction: best in north to southeasterly winds.
Auckland's East Coast Bays are a Mecca for windsurfing in the northeasterly winds that hit Auckland from time to time. Cyclone and low-pressure induced winds from the north-east and the north-easterly sea-breeze conditions give windsurfers a taste of wave and ocean sailing without being too radical for most.
Places like Browns Bay, Milford and Takapuna are popular spots, with varying degrees of challenge and gentle surf and wind swell. Some places such as Takapuna are a little difficult to get off the beach if you get washed in but it is difficult to come to any harm.

Shoal Bay:

Location: 10 minutes north of the city.
Wind direction: South to southwest winds.
Tidal with sailing three hours either side of high tide. Shoal Bay offers great flat water sailing with an excellent speed bar (sand bar 150m long providing flat water behind it) at high tide. The bay is known as the local drag racing spot for North Shore windsurfers. A pretty easy spot for beginners to have a go and almost completely safe. It gets a little crowded at times.

Lake Pupuke:

Location: 15 minutes north of the city near Takapuna
Wind direction: North West, West, South West, Southerly
Lake Pupuke offers one of the easiest and safest places to windsurf in Auckland. With no tides to worry about, you know there is going to be enough water to sail all day long. Gusty winds can be a turn off for the more experienced sailor, but it is a great place to hone your slalom skills. Rental equipment and lessons are available from the Mad Loop windsurf school Tuesday through Sunday. Lots of grass to rig up on and a great place for the family. Watch out for the other lake users (swimmers, kayakers, dinghy sailors and of course the swans).

Island Bay:

Location: 10 minutes northwest of the city.
Wind direction: northwesterly winds.
With good launching at any tide and exposed to all of Auckland's prevailing winds, Island Bay gives excellent access to the expanse of the upper harbor. It has the best speed sailing anywhere in the country at low tide when the sand bar opposite Island Bay is exposed for about 1-1.5km. Unfortunately this happens only for a couple of hours at the bottom of each tide or a little longer during spring tides. This is a spacious spot with lots of room on the water and good rigging areas.

Herne Bay:

Location: Inner harbour right next to the harbour bridge with launching from Marine Parade.
Wind direction: Good in southwest, west, east and northwest winds.
With all tide sailing, Herne Bay is the gateway to the Meola Reef, a well known low tide sailing spot. The reef itself is about 3km long at low tide and gradually disappears as the tide comes in. Good speed sailing, in almost perfect water, is possible on both sides of the reef. It is also a well-known drag racing spot, with windsurfers racing each other up and down the reef on a windy day.

Point Chevalier:

Location: Upper harbour, 10 minutes from the city.
Wind direction: Good in southeasterly to northerly winds.
Tidal with a 200m walk to the water at low tide, Pt Chevalier is exposed to most of Auckland's prevailing winds. Although it's tidal, the sailing at low tide can be exceptional, with excellent flat-water, speed-sailing conditions. It is an ideal spot to learn water starts and gybes as the water depth is fairly constant at any tide, enabling you to put your feet on the bottom when you need to.
In strong north-westerlys and full tide quite a chop builds up, making for good jumping and chop bashing. Hm of Pt Chev Sailboards.

Eastern Bays:

Location: Tamaki Point, Mission Bay, Kohimarama and St Heliers. Ten minutes drive from the city.
Wind direction: West to easterly winds.
Auckland's eastern bays are right in the hub of the Waitemata Harbour. Tamaki Point, the closest venue to the city, is also exposed to southwesterly winds and after launching from there you can sail in the stretch of water between Tamaki and Devonport on the other side.
A lot of action happens here with lots of yachts, ships and ferries using this stretch. The wind funnels through this point, squashed between the headlands on each side. As tame as it may seem, this bit of water does need some care and some reasonable expertise, especially if you don't want to be run over by a passing oil tanker.
Just a little further along is Mission Bay. Parking can be a little difficult on weekends but generally when it's good for windsurfing, it's bad for sunbathers. It's a great spot in northwest through to easterly winds, with a number of exposed reefs offshore at low tide giving smooth water or great chop off Bean Rock, whichever is desired. Kohimarama and St Heliers Bay exhibit similar conditions to Mission Bay. Hm of NZ Board Store.

Tamaki Estuary:

Location: A large estuary 30 minutes east of the city.
Wind direction: Southwesterly or northwesterly winds. Smooth water with small areas of tidal chop. Southerly too southwesterly and north to northeasterly winds.
Launching into the Tamaki Ditch, as it is affectionately known, can be done from a number of spots on either side. Most popular on the eastern side (another 20 minutes drive) are Bucklands Beach and Little Bucks. There is little distance to the water from both these places at low tide and both offer good rigging spots and parking.
On the western side launching can be done from Glendowie Rd which has good parking and rigging but it's a long way to the water at low tide. However, this spot puts you closest to the good speed bar that is exposed at low tide. Another launching spot at the end of West Tamaki Rd gives you the best access to wind and water at all tides, with good parking and rigging.
The ditch offers a variety of sailing conditions, from dead flat water to chop jumping off the end of the Glendowie sand-spit. Also it isn't far to sail out into the harbour. Another good activity is to sail upwind up the estuary in a southerly or southwesterly to Panmure and blast back downwind. Hm of Tamaki Sailboards.

Eastern Beach:

Location: Another 5 minutes drive from Bucklands Beach. An east-facing beach exposed to the Hauraki Gulf with Waiheke and Motuihe islands 5km offshore.
Wind direction: Southeast to northerly winds.
Launching and rigging areas are excellent. The tide goes out a little way when low and in easterlies the beach develops a decent wind swell. It is a popular spot in easterlies as it is pretty gentle but a lot of fun. In northerly winds it offers good slalom conditions. It is a great spot to access some of the Hauraki Gulf islands like Motuihe, Waiheke, and Browns. Southerlies produce pretty flat-water conditions but are offshore.

Orewa:

Location: 30 minutes drive north.
Wind Type: Works best in easterly or northeasterly winds.
Great entry level or expert wave sailing, Orewa has a gentle beach break which can get quite big but is easily manageable, safe and highly recommended for first time wave sailors. It also has good slalom conditions when the surf is small, as well as good parking and grassy rigging areas.
Sailing is best at low tide in surf conditions as a bit of a wind shadow occurs in the break zone at high tide. This venue is ideal for novice wave sailors to anyone trying loops and jumps, as the worst that happens is mild washing up onto the beach. It is very forgiving surf on your equipment because of the gently sloping beach which prevents sudden dumping of waves. Hm of

Whangaparaoa/Shakespeare Park:

Location: 30 minutes north of the city.
Wind direction: Works in any wind direction.
With north and south facing coastlines and many bays, the Whangaparaoa Peninsula offers clear wind in almost any direction. A popular spot in southwesterlies is Te Haruhi Bay (otherwise known as Shakespear Regional Park) which offers beautiful surrounds, nice easy rigging and excellent launching into gentle beach break. Further offshore the wind swell gets up, providing excellent chop jumping.
On the north side Big Manly Beach, Tindalls Beach and Army Bay are excellent in northwest to northeasterly winds. You can find a good wind swell at almost every spot and there is plenty of space on the water in the very uncrowded conditions.

Aucklands West Coast:

The west coast and Manukau Harbour offers many potential windsurfing spots, from Port Waikato in the south to South Head of the Kaipara Harbour. West Coast conditions are fairly extreme with strong prevailing westerly winds and large swells on the ocean beaches.
Manukau Harbour offers many spots to go windsurfing in sheltered waters but it too must be treated with respect as it is full of dangerous rips and tides that can even leave you stranded on sand banks as the water retreats faster than you can drag yourself and your gear.

Muriwai:

Location: An exposed ocean beach with large, heavy surf, 35 minutes from Auckland
Wind direction: Southerly to northwesterly winds.
Wave sailing: works best in southerly or northwesterly winds. In southwesterlies it is too on shore, making it hard to get out, with large dead zones of wind right in the wave break-zone.
With a very heavy break suitable for expert sailors, it can be extremely good on the few occasions the swell is big. But the wind is not too strong from the south or northwest, making it ideal side-shore sailing. A real gear-breaking spot to sail.

Kaitarakihi:

Location: A peninsula 5km inside the entrance to the Manukau Harbour, facing west.
Wind direction: Westerly to southerly winds.
This little-known spot offers flat water, chop, swell, a nice grassy park to rig up in and easy access to launching. It is very exposed to westerly winds that blow directly through the Manukau Harbour entrance where they are accelerated by the high cliffs on both sides. An outgoing tide also helps increase the apparent wind speed.
It is an exciting place to sail with challenging conditions but with care required in an outgoing tide. The west coast swell comes in through the harbour entrance and forms and breaks on sand bars not far off the beach. Spectacular sailing can be had by sailing upwind through the harbour entrance and onto the bars of the West Coast (but this is definitely risky stuff and not recommended).

Jenkins Bay:

Location: Another 5km inside the Manukau Harbour on the north coast near Titirangi.
Wind direction: Westerly to southerly winds.
Chop jumping and flat water. Westerlies are dead side shore here and the main channel is just yards off shore. An outgoing tide and strong westerlies really kick up a good swell here for jumping off and on the far side of the channel the water can be dead flat at the same time. Watch out for the oysters.