You do realise you've walked into the best windsurfing centre in the world?' announces our instructor, Sam, at the beginning of our first lesson at Club Vassiliki. While these surfer dudes tend to lean towards hyper-enthusiasm (everything is 'totally awesome' or 'epic'), I think he may be right on this one. We can sense it the second we arrive at this windsurfing hotspot on the southern end of Lefkada island in Greece. Our welcoming committee of caramel-coloured instructors eye up the new arrivals through their Ray-Bans. Staying on her feet (for now): Francesca gets to grips with the art of wind-surfing in sunny Lefkada . When my friend and I wander down to the beach, we see an exhilarating display of one hundred windsurfers skimming across the water like dragonflies. We sit drooling on the sand and make a pact to be professional standard by the end of the week. How hard can it be? Everyone at Club Vass - a hotel and windsurf school - has the same obsession. And it's contagious. While the converted flock here annually for their fix, it's also the perfect training ground for beginners. Thanks to its position in a thumb-shaped inlet, enclosed on three sides by mountains, this watery playground has its own weather system, which runs like clockwork during the summer. A light onshore breeze sees the novices through until lunchtime. By early afternoon, the heat pressure behind the western mountain has built up so the wind whooshes down into the bay. Off come the rookies, on go the pros. There are numerous watersports centres along Vassiliki beach, but Club Vass, which has been here since 1987, is the place to be. It has more Royal Yachting Association advanced instructors than any other centre in the world. They are wonderfully sympathetic to our incompetence, despite some of them being ranked among the UK's top professional windsurfers (the hotel walls are lined with shots of them in action, including one of a chiselled freestyler above my bed which prompts a nightly sigh). On day one, Sam shows us how to climb on to the board, haul the sail up and do a static turn (wafting the sail across the back of the board to turn 180 degrees). I feel like a new-born foal trying out my legs for the first time. We all plop in the sea constantly, but it is bathwater warm with a sandy bottom. Sometimes I fall in on purpose. Mornings begin with Greek yogurt and honey before our lesson at 10.30am. We return at lunchtime to refuel, then it's back to the water to practise. More than 250 boards and sails are lined up for the taking, and when you traipse floppily off the water after your session, one of the beach staff magically appears to put it all back for you. It's not all about the windsurfing. There are mountain bikes, yoga classes, fitness sessions, paddle boarding and a bustling Kids' Club. Stroll along the beach to Vassiliki town for a competitive line-up of seaside tavernas offering tzatziki, fried courgette and giant meaty skewers, or nip eastwards to the pretty bay of Sivota where we gorge on fresh fish and watch yachts bobbing. The social scene at Club Vass is a big draw, says a university graduate, here for his sixth summer. Every evening, guests at the beach bar swap anecdotes about their windsurfing feats. I throw in a bit of lingo about 'heli tacks' and 'duck gybes', but give the game away on the water the next morning when a girl from my table at dinner glides past and waves. I return the gesture and topple off. On our final, gusty afternoon I'm first on the water. Leaning my full weight back against the sail, the board slices through the sea. I'm smitten. Not with my instructor (well, not just with my instructor), but with this utterly thrilling sport. A seven-night stay at Club Vass (0844 463 0191, www.clubvass.com) costs from £599 per person, including flights from Gatwick, transfers, windsurfing tuition, mountain biking and stand-up-paddle boarding.
Pretty Lefkada is one of the most northerly of the Greek islands . Often lost in the shadow of Kefalonia, it is a destination of quiet charm . It is also a great place to learn to wind-surf - as our writer discovers .